Chapter 1. LaunchPad for Media and Culture 12e Media Literacy Activity: Blaming Media

Introduction

Media Literacy Activity: Blaming Media
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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 reflect on an opinion piece written by a pop culture icon who became a scapegoat in an infamous school shooting.

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Reviewing the Critical Process

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

Description

Read “Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?” by the heavy metal singer-songwriter Marilyn Manson. Mason wrote this piece for Rolling Stone Magazine after some people blamed him for the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. The piece was published on June 24, 1999 (pp. 23-24) and is available at: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/columbine-whose-fault-is-it-19990624%3F. Manson followed up several months later with an essay published on his Web site: “Is Adult Entertainment Killing Our Children? Or Is Killing Our Children Entertaining Adults?” The essay is available at: http://www.mansonwiki.com/wiki/Is_Adult_Entertainment_Killing_Our_Children%3F_Or_Is_Killing_Our_Children_Entertaining_Adults%3F.

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Analysis

Now, identify the patterns in the coverage about Columbine.

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Interpretation

Next, let’s dig deeper into the patterns you identified to interpret your findings.

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Evaluation

Through the following questions, express your views as you assess the role of media coverage in our culture and society.

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Engagement

Let’s take action! Marilyn Manson engaged by writing an opinion essay for Rolling Stone Magazine, writing a follow-up essay, and putting out an album, “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death),” that addressed the school shooting and its aftermath. Possibilities include posting your views on social media, or creating a petition.

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