Part 1. LaunchPad for Media and Culture 12e Media Literacy Activity: Tracking Recent Developments in Media Ownership

Media Literacy Activity: Tracking Recent Developments in Media Ownership
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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.

Activity Objective:

In this activity, you will apply the critical process to help you discover the most recent developments in media ownership and become familiar with the Benton Foundation’s new aggregation site.

Let’s get started! Click the forward and backward arrows to navigate through the slides. You may also click the above outline button to skip to certain slides.

Developing a media-literate critical perspective involves mastering five overlapping stages that build on one another. Let’s review the critical process you’ll be using below:

Description: paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the subject under study

Analysis: discovering and focusing on significant patterns that emerge from the description stage

Interpretation: asking and answering “What does that mean?” and “So what?” questions about one’s findings

Evaluation: arriving at a judgment about whether something is good, bad, or mediocre, which involves subordinating one’s personal taste to the critical “bigger picture” resulting from the first three stages

Engagement: taking some action that connects our critical perspective with our role as citizens to question our media institutions, adding our own voice to the process of shaping the cultural environment

Read about recent developments on media ownership at Benton Foundation's Web site: https://www.benton.org/benton-weekly-digest. Take notes on topics that have multiple stories or mentions in the current year.

Use the space below to answer the following question.

What issues or developments have received a lot of recent attention, discussion, or commentary? (Focus only on information from the current year.)

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

Now, focus on one development or pattern that has received significant attention in the current year and research this trend further.

Use the space below to answer the following question.

What information did you discover about the trend you identified? Provide a brief synopsis.

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

Through the following questions, let’s dig deeper into that trend you identified to interpret your findings.

Use the space below to answer the following question.

1. What does the trend mean for the state of media ownership?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

2. Is the trend evolving? If so, how?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

3. What does it tell you about media in general at the present?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

4. What might it say about our culture or our society?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

5. Can this information help you interpret the role of media ownership industry in our lives?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

Now, you’ll assess whether the trends in media ownership are good, bad, or both.

Use the space below to answer the following question.

1. Is the trend “good” or “bad”? For the public relations industry? society? culture? democracy? us?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

2. What do you think might happen in the future?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

Let’s take action! Use what you have learned to engage with media ownership moving forward. Below are a few suggestions on ways to get involved:

  • Post your views on social media, create a petition.
  • Contact people in media to see what they think of your interpretation and evaluation.

Use the space below to answer the following question.

What are three actions you can take to engage with media ownership?

Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.