HCRHS Media Lit

Developed in collaboration with the Newspaper Association of America, Messages & Meanings is a collection of curriculum activities for analyzing print and electronic media. This resource includes instructional activities for strengthening access, analysis, evaluation and communication skills, as well as evaluating new technologies like internet web pages.

"These uses of markets to allocate health, education, public safety, national security, criminal justice, environmental protection, recreation, procreation, and other social goods were for the most part unheard-of 30 years ago. Today, we take them largely for granted. Why worry that we are moving toward a society in which everything is up for sale? For two reasons. One is about inequality, the other about corruption"

"Here's the fantasy: A half-naked woman lies across a couch, lips pouty and cleavage prominent as her sultry gaze implores you to buy this bottle of perfume. The reality: Women make up 51% of the United States yet only 17% of seats in the House of Representatives. They're 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 7% of directors in the top 250 grossing films. What's the connection? We live in a sexualized society where the gap between fantasy and reality is vast and harmful."

"As the candidates for president reintroduced themselves at their conventions and began the last phase of the campaign, they received markedly different treatment in social media than in the mainstream press, a new study finds."

"MissRepresentation.org and Common Sense Media have partnered to create Media Literacy Conversation Starters with a gender lens, for young people and families."

"n this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes -- images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbourne's groundbreaking analysis up to date, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence."

"Affluenza is a one-hour television special that explores the high social and environmental costs of materialism and overconsumption. Here you can learn more about the show, get an Affluenza diagnosis and check out resources for treatment. Don't miss our Teacher's Guide, available only on this Web site."

" In part two of a three-part series based on a Q&A with former Post Register Managing Editor Dean Miller, we look at how the Internet can be used intelligently. Miller is the director of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York."

These "persuaders" use a variety of techniques to grab our attention, to establish credibility and trust, to stimulate desire for the product or policy, and to motivate us to act (buy, vote, give money, etc.) We call these techniques the "language of persuasion." They're not new; Aristotle wrote about persuasion techniques more than 2000 years ago, and they've been used by speakers, writers, and media makers for even longer than that. Learning the language of persuasion is an important media literacy skill. Once you know how media messages try to persuade you to believe or do something, you'll be better able to make your own decisions.

Free Press works to ensure people have a seat at the table for important policy debates and decisions in Washington, D.C., and beyond.  Want proof that our media needs changing? Look no further than Free Press' thorough analysis of the state of Internet freedom, journalism, public media, election coverage and media ownership."

"A research team at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication put 48 college students on a "complete and extended media fast for 48 hours." More cruelly, it required them to write "multiple-page essays" about their experiences. Among the reactions, shared in a press release about the study, called "Turn Off Everything: The Challenges and Consequences of Going on a Complete and Extended Media Fast":"

"Can shopping save the world? The Story of Change urges viewers to put down their credit cards and start exercising their citizen muscles to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world."

"During the last week of the 2012 presidential campaign, Fox News and MSNBC both took a dramatically negative tone toward President Obama and Mitt Romney, respectively. 68 percent of MSNBC's coverage of Romney was negative during from Oct. 29-Nov. 5, up from 57 percent in October. That doesn't sound too surprising, except that Pew found 5 percent of MSNBC's Romney coverage was positive from Oct. 1-28, while it found no positive coverage of Romney when it looked at the final week's stories. It also found no negative coverage of Obama."

"Psychologist Tim Kasser discusses how America's culture of consumerism undermines our well-being. When people buy into the ever-present marketing messages that "the good life" is "the goods life," they not only use up Earth's limited resources, but they are less happy and less inclined toward helping others. The animation both lays out the problems of excess materialism and points toward solutions that promise a healthier, more just, and more sustainable life."

"If you find yourself watching the hit Fox sitcom 'New Girl' tonight, don't feel bad if your mind wanders to your smartphone or tablet during the show. Fox actually wants it that way. Instead of trying to capture your full attention the old-fashioned way, Fox Broadcasting has created a series of aps to provide extra content on your smartphone or tablet, to allow you to follow along during their broadcast shows. And on the sitcom "New Girl," the network is even trying to sell you stuff. David Wertheimer is the president of digital at Fox Broadcasting, and he explains that, for example, Cece (one of the characters on the show) will be wearing a set of bracelets, and they'll show up for sale on your second screen."