Media education is the discipline that teaches people how messages are created to influence and persuade others, and how to analyze and critique those claims dispassionately. It also empowers people how to craft their own messages to be best received by others, through any medium. Poor media literacy leaves a person vulnerable to manipulation, whether benign or malicious, from any organization trying to influence opinion through imagery, sloganeering, advertisement, or more subtle reinforcement. Media literacy frees a person from (or at least mitigates) this influence, encouraging thoughtful reflection and critique of the ideas and claims that might otherwise go unexamined.

There are, of course, safeguards. Have you seen a pharmaceutical ad on television in the last few years? Drug companies wouldn’t spend so much time in those telling you about dire side effects if they weren’t forced to. Cigarette ads are heavily regulated. And knowingly false claims are usually illegal. But someone isn’t always holding your hand, or looking out for your best interests. Often, it is up to you to apply your own critical judgement. The best safeguard is your own analytical mind.

The first week of November is Media Literacy Week, an opportunity to focus attention on this important component of education. The National Association for Media Literacy Education offers curriculum materials and other resources on their website for anyone interested in learning, or teaching others, about the subtle influence of multimedia – how it is produced, what it says, who it targets, and how it represents the world.

The library has plenty of material, too, from academic databases like Communication and Mass Media Complete and ProQuest Telecommunications to books like Media Literacy: Seeking Honesty, Independence, and Productivity in Today’s Mass Messages by Deidre Pike, Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace by Julie Frechette, and Speaking the Lower Frequencies: Students and Media Literacy by Walter Jacobs. We even have “Connections Kits,” thematic literacy bags of related materials, which can be used to help young children begin to make connections between items and stories, and see how they comment on and help us to understand the others.

Need any help? Ask us at iueref@iue.edu – we’re always glad to help you with your research.