What is media literacy?

The challenges of media and information literacy

In general, media and information literacy tends to promote knowledge and understanding of media and information, with a view to civic debate and social participation.

EMI combines two distinct areas: information literacy emphasizes the importance of accessing, evaluating, and using information ethically. Media education emphasizes the ability to understand the functions of the media, evaluate how these functions are performed, and use the media rationally to express oneself.

This domain allows those who transmit it to:
➡️ To highlight the role and functions of the media in society, and the conditions under which the media fulfill these functions.
➡️ Integrate and convey the tools for critically evaluating media content
➡️ To create high-quality news media in collaboration with the target audience.

To fully grasp the overall scope of MIL, it should be emphasized that a society that masters media and information and promotes the development of free, independent, and pluralistic media tends to encourage meaningful citizen participation.

Teaching media literacy: different approaches

Teachers of media and information literacy should use a variety of teaching approaches:

The “problem-research” approach
This involves identifying a problem; recognizing underlying attitudes and beliefs; clarifying the facts and principles related to the problem; organizing and analyzing possible solutions; interpreting and resolving the issue; taking action and reconsidering the consequences and results of each phase. This allows students to develop their critical thinking skills. This approach can be used to analyze fake news or conspiracy theories.

Case studies
This involves an in-depth examination of a single situation or event. This approach offers a systematic method for observing events, collecting data, analyzing information, and communicating results.

Cooperative learning
can range from simple pair work to more complex methods such as project-based learning, puzzle-based learning, peer-guided questioning, and reciprocal teaching.

Textual analysis
students learn to identify how language codes and conventions are used to create specific types of representations targeting certain audiences (the “technical,” “symbolic,” and “narrative” codes for any media text).

Contextual analysis
This aims to help students learn about topics such as classification systems for film, television, and video games, the links between media ownership and concentration, and issues of democracy and freedom of expression.

Rewriting
For example, students can gather a series of existing visual documents related to a person’s life and use them as a starting point to prepare and produce a short documentary about that person.

Simulations
For example, students can take on the role of a television crew producing a program for young people. The strategy is discussed with students as an educational process.

Production
This offers students the opportunity to immerse themselves in learning through discovery and practice. Through the production of media texts (audio, video, and/or print), students can discover creativity and express their own opinions, ideas, and perspectives.

Le circuit de l’information

The information circuit follows different stages:

➡️ The fact


➡️ The alert (a journalist is informed by his sources)
➡️ Verification (Several journalists are mobilized, interviewing the organizations, individuals, or institutions concerned by traveling to the site).
➡️ An editorial meeting may be organized by the media. The editor-in-chief gathers the department heads, and a decision is made to deploy journalists in the field and cover different angles: characteristics, hypotheses, precedents, reports, the story of the day, etc.
➡️ During the editorial team, The journalist writes their article or commentary, then the editors proofread and correct it, caption the photos, etc.
➡️ When the information is cross-checked, it’s time to publication. It is published in the form of a flash, alert, or dispatch, depending on the importance of the information.

Namely : Having a scoop means publishing the information first. Other media outlets may pick it up, but they must specify where it came from.