Overview

1. Overview • Review of the first class • Producing a three-minute news report & critiquing it (1:10-2:30) • Group 1 activity: popular images of teachers (2:40-3:20) • Group 3 activity: stereotyping in the media (3:20-4:00)

2. Review of the first class • Key questions and keywords: • Constructed, portrayed, represented • Preferred meanings, included/excluded • How to counter?

3. Today • Today’s goal: to Strengthen your critical media literacy by producing a three-minute news report & critiquing it • Groups of 11 (12) • 6 will produce a report • 5/6 will be process reviewers

4. 1.Report production • The topic: ‘isolation/quiet/resource room’ in BC • Ban 'isolation rooms' in schools, B.C. advocate group urgesRead more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ban-isolation-rooms-in-schools-b-c-advocate-group-urges-1.1556191#ixzz2mCY6zKJ3

5. Make your own report • CTV is owned by Bell Media (controls 29% of the TV viewing market • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/school_report/resources_for_teachers/8472052.stm

6. Reviewers:5 areas of critical media literacy

7. 1. Representation: all media messages are “constructed”: a. Media messages are created, shaped, and positioned through a construction process b. This construction involves many decisions on what to include or exclude and how to represent reality c. The media do not present reality, they REPRESENT it.

8. 2. Connotation: How signs and symbols function • From the study of semiotics, media literacy practitioners analyse the dual meanings in signs • Denotation and signifier (the more literal reference to content) • Connotation and signified (the more associative, subjective significations of a message based on ideological and cultural codes) • For example, gender: constructedness of gender representation and make it look natural • Signifiers: representative male actors, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, seem to just present a male character • Signified: construct connotative meanings and signify certain traits such as patriarchal power, violent masculinity, and dominance

9. 3. Coding & decoding • The encoding of media texts by producers vs. the decoding by consumers • The ability of audiences to produce their own readings and meanings and to decode texts in aberrant or oppositional ways, as well as the “preferred” ways in tune with the dominant ideology. • Different subject positions, like gender, race, class, or sexuality, produce different readings and one’s grasp of a media text is enriched by interpreting it from different audience perspectives

10. 4. Values: Media have embedded values and points of view • Question media representations of race, class, gender, and so on • Locate the bias in media • Recognize the subjective nature of all communication

11. 5. Motivation • Media are organized to gain profit and/or power • The consolidation of ownership of the media has given control of the public airwaves to a few multinational oligopolies to determine who and what is represented and how • This concentration of ownership threatens the independence and diversity of information and creates the possibility for the global colonization of culture and knowledge

12. Recap • Representation: All media messages are constructed • Denotation (signifier) vs connotation (signified): How signs and symbols function • Encoding & decoding: preferred meanings vs audience interpretations • Values: Media have embedded values and points of view • Motivation: profit, power, ownership, control

13. Activity • Get into a group of 11/12 • Decide: producers and 5 process reviewers • 20 minutes for production and review • Presentations (10 minutes) • Process reviews from each group (15 minutes: 5 minutes from each group) • Large group discussion (15 minutes)

14. Should 'isolation rooms' be banned in B.C. schools?: Children left in windowless offices, padded rooms and gym equipment closets, critics say • CBC News Posted: Nov 21, 2013 6:09 AM PT • http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/should-isolation-rooms-be-banned-in-b-c-schools-1.2434512

15. Should 'Isolation Rooms' be banned in Canadian schools? • Friday, November 22, 2013 • http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/11/22/should-isolation-rooms-be-banned-in-canadian-schools/

16. Group 1 (2:40-3:10) • Popular images of teachers • How they are constructed, what influence they have, and how they should be changed • 3:10 – 3:20: written feedback from each group • Group 3 (3:20-3:50) • How racial and ethnic groups are stereotyped in the media; and how they perpetuate power inequality • 3:50 – 4:00: written feedback from each group

17. Recap • Review the first class & added some new critical questions to evaluate the media • Produced a three-minute news report & learned to critique it • Group 1 activity: popular images of teachers • Group 3 activity: stereotyping in the media • Any final questions or thoughts? or A-ha moments that you’d like to share?

19. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/13/concentration-media-ownership-canada_n_1773117.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/13/concentration-media-ownership-canada_n_1773117.html

20. We will use these websites for an in-class activity: • The Media Ownership Chart. Available: http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/front.shtml#chart • Columbia Journalism Review. Who owns what? Available: http://www.cjr.org/resources

21. As a critical media reader/viewer, what questions do you usually ask? • Open your toolbox (2 min) • Pair-share (3 min) • Large group discussion (5 min)