India Beats for Media Literacy

India beats for Media Literacy

Ratheesh Kaliyadan

Most of our children abounded with media messages emerged  from newspapers, magazines, TV, Radio and from the new media. The affluent flow of messages influences their life from various directions. Media syndrome is a major issue of city folk and even in villages, though the intensity is lesser. Increased exposure to the media is associated with multi-faceted problems like increasing obesity, body dissatisfaction, aggressive behavior and many more amongst Indian children. They are growing fast mentally and physically whom psychologists are termed now as  ‘The New Kid’. It is pathetic to realize that our children are not treated by the media world considerably. India has least number of kids channels. Out of total only 3 percent of channels are kids’ channels ( 17). In a country which has 550 TV channels, 77,600 newspaper types in multiple language, 595 movie releases ( including Hindi, regional and Hollywood releases) and so many FM channels have we ever wondered what space have we given in a such a wide canvas to our children. According to FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2011 “Hitting the High Notes” the Indian media and entertainment industry grew from INR 587 billion in 2009 to INR 652 billion in 2010. The growth is registering an overall growth of 11 percent. The industry includes TV, Radio Print, cinema and gaming. The educational and entertainment needs of a very vast population i.e. children is disregarded in this race.

 The kids’ genres of channels are not offering much better performance is yet another reality which we face. The children watch programmes produced for Adults. The reality shows, the soap operas, the highly sensualized news stories are definitely not meant for children. But they anyhow are watching them with great interest. In such an environment, there is a wider chance to implement media literacy programmes in schooldays. Children reach school at the age of 5 in India. Curricular and co-curricular experiments are possible in India environment. Sophisticated media consumers and the fact that they experience so many medium at home would seem to be as a good reason to include it in the curriculum than to exclude it. At national level, Central Institute for Education and Training, NCERT, New Delhi began an effort to make media literacy campaign. Their target audience is the secondary and senior secondary students. The institute started Media clubs in schools.

Government of Kerala introduced journalism course in Higher Secondary Schools is the first attempt in India to consider at a large. The course introduced in August 2000.  Higher Secondary Education began the course in seven schools, now the course runs in 75 schools. The growth indicates the social demand for the course. The major drawback of the curriculum is that it does not cover the critical thinking. If the curriculum is revisited in a style, which promotes critical analysis of the media sector, the effort will be the first one in India media education history at school level.

Non- Governmental Organisations like Mediaact in Thiruvananthapuram and Media Analysis and Research Center in Kozhikode tried their own efforts in media literacy sector in Kerala. These are not well framed and organized forms of activities. Lack of closely knitted curricula and research oriented documents pull back such efforts from the mainstream.

Media Literacy:International Experience in praxis

Media Literacy:International Experience in praxis

Ratheesh Kaliyadan

Several attempts are popular among developed nations media ecology. Different initiatives run wide ranges of programmes to establish media literacy among youth and children. Both across curriculum activities and co-curricular activities are available. Only the best practiced and universally applauded initiatives are mentioning here.

Media literacy through critical thinking is a package developed by NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy. The work books and other documents developed by the center  is provided strictly for educational purposes and as a public service by the NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy, based in the College of Education at the University of Washington. Their goal is to improve the training, research, and service opportunities for both adults and teens across Washington State who are interested in media literacy education and have particular interest in addressing teen health issues from a media literacy perspective.

The Media Literacy Project is a leading effort in United States of America to promote media literacy among children. The project founded in 1993, cultivates critical thinking and activism. “We are committed to building a healthy world through media justice” says the Media Literacy project leaders. As a nationally recognized leader in media literacy resources, trainings, and education, MLP delivers dynamic multimedia presentations at conferences, workshops and classrooms across the country. The project’s media literacy curricula and action guides are used in countless classrooms and communities. The training programs have empowered thousands of people to be advocates and activists for media justice. The project is organizing campaigns such as Siembra la palabra digna. This is an Anchor Organization for the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) center communities of color, poor communities, rural communities, and immigrant communities in the creation of local, regional, and national media policy.

Realising the realities around, the ministry of education, Ontario put forward a unique experience in media literacy. The experts of Ontario rightly realised that critical-thinking and critical-literacy skills are tools students need in order to develop into active, responsible participants in the global community. They believe that professional collaboration and ongoing learning help teachers develop a deeper, broader, more reflective understanding of effective instruction. They practice the principle ‘catch them young’ by providing opportunities of media literacy exercises in junior classes. In the junior grades, students look for relevance and meaning in what they are learning. In today’s media-saturated world, media literacy is highly relevant. Students need to learn to view media messages with a critical and analytical eye as well as how to interact with media responsibly. By exploring the hows and whys of the media, students develop an increased understanding of the media’s unprecedented power to persuade and influence. “Media Literacy”, builds on the research findings and best practices in Literacy for Learning: The Report of the Expert Panel on Literacy in Grades 4 to 6 in Ontario. It provides a framework for the expectations in the Media Literacy strand of the Language curriculum (2006). It emphasizes the importance of developing a critical awareness of the media and describes effective ways of teaching about and using media. Media literacy instruction can be woven into all areas of the curriculum not only the learning expectations in all the Language strands (Reading, Writing, Oral Communication, and Media Literacy) but also other curriculum subject areas.

MEDIATED CULTURE

Mediated Culture

Ratheesh Kaliyadan

While we march from instructional television to internet protocol television a lot of change had happened. Technologically prestigious advancements are noted. We became one among the internationally appealing media markets. Gently the reflections happened in our attitude also. How does a child taught to ask for a particular brand of chocolate or tooth paste? Why do college students in Assam and Kerala tend to wear pretty much the same types of clothes? Why do they prefer same brands? Why do they tend to listen to the same types of music? Enjoy the same movies or television shows?  Because they are exposed to many of the same media messages and images!

Ours is a media driven society. With the emergence of cheap newspapers, magazines, paperback books, radio and television a new form of art made its debut, catering to the undeveloped tastes of massive. Its content is unsophisticated and simplistic. Confession magazine, popular time soap opera, reality shows, people participatory programmes like talkshaws and phone-ins, games show, comic strip and western movie are its typical forms.

Thanks to new economic policy and liberalization, commercial revenue cumulated in media houses. Media managers are in war to invite maximum revenue to their own house. To attract advertisement providers media giants are forced to make programmes as the ‘commercial bosses’ like it. This media output is an important part of popular culture. A term used to label such mass mediated art is the German word kitsch. It diminishes both folk and elite as it deprives its audience of interest in developing tastes for more genuine art forms. As media scholar David Buckingham tells, “The media do not offer us a transparent window on the world. They provide channels through which representations and images of the world can be communicated indirectly. The media intervene; they provide us with selective versions of the world, rather than direct access to it.” Moreover, it is mainly a tool for economic exploitation of the masses.