Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy

chapter i

To start this chapter, lets define the basic words we will be using. starting with Communication which is the transmission of a message from a source to a receiver. While Medium is the way that message is being sent. Mass Media is defined as the distribution of culture to a larger audience. on the other hand; Mass Communication is delivering a message to diverse cultures.
(but, what is culture?)
Culture can be defined as the earned behaviour of members of a given social group.
Functions and effects of Culture:

• Dominant culture or Mainstream culture.
• Bounded culture or Co-cultures.

The medium in delivering those messages can be via books, magazines, T.V or the Internet. However, Digital Communication is defined as electronic signals.

Media is not a signal entity. for media to be "media" it has to be a combination of multiple things in which is defined as Media Convergence where multiple media forms are combined into one. for example: social media, digital newspapers... etc.

The Importance of Media:

• Low culture: TV.
• High culture: museum.
• violent entertainment.
• Reality shows.
• Computers and the WWW.
• Education
• News content.

Media Literacy is the ability to affectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated communication.

Elements of Media Literacy:

•  A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to develop independent judgments about media content.
• An understanding of the process of mass communication.
• An awareness of the impact of media on the individual and society.
• Strategies for analysing and discussing media messages.
• An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our lives.
• The ability to enjoy, understand and appreciate media content.
• development of effective and responsible production skills.
• An understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners.

Media Literacy Skills:

• The ability and willingness to make an effort to understand content, to pay attention, and to filter out noise.
• An understanding of and respect for the power of media messages.
• The ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content and to act accordingly. 
• Development of heightened expectations of media content.
• A knowledge of genre conventions and the ability to recognise when they are being mixed.
• the ability to think critically about media messages.
• A knowledge of the internal language of various media and the ability to understand its effects.

Media Consumed this week:

1. social media.
2. digital and print newspapers.
3. the internet.