The Medium is the Message

“The medium is the message” is a quote I often heard during my undergrad at Western University where I studied Media Information Technoculture, and developed a personal passion for critically thinking about the media. Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian professor, philosopher, and public intellectual. He is generally associated with his prediction of the Internet, thirty-five years before it happened. However, what I associate with McLuhan is his theories on media and their affect on society. Though most of his career was spent deconstructing the media, we as media literate citizens can deconstruct his saying “the medium is the message”, to determine the meaning behind it. The “medium” refers to mass-media communications such as television, internet, radio, etc. The “message” refers to the content or information that is transmitted. What McLuhan theorized was that the form of the message determines the ways in which the message will be perceived. Modern communications actually alter the way we experience the world due to their sociological, political, cultural, and economical influence on society. McLuhan was transitioning the dialogue away from the technology itself, but instead focusing on the implications of that technology.

      This has powerful repercussions for society. Due to the overwhelming influence the media has on our lives, shaping our experience, it is imperative that as teachers we provide students with the opportunities, skills, and critical mindset, to decipher, deconstruct, and question the content the media is constantly communicating to us. In “The Ontario Curriculum” for grades 1-8 for Language Arts, there is an entire section devoted to “Media Literacy”. Media literacy taught in schools should explore the influence or control mass media has on society through the examination of multiple medium platforms (e.g. films, songs, advertisements, television shows, magazines, news, social media, and websites). These mediums have significant influence on students’ lives and thus it is imperative that students develop their critical thinking skills as they apply to media products and media messages. The curriculum states, “understanding how media texts are constructed and why they are produced enables students to respond to them intelligently and responsibly” (13). As teachers we need to educate students how to critically interpret the messages perpetuated by the media, as well as communicate their own ideas through the media.

Now that we recognize that the “medium is the message” and understand the curriculum requirements for media literacy, we can look at two articles that highlight the relevance of media literacy within the classroom context. Education World has a blog called “Easy Ways to Integrate Media Literacy in the Classroom”. The main focus of the blog is the essential need for students to develop a deeper understanding of the media’s influence on our behaviours and thinking. It highlights how the younger generation may understand how to use technologies but are not literate when it comes to finding the meaning integrated into the content communicated. The blog provides teachers with topics that should be taught to and discussed amongst students. This includes the deconstruction of advertisements, critiquing representations and portrayals, and overall critically analyzing the messages perpetuated by the media. The article suggests asking questions such as: “How do impossible ideals influence how students perceive their own appearance and success? How do shows stereotype certain people? What groups are marginalized or entirely absent?” (Education World).

“Fake News Lesson Plan Ideas”, a blog written by Vicki Davis interviewing Jennifer Carey, is a more specified version of the Education World blog. Carey indicates the need to take precautions when referencing the media as resources of information because of how easy it is to receive false, altered, or biased material. Carey, similarly to Education World, states Students should learn to deconstruct, criticize, and question the media, but she relates it specifically to news sources. Written in the blog are examples of activities teachers can do with their students to educate them on realizing when information is true or false. An activity she proposes is having students create three fake news stories and two real news stories and trying to trick their peers into believing the fake stories. By positioning the students on the side of deceiver, they can learn how easy it is to bias stories, and those on the end of receiver can develop tools to deconstruct news in order to measure the truthfulness of the story.

Reading these articles has impacted my teaching practice and inspired me to teach media literacy in a way that resonates with students and relates to their everyday life inside and outside of the classroom. An activity that I would propose doing would be looking at two different styles of news outlets. There are great applications that students can utilize to stay current with world news, access resources for retrieving information, and constantly develop their repertoire of knowledge. However, it is important that students decipher between trustworthy news sources and those that are biased. The trustworthy news sources take on the “Public Sphere Model”, which treats people like citizens who deserve access to accurate information, provides those citizens with necessary resources and information they need in order to participate in a democratic society, and promotes diversity. The news sources that are biased take on the “Market Model”, which are undemocratic, focusing on light entertainment and scandals, sensationalized, concerned with market success, produce inequality, and overall treat people as consumers; only motivated to sell products and information preferred by the dominant class. The activity I plan to integrate into the classroom is comparing the Al Jazeera mobile application (public sphere model) and Fox News mobile application (market model). I would have the students browse both applications comparing the headlines, content of the news, viewpoints of the content, represented and underrepresented groups, what groups are portrayed as negative or positive, and more. For example, I have included below two screen grabs from each news application below. 

Fox News runs pieces without news value and instead provides propaganda, conservative ideals, and ultimately undermines democracy. As you can see, the included resources negatively portray immigration. They also showcase violence against the police rather than the overwhelming presence of police brutality on marginalized groups in today’s society. Additionally, Fox focuses on scandals such as a teacher having sex with students, instead of relevant and critical world issues. 

Al Jazeera is not profit-driven, avoids sensationalism, and serves the public interest. They provide news stories about the torture of Palestinians in PA prisons, realistically show the victimization of this marginalized group rather than stereotyping them as terrorists. They focus on domestic violence and homelessness, disseminating the view points of the oppressed that are generally overshadowed by the dominant classes. Al Jazeera also took the initiative to begin a project helping refugees in Bangladesh. This news source shows all viewpoints of events, and provides stories that are necessary for viewers to know based on being informed citizens. This activity will teach students how to analyze news stories, and determine the best tools for them to utilize to access resources and information.

Now that we have discussed and distressed the importance of educating students on media literacy, I want to leave you with a short but sweet Ted Talk by Andrea Quijada called “Creating Critical Thinkers through Media Literacy.” Quijada reiterates what I have outlined above, regarding students’ ability analyze media in a critical way by questioning, evaluating, and understanding their multimedia culture. We as educators need to cultivate active, engaged, media users, and I believe Quijada eloquently and fiercely communicates this need.