Media Literacy Topic #1

Media Survey

Americans encounter many different kinds of media each day. The media influences the way we see the world, but their descriptions may not show things the way they really are. For example, each media source—television, the Internet, newspapers, billboards—has a specific purpose or several purposes. Movies provide entertainment, but they can also have political or social messages. Each source has a point of view and uses a variety of techniques to persuade an audience that its point of view is the best or only one. Advertisements may use humor, popular music, or sentimental stories to convince viewers to purchase their product.

·         Keep a media log for one week, listing all the different types of media avenues you use and how much time you spend with each one for each day of the week.  Post your results on your blog

·         How do you use media? Which media do you use? (Do you use YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter? Read newspapers or magazines? See billboards or other advertising? Do you watch TV, listen to music, surf the Web, and play video games? )

Also, answer the following questions:

·         What does your media use say about you?

·         Which media do you trust and why?

·         Which media do you enjoy the most and why?

·         Are you willing to broaden your exposure to different media? If you used to watch mainly sports and action/ adventure on television, are you now spreading your viewing to a wider range of genres?

Explore a wider range of websites, new musical artists, new television shows, and different magazines. You don’t have to like all these exposures; in fact, you are likely to hate many of them. But by trying new vehicles, you are giving yourself opportunities to find even better messages than those delivered through your habitual exposures. And you are likely to discover new messages that you like better than the messages you usually get in your habitual patterns of exposure.

Instructions: Make a Media Literacy Page on your blog and post your answers to above questions. Be creative with your post and incorporate pictures and videos.