Approaches to Media Literacy: A Handbook

A Handbook

Art Silverblatt, Jane Ferry, Barbara Finan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317476566
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

Completely updated, with current examples and new coverage of digital media, this popular handbook provides a range of qualitative approaches that enable students to effectively decipher information conveyed through the channels of mass communication - photography, film, radio, television, and interactive media. It aim is to help students develop critical thinking skills and strategies with regard to what media to use and how to interpret the information that they receive. The techniques include ideological, autobiographical, nonverbal, and mythic approaches. An Instructor's Manual is available to professors who adopt this new edition.

1

Ideological Analysis

Overview

An ideological approach to the study of media is designed to help people become more sensitive to the ways in which the media reflect, reinforce, and shape ideological systems.

Ideology refers to the system of beliefs or ideas that help determine the thinking and behavior of a culture. Although ideology typically refers to a political orientation, cultural historian Raymond Williams observes that ideology may involve a “more general way of seeing the world, human nature, and relationships.”¹ However, even this expanded notion of ideology has political implications, containing assumptions about how the world should operate, who should oversee this world, and the proper and appropriate relationships among its inhabitants.

Ideological analysis has its roots in the discipline of cultural studies. The focus of cultural studies is not on aesthetic aspects of text, but rather what these texts reveal about social systems. The fundamental principles of cultural studies are as follows: (1) there is inequitable distribution of power in our cultures; hence, it is possible to detect race, gender and class power profiles; (2) forces of domination and subordination are central in our social system; (3) the same ideology is repeated in a variety of texts; and (4) audiences bring this cumulative information to new material, which reinforces this dominant ideology. Professor Linda Holtzman describes the dominant class as follows: “Dominant groups have greater access to privileges, resources and power because of their membership in a particular group…. For example, in the United States, men traditionally have had greater access to positions of power (e.g., Senators, CEOs of corporations)…. Conversely, women have had less access to positions of power.”²

Certainly, there are instances in which the dominant culture imposes its will on the subordinate class through force. However, the members of the dominant culture also maintain their superior position by cultivating a worldview that presents the dominant culture’s own interests as being aligned with the welfare of society as a whole. In adopting this worldview, the subordinate class willingly consents to the continued preeminence of the dominant class.

The media have emerged as a principal means by which ideology is introduced and reinforced. One of the central tenets of cultural studies is that the worldview presented through the media do not merely reflect or reinforce culture but in fact shape thinking by promoting the dominant ideology of a culture through cultural hegemony; that is, the ability of the dominant classes to exercise social and cultural leadership in order to maintain economic and political control over the subordinate classes.

As a product (and beneficiary) of the prevailing system, the media generally reflect the predominant ideology within a culture. Historian Nikolai Zlobin observes that even seemingly innocuous media programming promotes the dominant ideology of the culture: “Take a textbook on history—U.S., Russian, French, and German—and read a chapter about World War II. It will be like reading about four different wars. Why? Because we construct different ideas about world history and our own histories, and the media supports this.”³

The dominant ideology frequently assumes a disarming “naturalness” within a text, which makes it particularly effective in promoting and reinforcing the prevailing ideology. (Text refers to different types of media presentations, such as articles, videos, billboards, and Web pages.) These media presentations begin with unquestioned assumptions about the correctness of this order. For example, in police dramas, basic assumptions about the origin and nature of crime and criminals are adopted by actors with whom we identify. While a media program may be open to several interpretations, the text generally dictates a preferred reading, which reflects the social position or orientation of the media communicator. The preferred reading asks the audience to assume the role, perspective, and orientation of the primary figure, so that the sympathies of the audience are aligned with the values and beliefs of the dominant culture. Within this construct, the audience assumes a passive role in the communications process.

Ideological Approach to Media Literacy

Ideology is integral to all aspects of media production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. A primary objective of the ideological approach, then, is to move beyond the description of a media production into a discussion of the values implicit within the presentation, as well as whose interests are served by such ideas. The objectives of ideological analysis include the following:

•Examining media text as a way to identify its prevailing ideology;

•Becoming more sensitive to the impact of ideology on content;

•Understanding the impact of media content as a vehicle that shapes, reflects, and reinforces ideology within a culture;

•Broadening the public’s exposure to the unique experience and contributions of subcultures in society;

•Identifying ideological shifts within the culture; and

•Encouraging an ideological detoxification, that is, a healthy skepticism toward ideologically-based explanations of the world conveyed through media presentations, by challenging the media’s representations of culture.

