When people think of the word "literacy", it usually means something that is read or written. In Media Literacy, the word "literacy" is widespread to many different categories and genres. Unlike literacy's initially thought meaning, Media Literacy is a multi-informative function where a wide variety of methods are used to spread news and information that may interest an audience. When first going through the Media Literacy Tutorial, I realized that I knew what Media Literacy was, just the majority of the population, and myself, doesn't think of the term "Media Literacy". Literacy is a term so closely related to written and readable pieces that are more likely to be for academic purposes but also serve as a "reading for pleasure" or leisure.
As the Media Literacy Project stated, schools make use of students' skills that reflect upon the media. Who has felt better about being assigned a "project" rather than assigned an essay or paper? Very commonly, these projects that we end up with as a result are complete projections of Media Literacy. Having to find pictures that have to do with your topic, placing it onto poster board and presenting it in front of the class (which is most of the time) are forms of "broadcasting" or "narrowcasting" information. Personally, when doing a project that requires pictures, those pictures are found on the internet. The internet is perhaps the largest and easiest accessible source for media. The internet itself can be considered broadcasting or narrowcasting in a way; it serves to present information that other people who access the internet read or view. Both having a project on a board and having it presented are somewhat a form of advertisement. You are sending off information to an audience (perhaps a target audience based on the intensity and how advanced the information is and what topic is being presented).
In the Intermediate Concepts section of the MLP (Media Literacy Project), it is stated that media is most effective when it is presented in an emotional state. The tutorial explains that the two states in which information is given and processed through our thinking and analysis are "factual" and "emotional". Initially, because one of the two states is categorized as factual, the second state, emotional, usually covers the false or manipulative/manipulated information. Looking at media in this concept, I think that emotional media is more effective because the population is so hooked on media and entertainment, the television, news and such. In some instances, we can tell when some information is falsely being presented, otherwise, most of what we see or hear from the media is considered to be true until further proof of its falseness is presented.
Media is so strong that even though certain information is definitively and completely meant for factual presentation, it can become emotional and personal for some audiences such as specific race prejudice, gender specific messages or age group distinctions. Media is weak in that many details in the item's information can be skewed and some people still tend to believe these manipulations.
I think in some cases, if not all, blogs focus on media as explained in the tutorial and the Media Literacy Project. Such blogs take a topic that is (usually current) broadcast quickly or reaches a majority of the population's interests and depending on the way the author feels, he or she will react upon the details and information that they have gathered about that event. The way the author posts or reflects on issues and events that happen may end up influencing another person's views on the topic.
Subtexts can possibly be one of the most influential parts of media. Because people don't think exactly the same, each person can be affected by certain media differently than others, rendering these influences as good or bad depends on the person. This is interesting because media try to relate to the audience emotionally to advertise their product and improve the probability to sell the product. However, if for some reason a consumer is in anyway insulted or disagrees with the "positives" that the media is trying to present in a product, they may neglect the product instead of becoming interested in trying or having the product.
Both time-based media (television, news, movies, video games, etc.) and static media (newspaper, books, etc.) have their perks, but also have some negative aspects (or less efficient methods of presentation) when compared to each other. Certain categories within these two types of media are work better than others for target audiences. Think about this.
I think media is kind of like a drug. We are addicted to certain parts, if not all, of the media. Some of us play video games but don't really care about news, movies or T.V. dramas. Some of us love to surf the internet, but aren't interested in politics or video games. But ultimately, everyone has been effected by media, and as stated in MLP, we all create media.
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