Media Studies

Author : Mary Anne Winslow
Nowadays, due to the rapid technological development media studies are becoming more and more advanced and thus used in all studying areas. The quickly growing field of Media Literacy is now emerging and expanding in schools and in other community settings to look at the role media potentially or actually play in our lives, in our ideas and actions.Media Literacy teaches people to analyze messages conveyed by the
media, consider the commercial or political purpose of the image or
message and who is responsible for it, and other ideas that it
implies. It increases our ability to react to and appreciate (or not)
media images and messages in a genuine and conscious way. It provides
information and statistics on media and culture, and provides a set of
tools for critical thinking, which can be applied to any media
"product", or setting . . . And it can be fun too, as in
entertainment. One way or the other we use and see media products on
daily bases, we can't protect ourselves from all the messages but we
empower them to be critical and relevant to our lives. According to
the Aspen Institute Leadership Forum on Media Literacy and the
Canadian Association for Media Literacy, media Literacy/studies is the
ability to "access, analyze, evaluate and produce communication in a
variety of forms." By accessing, analyzing and evaluating seems a long
process of getting to know what is important for us from the media but
this shows the importance of studying media content, it makes a person
a powerful reader and also it gives one the power of choice and power
to question. In addition studying media is important because one can
get a job in the media industry.Structure
In this report I will scrupulously scrutinize the media content we get
in everyday life, the key terms used on the question will be
explained. I will define and discuss the pros and cons of messages of
products of political power, of economic power, of the entertainment
industry how they are compiled, categorized, what determines their
power or impact and importance and the options available for studying
media. How we can study the media concentrating on Sinclair's two
approaches to study the media, the differences between them (critical
and pragmatic) and finally give opinion summarizing this script.It's always been that in everyday life we go about days of media
dominance. Each day that passes by leaves behind pros and cons of
media consumption. The media in their different forms convey to us
different messages according to our choices or preference as we are of
different tastes; some prefer listening to the radio, watching
television, surfing the net or email messages, word of mouth while
others prefer reading the news papers and many more. Each media
product or resource contain masses of messages in varying genres and
it's not all of that we need to know. We get for example messages
which are 'products of political power, of economic power and of the
entertainment industry. Each of the messages we get is eyed
differently, there are different ways to look at one thing.Products of Political Power
These are media messages which are aimed at selling political
activities critics and ideas. A good example is of the political
history or events. The content is absolute politics and apparently
these messages are conveyed through radios, TV's, the net and
newspapers for example; a live coverage of war in Iraq. These are
meant to reach targets within a short span of time after the happening
of event. The content is usually determined by what is regarded
important in terms of consumer's interests, for example in the case of
journalists in the War in Iraq, there is lot of activities going but
they will only get what they think will sell for them, that which they
think the consumer will appreciate. On the other hand political
messages usually contain a lot of information. The medium used cover
masses of information of which some of it is irrelevant that is TVs,
internet. With news papers, sometimes they only sell because they have
eye catching titles but with less unnecessary information.
The advantage of these messages is that they can cover massive
information can be covered and are usually facts and sell through
quickly while on the contrary these messages are usually biased. Facts
are manipulated.Messages of Economic Power
These messages are commercialized messages, usually disclose a
country, organization or a persons economic status, strength or power
or even economic policies, workgroups on a socioeconomic project and
also invitation for all economic agents to build an economy at the
service of human beings and to make alliances with each other for the
purpose of influencing, from their respective positions in society,
the economic directions that affect them, and, together, push for the
transformation of national and global macro policies, institutions,
and social relations For example; Bill Gates' company monopolizing the
market or Switzerland being the richest country with a low population,
foreign investments of individuals or a country. These messages are
important because they influence and determine the economy of an
individual or country. They can also influence convergence of
individuals or countries in the bid to improve and strengthen their
economic status. On the other hand messages of economic power are very
difficult to understand in context in which are written. They can
bring about political conflicts, for example the conflict America and
Iraq provoked by interest in Oil. The war is basically for economic
power or benefits.Messages of Entertainment Industry
These are the messages we receive which are mainly concerned with fun
or entertainment. This range from adult entertainment to kids'
entertainment and it uses all sorts medium available to reach its
target. The content of this media industry is basically in all respect
entertainment (enter- educate). This cover kids televised entertaining
as well as educational programs, books it can jokes, riddles, stories
etc, TV and computer games etc. "According to Phyllis Tilson Piotrow,
under January of 2002the head of the University's population
communication campaign, the " enter educate" can be summed up in a set
of principles called "Nine Ps" of which are some are essentially self
serving and these are pervasive, popular, persuasive, profitable,
passionate, personal, participatory, prompts to action and proven
effective.As we read through all these messages, we get different individual
understanding, but then our interpretation of the message determines
our reactions to the media thus showing the strength of the messages.Ways to study the Media based on Sinclair's two approaches and their
differences (critical approach and pragmatic approach).Mary Anne Winslow is a member of Essay Writing Service counselling department team and a dissertation writing consultant. Contact her to get free counselling on custom essay writing.
Keyword : nowadays, technologies, rapid development, media studies