What is Media Literacy?

I believe that Media Literacy is something that helps us understand and interpret the messages media throws at us. However, the real definition of Media Literacy is “possessing the knowledge to be competent in assessing messages carried by mass media” (6), according to The Media Of Mass Communications. Media literacy is said to be essential to fully understand what media shows to us as individuals. According to the media awareness website, there are three stages of media literacy. Starting with managing one's “media diet’”, learning specific skills to fully understand it, and lastly finding out “What is the purpose?” of specific messages in the media.

The more media one understands, the better people are with media literacy; experience within the field can be a huge help. Other components that deal with media literacy are audience, distance, and feedback. The audience is a mass audience and is “eclectic” and “heterogeneous.” Distance is how far away the mass audience is from the communicator, which affects the feedback aspect. Lastly, feedback from a mass audience is typically delayed with mass communication and media literacy because of the distance. All three components are what make media literacy work well, and help to find a certain audience that will spark interest.