Of Media Literacy and the Changing Receiver in the Digital Revolution

Abstract

"The media are what we talk about. Argue over. Dissect and analyze." According to Baran (2012): Those of us who teach media know that these conversations are essential to the functioning of a democratic society. We also know that what moves these conversations from the real of chatting and griping to that of effective public discourse is media education. We now call this media education media literacy. Regardless of what the individual course is called - Introduction to Mass Communication, Introduction to Mass Media, Media and Society, Media and Culture - media literacy has long been designed to fulfill the following goals: • To increase students' knowledge and understanding of the mass communication process and the mass media industries • To increase students' awareness of how they interact with those industries and with media content to create meaning • To help students become more skilled and knowledgeable consumers of media content Today, it is impossible to succeed without understanding these technologies and the consumers who use them. Technological progress is providing consumers with countless new ways of receiving and distributing information and content that was not available years even months ago.