A Cautionary Note

Identifying the ideology of a media presentation is a far more complex matter than the discussion thus far would suggest, for several reasons:

• Although a media communicator may establish a preferred reading for the text, the audience may assume a far more active role in interpreting media content, based on their own personal experience. (For further discussion, see “Audience Interpretation of Media Content” in Chapter 2, “Autobiographical Analysis.”)

•Every community has its own local media outlets, such as alternative community newspapers.

•International media presentations, such as newspapers, videos, and blogs, are now readily accessible through the Internet.

•Media technology now enables individuals to produce and distribute their own perspectives without corporate middlemen.

•The emergence of media produced by members of subcultures offers alternatives to the single voice of dominant culture. Filmmaker Spike Lee has enjoyed commercial success by appealing directly to the interests and concerns of the African American community, while building a white, mainstream audience as well.

•In some cases, the interests of the dominant culture and subgroups coincide. Len Masterman observes, “The idea that ruling groups impose a dominant ideology upon subordinate groups does less than justice to the fact that dominant ideas are often not simply imposed but often appear to be acceptable, and even to speak to the interests of subordinate classes.”⁴

While the ideological approach may not account for all media messages, this perspective can provide considerable insight into media content, as well as the behaviors, attitudes, values, and preoccupations of media audiences and the culture.

Analysis of Ownership Patterns

The ownership patterns of the media industry influence both what information appears in the media and how it is presented. There are three basic global media ownership systems, each of which exercises a distinct influence on the construction of media messages:

•State ownership

•Public ownership

•Private media

State Ownership

State-owned media systems make up a sizable proportion of the worldwide media operations. According to the United Nations’ 2002 Human Development Report, 29 percent of the world’s largest newspapers are state owned.⁵

In authoritarian countries such as China, Cuba, and North Korea, the function of the media is to promote the government’s agenda. Under this system, the media is regarded as an instrument of the state. The government regards the media as tools to guide the people toward their social, political, and economic destiny. Consequently, all information, including criticism of the government, is tightly controlled.

Under this system of ownership, television programs, radio shows, films, and newspapers, as well as books and magazines, are produced and distributed under the close supervision of the government. The news information agencies belong to the state. For instance, in China, all news is filtered through the state news agency, Xinhua. Even foreign news is channeled through these state-run news agencies, but because independent sources of information are not readily available, stories often are difficult to substantiate, which undermines public confidence in the media.

News and editorial functions are performed by professionals who are committed to the goals of the government. As government employees, these editors, reporters, anchors, and TV producers are subject to state labor laws and practices.

State-owned media systems prevent access to sensitive topics, including pornography, religious materials, and political dissent. Significantly, the Chinese government entered into an agreement with search engine Google in 2006; in exchange for access to 100 million Chinese consumers, Google agreed to censor material that the government found objectionable. Thus, a standard Google search of “Tiananmen Square,” the site of a 1989 student protest that turned into a massacre, generates links to images of protesters and tanks, as well as tourists, whereas a search of Google through the Chinese filter produces links only to benign images of happy tourists posing in the square.

State-owned media systems are under no particular pressure to attract high audience ratings or generate advertising revenue. As a result, presentations produced under this system provide insight into official government positions. At the same time, digital technology now furnishes perspective into alternative points of view within a country.

For example, in Bahrain, the royal family dominates; members of the family hold half the cabinet positions and the major posts in the security services and the University of Bahrain. The United States considers Bahrain crucial for its many regional military ventures (the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based there). With its monopoly over television and radio and the ability to shut down newspapers, the Khalifa dynasty was able to control those interested in democratic reform. However, bloggers now appe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Ideological Analysis
• Chapter 2: Autobiographical Analysis
• Chapter 3: Nonverbal Communication Analysis
• Chapter 4: Mythic Analysis
• Chapter 5: Analysis of Production Elements
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors