Learn to Taste Media Literacy in the Fruit of Rebellion
On May 26th, 2020, the Minneapolis Riots broke out in South Minneapolis after an initially peaceful protest acknowledging the death of George Floyd. By the end of the week, protests and riots erupted all over the country, taking precedence over the constant coverage of the pandemic, making that past seem as ordinary as the weatherman’s nightly report.
The protests and riots in Minneapolis remained in neighborhoods primarily occupied by Black people, Indigenous people and other people of color. Large news outlets were capturing images of people looting stores, perpetuating the image of unwarranted violence without giving information as to who incited the violence.
There is reason for speculation that the violence of the initial Minneapolis protests and others that had sparked since have been started by police in many ways. The tactics and tools that are provided to the police and other government bodies that were present, such as the National Guard and SWAT, for the purpose of deescalation are violent by nature. To intentionally and strategically administer tear gas, which provokes the reaction of coughing and touching one’s face, during the middle of a pandemic that revolves around the respiratory system, is violent. To shoot rubber bullets while standing on buildings above massive crowds, eliminating the factor of calculated caution for fear and instead increasing real harm upon civilians, is violent. To appear in front of crowds of mournful, peaceful protesters in riot gear including rifles, batons, and large militarized vehicles, incites violence.
Today’s media madness feels too big to conceptualize. Mass media includes all technology that provides messages to a large audience. This includes television, movies, news, social media, books, music, etc. Most of us are probably experiencing a new type of stress that comes with the influx of frequency in headlines, making the news feel unstable in a period of national and worldwide unrest. It may seem elementary, but you should always be considering whether what you read is opinion versus fact. There is an ample amount of misinformation out there and it's crucial to deeply criticize where your news is coming from.
Americans have been provided with an abundance of outlets to rely on for news; big news sources such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. Additionally, the growth of social media in the past decade has allowed the presence of more independent sources to have the room to flourish. As of 2019 according to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, about 55% of adults answered that they “often” or “sometimes” get their news from social media. (Suciu) While this implies the action of following larger sources such as The New York Times, CNN, Vice, and Buzzfeed, the increase of social media as an avenue to news also implies the increased visibility towards smaller independent news sources like Unicorn Riot.
Since the uprising in Minneapolis, where I am writing this from, I have been reminded of the importance and privilege of my education. Not only am I grateful for having access to multiple sources of news, but also for being able to navigate my way through it thanks to the concept of media literacy. Media literacy is defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms. As a college student studying journalism, this field has granted me access to this information. The concept of media literacy is rammed into your head as soon as you enter your first general media studies course of your undergraduate career. Now would be the time that I encourage everyone to add this skill to their toolbelt. Media literacy will be beneficial to you by helping to digest all the media you consume in a more conscious and thorough manner. When you are consuming veiled opinions at a constant speed, utilizing media literacy skills can help you sift through information and feel more confident in your conclusions. I believe that the education of our media landscape is crucial for moving forward and all that it entails should be accessible to everyone.
The five main concepts of media literacy are as follows:
All media messages are constructed.
They do not exist naturally. Messages are constructed from ideas that are present in our world. However, messages are crafted to send a specific understanding of an idea from one group of humans who share that understanding to the public sphere. This should be the first thing you think of when consuming media.
All media messages are created using their own languages with their own rules.
The second concept of media literacy deconstructs the media’s message by telling us to ask ourselves: “Who is this meant to attract or target? What boxes do I fit into in a marketing perspective?” These questions are important to understanding how the media tends to “hook” people in. The language of media messages is used particularly for attracting you.
People experience the same media message differently.
Media can serve as a reflection for the lives that we lead as well as a window into the lives of others. However, this leaves room for the same issues that we face surrounding the difficulties of understanding equality versus equity and what true diversity looks like. Consider how someone from a different economic, regional, or political standpoint might consume the same media you do. Consider those with a different gender, race, sexuality, etc! Consider how someone different from you in any way might consume the same things you see!
Media messages have embedded values and highlighted perspectives.
For example, political campaigns tend to craft their factor of appeal to highlight popular concepts that are idolized and are largely relatable to the majority of their target audience. When commercialized, the values of conservative political ideologies tend to focus on older notions of the American Dream. Liberal political ideologies tend to commercialize the concept of a future of equality. However, both sides tend to root their virtues in the agenda of “defeating” the other side and use the glorification of realities that are limited in actuality to further their point. Ask yourself what ideas and values are being amplified? Question what lifestyles are being supported.
Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.
Usually this power is meant to benefit a corporation or a group that represents a ruling power in some way, shape or form. When viewing all forms of media, it’s good to question who is benefiting from you consuming that media. These potential benefits can reflect the various demographic indicators that affect the way the media is being presented to you and who else the audience might consist of besides you.
The voice of the media is perhaps one of the most important factors in the way that current events make their mark in people’s personal recollections of history; it is the sad truth that mainstream media can fail to justly represent perspectives. Currently, the nation is experiencing a major shift in the societal perception of systemic machines that frame the American identity. This has resulted in an unabashedly and rapid radicalization of many people. The legendary Angela Davis stated, “This is an extraordinary moment. I have never experienced anything like the conditions we are currently experiencing, the conjuncture created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recognition of the systemic racism...this is a moment I don’t know whether I ever expected to experience.” (Uprising and Abolition) If it hasn’t been made clear, I am urging you to understand that now is the time to be paying attention to life around you.
The idea of neutrality is a vital component in the world of journalism, but this “vital component” is more of a facade. For this reason, the coverage of events that show stark differences between two or more parties are very important. Media bias is defined as the bias of journalists and news producers in the selection of events and stories that are reported, and how they are covered. (Boundless)
Due to media bias, news is manipulated to show information in ways that are more appealing to the values of certain ideologies depending on the source. The portrayal of particular images, ideas, and statements can be misleading to some, dangerous to many, and counterproductive to everyone. Race is the stage that the world is set on and this year was the start of a new act.
An influx of images of the resulting violence that occurred in Minneapolis and now nationwide furthers the “us versus them” conflict. The dramatization of that scenario tends to minimize the actual reasoning for anger, sadness, and unrest by a particular group of people. A prime example of this happened on the first night in which protests began to spread around the city. Due to escalating police violence, the beginning of the riots commenced with the looting of a Target located on Lake Street and the burning of an Autozone next door. This led to more violence affecting businesses along the busy hub that is Lake Street. When news outlets began to cover this, the images of people looting caused many hostile reactions against the meaning of the uprising as a whole. This reaction piggybacks on the long-held stereotypes of BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) being akin to stealing and other illegal activities due to harmful stereotypes forced upon people of these identities.
Privilege allows comfort in conversations about looting and violence while avoiding criticizing why those actions have occurred in the first place. It’s easier and more comfortable to have a conversation with validated privileged emotions, but the conversation about systemic oppression is more important. In turn, the overwhelming presence of these images takes away the opportunity to have conversations about race that we really should be having, the ones that address the root of the discomfort.
Additionally, the repetition of this type of exposure feeds into the pattern of purposefully depicting minorities in a negative light in the face of conflict. This perpetuates the action of demonizing faces that are not white and actively pushes the conversation of race in the wrong direction, pushing BIPOC further away from the table. This pattern is counterproductive nonetheless and its current impact emphasizes why media literacy is a necessary skill for digesting content from large “trustworthy” sources.
As new as it might feel, the importance of media literacy has been expressed for decades throughout various media types; the need to consume media critically has always been there. Propaganda still exists today in many ways through media bias in big news and media filter bubbles, where you are only consuming media from one point of view. That being said, take this article as an encouragement to develop skills to actively recognize media biases and the agenda of messages presented to you.
Here is a quick guide to critically consuming news by Gracie Regala (@gregala721), Rachel Fedorchak (@rachelfedorchak), and Abraham Teuber (@abrahamteuber):
