Making and Marking the Media

Video #1 "What is Media Literacy"

The first video we watched, "What is Media Literacy" made a good point on the fact that we, as consumers have to be critical of the media. It goes on further to say that we can't be critical only as media consumers, we have to be critical of the media we produce too. I think that this is an important point because if we are not critical of both the media that we consume AND the media that we produce, then all the media will be below good quality. If we are not more critical of all media, the media will not improve enough to the point where an average person can have a better understanding of media literacy and therefore be able to tell when the media is worth listening to.

Another good point that was made during this video is that they outright said the truth. That is, the goal of most corporations is to make money above all else. This point is very true, because most of these corporations aren't producing media out of the pure goodness of their hearts, they simply want to make money. Does this mean every corporation is evil for wanting money? No, of course not. The basic facts though, is that every corporation wants money and we should be a little wary about this. The craving for money can sometimes make the media that is produced less than good. If everyone had more media literacy, then we would be able to tell when media is being produced at a lesser quality, purely for making money, and hen media is made to make money, but also the producer cares about what they're making.

Video #2 "Generation M- Media Literacy, Education, & Choice"

In the second video we watched, a main point that was made is that the education system itself is broken in a way that the educators aren't even aware they're being discriminatory. This error in the education system makes it so that children are growing up without learning how to accept that people are different from them. The whole system needs to be reworked so that kids will learn that being different is okay, and that everyone is different. The media itself can be very influential to children growing up, and with all the crazy stuff that goes on in the world today, there's nobody really teaching that differences are a good thing. If this stuff was taught at school and was part of a kids education, then maybe we would have a better world when they grow up.

The other point that I wanted to focus on from this video was that no matter how many point of views media producers try to include in what they make, there will always someone left out. I think this is a very important point because we really should try to include everybody, but of course it is hard to get everybody involved. Obviously, you should never intentionally leave someone out just because they have a different point of view. I think that it is important to include many point of views within the media, because going back to that last point about the education system, it may help people understand that everybody has a different point of view, and that everybody in the world is different from one another.