After re-reading my original post here on WordPress, I find that my beliefs and views on the power of the media haven’t changed much throughout this course. I still believe that the media has a large amount of bias, and it comes through in every form and vehicle that is used to disseminate information. I also still believe that the media chooses to report on stories that have the “human interest” factor that drives consumption. Writers of media content play a massive role in shaping our views on the world, and as such, must hold themselves to a certain ethical standard. Hopefully this standard is such that it reflects the medical community’s Hippocratic Oath of “First, do no harm”.
Writers of media content may write their content for a large number of reasons, usually because they get paid for it. Should this change their personal ethics when creating this content? Should these writers’ respective ethics be a mirror of the company that they work for or their boss? Or should they hold themselves to a higher ethical standard and choose to write content that does no harm to others? As the media is so pervasive in all of our daily lives, seeing content that is ethical in all ways can only make a positive difference on our lives as individuals and also as members of a global community. This can only serve to change all of our lives in a positive manner as a result and perhaps even lend itself to the social betterment of all of us. If media content creators do the opposite, the risk to ourselves and our communities grows. Instead of improving our social environment, we will move down the slippery slope of media content only for financial gain. This shows why it is so important for each of us to become media literate and to teach our children to be media literate as well.
Media literacy combats any lack of ethics in media content, If we are media literate, and know how to find the reasons why the particular content creator is sending their articular message, we take the ethical choice off of the content provider, and make it our own. This way we can protect ourselves against content that may be unethical. We are able to find the facts behind the message and decide for ourselves whether or not that content should play a role in the making of our own opinions or beliefs. By becoming media literate, we are able to decide for ourselves what is ethical and what is not and choose to surround ourselves with similar ethical messages. While it would be wonderful if all media content producers took it upon themselves to write ethical content, this is something we know is just not feasible for everyone. By taking the onus to become truly media literate, we allow ourselves to be the true gatekeepers of the media content that we absorb every day.
References
Baran, S.J. (2015) Introduction to mass communication: Media literacy and culture. (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Kovach, B. & Rosenstiel, T. (2010) Blur: how to know what’s true in the age of information overload. (1st ed.). Bloomsbury USA, New York
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