Does Media Create the World We See or is it the World We Create?

We live in a world of powerful images be it our morning newspaper or the late night film on television. The Media bring the world to our homes. They bring us experiences ranging from war and peace, environmental issues and social values to discoveries and happenings. More important we rely on them for entertainment and pleasure.

Unconsciously the media impact our vision of ourselves. In some ways this goes unnoticed. It is fine when we learn about the world or the latest technological advances. But in other ways unconsciously we allow the mass media to shape our images of ourselves. We may tend to accept them as truth without really thinking about it.

The dangers of not thinking about the media are greatest for the young audience, children being the least sophisticated viewers. Hence it is necessary to help them develop skills that will allow them to critically analyse what they see and read. To become "media literate" is not to memorise facts and figures about the media but rather to raise the right questions about what one is watching, reading or listening to. Research has identified five main ideas that everyone should know about the media messages whether it comes in the form of a film, sitcom, magazine, a computer game or the Internet.

1.Media messages are "constructed"

It helps to remember that what we see on television or a hoarding is "put together" by a team of people. This is more than a physical process. What happens in a sitcom or a soap is whatever is "constructed" by just a few people. It then becomes "the way it is" for the rest of us. One can take the example of the long running soap Dallas or The Bold and the Beautiful. As an audience we only get to see what has been accepted not what has been rejected be it a beautiful model or a simple conversation.

2.Media messages have creative language of their own