Knowledge Base

My Position

I have long been critical with the way media represents minority cultures. My intersectionality plays a large part in how I view and interact with the world around me. For me, media plays a large role in that. I grew up in the 1970s and 1980’s. At the time, there were a few minority groups represented in the media, and many of those representations were steeped in stereotypes. But they almost always lacked someone who looked like me.

I am someone who doesn’t fit the mold of being just Black, just Caucasian, just Native American, or just Asian. I am biracial. I am African American and Caucasian. It has often made me wonder, am I the only person who doesn’t see themselves represented in the media, and that has made a significant impact on my sense of self? With critical pedagogy, my goal is to have a better understanding of how digital media impacts the ontological sense of self among biracial college students.

When one thinks of social justice, media literacy does not often come to mind. Originally, my thought was to study the effect media literacy has on the worldview of biracial students. After a few classes and time to reflect on that original choice, I find I must broaden my research subject pool, and change some vocabulary. Even with the limitations of the length of my dissertation, the subjects I intend to study will likely be digital natives or immigrants. Originally, I was going to focus on the definition of biracial to be of Black and Caucasian decent. But have decided to open that up to anyone who is biracial, defined as being of multi-racial decent.

Media literacy should be a skill that is taught alongside the ABCs. It is a critical thinking skill. Those that argue against it, want to keep people in the dark, believing any message that is created to deceive them. The strongest effect that media literacy can have is power. Power over ignorance beats power due to ignorance every single time.

Contextualization: I have defined media literacy and given a thorough background regarding its history. “Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. (National Association for Media Literacy Education, 2020)” I am defining some of the sociocultural and sociopolitical issues, such as the use of media to promote stereotypes and the use of production values in political media.

Theoretical Connections: The theory I had chosen that was connected to my topic was worldview, but to be more current within the field of education, I am changing it to ontology. Worldview and ontology are essentially the same thing, “… a collection of attitudes, values, stories and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action. (Gray, 2011)” Media plays a strong roll in how we see the world around us. It is everywhere. To think that media has no influence on what we think, what we buy, how we vote, where we live, and our daily choices is willfully ignorant. I will add information regarding the Keys to Media Literacy as defined by theorist Art Silverblatt, which includes understanding the creation process, the context, framework, and production values in the media.

Literature Review: I am focusing my literature review on works by Art Silverblatt, Frank Baker, Margaret Meek Spencer, Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Michael Dezuanni, Renee Hobbs, and other known scholars. Many of the have been pioneers in media literacy, while some are doing contemporary work and leading the field in their research. I will also delve into digital literacy, as many of my subjects may have stronger ties to it. Though digital media has been available for over 20 years, the study of it is still relatively recent.

Statement of Research Gap: Because I can never seem to choose the easy thing to study, my topics tend to be what needs to be studied. In the case of media literacy, there is a fair amount that has been written, the issue is that those studies tend to be ignored by the public at large. It is easier to find media literacy information on specific races, cultures, or ethnicities, than bi-racial studies.

Research Questions: I have so many questions regarding media literacy. Given the strength digital media has in influencing current society, why isn’t digital media literacy, or media literacy a fundamental skill in the United States? Is it a societal issue? Is it an economical issue? Why does not media literacy trend? Where is the representation of minorities in media? When we take a critical look at the media, what are the ownership ratios? The board of director ratios? What are the minority actors, actresses, speaking lines, major characters? What are the minority ratios?

Knowledge Base:

• The definition of media literacy has evolved as media has evolved

• The history of media literacy has multiple starts dependent upon the definition and types of media available at that time

• A persons ontology affects how they interact with the world around them

• The media plays a large role in defining our cultural ideologies, behaviors, values, and attitudes

• The process by which media is made can serve multiple functions, including, but not limited to, expression, description, instruction, information exchange, persuasion, and entertainment

• The context in which media is made can be comprised of historical, structural, or cultural contexts

• The framework, or structural elements, of media include the introduction, the plot, the genre, and the conclusion

• Production values strongly influence the way in which we interpret media messages

• Production values include, but are not limited to: editing, color, sound, lighting, movement, point of view, and scale

• Media includes, but isn’t limited to newspapers, advertising, flyers, billboards, film, television, radio, and includes all forms of digital media such as blogs, online newspapers, and social media

How do we create solutions to foster personal, institutional, and social change?

One of the social change issues within race is minority media representations. Race issues permeate multiple facets of our world, especially in the media. As an educator, an adult, a human being, it is imperative that I acknowledge the world has a race issue. I must be willing to critically examine how that affects me and the world around me. That is not an easy thing to do. But to logically create inclusive solutions I must do so from a frame of mind that allows me to see all sides.

We are a global society. Media institutions have a social responsibility to society to portray different races. Our media needs to reflect our society. From the characters, to the money, to the advertising, media needs to be held accountable for its lack of diversity.

Media’s biggest responsibility is to help teach society its purpose. We, as a society, take media at face value. We do not question its intent, its creators, its message, or its intended audience. We do not look at the subtle cues that tell us when we are being manipulated. As we are definitely not accepting that media heavily slants to a Caucasian point of view. The more people study and understand media literacy, the more we empower ourselves with the knowledge that media literacy promotes, the stronger its change on society can be.

Transformative

My project is transformative because media literacy is a global issue. We are constantly bombarded by visual and auditory media messages. Many of which we don’t realize until they’ve passed us by. Content creators have had to become stealthier in the way they deliver messages because people have changed how they consume media. Knowing what the media messages are and how to process them is extremely important to begin to understand why a particular media piece was created.

Our world is still in a pandemic. Governments are still failing to care for their citizens. We are still receiving media messages that contradict each other on, what somedays, feels like an hourly basis. It’s hard to know who to trust. People refuse to believe in science. People still think the earth is flat. People think vaccines cause autism. Now, more than ever, understanding media literacy and ontology and how they work is imperative. Anyone can make media. With the right camera, mic, script, and a green screen, I can make you believe anything I want.

For me, it’s imperative to understand how media messages affect how we see ourselves in the world. As someone who is bi-racial, growing up, there were very few kids who looked like me, and even less in the media. But media was my thing. I love television and film. If I could figure out a way to hardwire cable to the synapses in my brain without messing up my hair, I would. I have great hair.

But I see the world from this very solitary place. While it is a place that has recently changed, it has not caused a change in my perception of self. It still makes me wonder where my people are. Where are the bi-racial children who grew up not seeing themselves represented in the media? How do they react to the world around them? Did they notice? Did it make them question what they were seeing and hearing? Do today’s children see themselves equitably represented in the media? I hope so. Or, if they do see themselves represented, is it still steeped in stereotypes and old tropes? I hope not.

References:

Gray, A. J. (2011). Worldviews. Gray A. J. (2011). Worldviews. International psychiatry : bulletin of the Board of International Affairs of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 8(3), 58-60.

National Association for Media Literacy Education. (2020, 10 12). Our mission. Retrieved from National Association for Media Literacy Education: https://namle.net/about/