Slide No.

Reporter’s Activity
1 Thank you, Mr. Ceralde and Ms. Imperial for that comprehensive discussion. Now, let’s
move on to the Advantages and Disadvantages of Media.

Since all of us have an idea of some of the advantages and disadvantages of media, this
part of the lesson will be somewhat self-explanatory thus we’re not going to delve deeply
into this.

2 That being said, let’s first discuss the advantages of media.

3 Media educates people on health matters, environmental conservation, and others

through various forms.

In short, media is informative. It educates us on health matters just like the announcement
of COVID-19 to the world. It also tells us about the effects of climate change and how we
may help mitigate it. And all the other information we know because we use media, may it
be the radio, TV, newspaper, or the internet.

Next.

People get the latest world news in a very short period of time regardless of distance.

The next advantage is time-convenient. We get to know what’s going on around the world
regardless of the physical distance between us and the event. For example, when the war
between Ukraine and Russia happened, the whole world is aware of it regardless of
whether they are in Ukraine or Russia themselves.

People can bring out their hidden talents in the multimedia and visual arts, comedy,
acting, dancing, and singing.

Media gives people a platform for self-expression. This mainly pertains to social media
sites, like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc, that give us opportunities to
post anything from our hobbies, skills, and talents.

4 Media increase knowledge learned from quiz programs, educational shows, and other
information-giving programs.

It serves as an educational platform, may it be intentional or not. For example, here in the
Philippines we have Batibot, AHA!, DepEd TV, documentaries, etc.

People feel convenient in accessing information through mobile phones.

Most people have mobile phones nowadays. We can conveniently access information
whether we want to search for someone we know online, know the current economic
situation in the world, or find a good eating place and how to get there. Having a mobile
phone is an advantage for us in the 21st-century world.
 They become a vehicle in promoting products toward increased sales.

Simply put, advertisements that we encounter in any form of media that expose us to a
new product and persuade us to buy one. For example, video reels of products online.

They serve as a good source of entertainment.

For example, we get to watch movies and shows that we like, listen to our favorite songs,
read novels and use media for anything that entertains us.

5 Television allows electronic duplication of information that reduces mass education costing.

Since print media is relatively more expensive, the fact that television allows electronic
duplication helps decrease the costs of educating a lot of people simultaneously. Similarly,
the internet allows us to share information and files in one or two clicks like through
Google Drive.

Media lead to the diffusion of diverse cultures and cultural practices.

Because of the advancement of technology and globalization, we have what we call

cultural globalization. It is the process by which a person’s cultural concepts, views, and
experiences are spread around the world, using different means of dissemination. And one
of the ways how this happen is through global media – the internet to be exact.

They help people around the world understand each other and respect differences.

Since media provide us with information about each other’s cultures, it becomes easier for
us to understand our differences and to respect one another despite their existence.

6 Now that we’re done with the advantages of media, let’s move on to the disadvantages.

7 They lead to individualism. Spending too much time on the Internet and watching television
usually impedes socialization with friends, family, and others.

Too much consumption of media could lead to phone addiction and decrease socialization.
For example, you and your friends haven’t seen each other for a while but all of you are
still glued to your phones, immersed in the online world instead of talking.

Some media contents are not suitable for children.

Although there are Safe Search settings for kids on various sites, children are still
vulnerable to mature or not-so-child-friendly content online. Parents and guardians, no
matter how attentive, can still expose their children to such content. In social media sites
in particular, since we cannot control the app’s algorithms, the content that they see is
generalized and is most likely for adults or more mature audiences. For example, sexy
dance trends in TikTok are getting imitated by five-year-olds, and obscene language like
curses used in posts can be read and heard by children.
 A newspaper is geographically selective

Since newspapers depend on sales in addition to advertisements to keep making a profit,

the media house or publishers may stop sending their papers to places where sales are
very low, hence leading to the inaccessibility of others to information.

The increase in advertisements in television and radio makes them less attractive.

People watch television for the show but the number of commercials shown to watch a
single show may even be longer than the show itself. The same is true with people who
read newspapers for the articles and see advertisements occupying more space. This only
makes people lose interest in these forms of media.

8 The internet can be a possible way for scams, fraud, and hacking.

Since the internet allows people to be faceless and create fake names, people online can
claim to be someone else and lie to others. These lead to scams and fraud cases that are
difficult to trace. Meanwhile, other people’s privacy can be compromised through hacking.
In other words, the mass media is a perfect place for impostors and criminals who do not
want their real identities exposed.

Media can be addictive that may result in people's decreased productivity.

Again, phone addiction. People who can’t let go of their phones at all whether they are
eating, doing house chores, or even while in the bathroom.

They can cause health hazards, such as radiation effects, poor eyesight, hearing defects, and
others.

9 They may induce drugs and alcohol use.

There is some media content that makes using drugs and drinking alcohol look normal, like
it’s a cool trendy thing, smoking even. I think men are more vulnerable to such content as
shows usually portray those things as the definition of masculinity.

They can lead to personal injury by imitating the stunts showcased in media.

There are media contents where people’s talents are somehow extraordinary and are
dangerous for normal people to imitate. For example, walking on a tightrope. That’s the
reason why we hear the lines ‘Please don’t do this at home” or “This should only be done
by experts” but there are some people who won’t listen to this advice and they get injured
as a result.

They can ruin reputation through an anonymous account, malicious scandals, false
accusations and rumors.
 Again, since we’re allowed to hide our identities online or create fake ones, people have
this unfounded courage to do harmful things to others without much consideration of its
consequences. The best example is cyberbullying.

10 Now that we’re done with the advantages and disadvantages of media, let’s move on to
Integrating Media Literacy in the Curriculum.

11 So according to Lynch (2018), there are six ways to integrate media literacy into the classroom
for students to become media literate while making media education a meaningful and
integrated pail of classroom practice.

These are the following:

12 1. Teach students to evaluate media.

Students learn to evaluate what they are viewing by showing them that media changes
depending on who created it, the intended audience, and the biases that may be
attributed to the source. For example, an article about the ongoing battle to pass the
SOGIE bill may be evaluated based on the stand of its author and the audience he or she is
trying to convince. If the author is against it, the article will most likely contain negative
biases and the same is true with the opposite situation.

2. Show students where to find digital resources and databases.

Teachers should provide students with reliable and safe media sources and trustworthy
content. They should give a list of sites that are known to be credible and unbiased
especially news sites since fake news is prevalent nowadays.

13 3. Compare and contrast various media sources.

During the discussions, students should distinguish various media sources and compare
elements. Take two news articles for instance with the same topic, see whether the
contents are similar to each other, and whether the facts are presented clearly, if they are
not, compare them to another article to know which media source is not valid.

4. Discuss how the media edits and alters.

Purposely point out to students examples of media altering photographs or stories while
teaching them to be critical of what they see or read at face value. For example,
photoshop photos, spliced videos, students must be aware of them and know when they
see one.

14 5. Examine the “truth” in advertisements.

Let students identify what advertisements are trying to sell and what promises or ideas
they are using to convince them to buy the product. For example, during the election,
campaign advertisements are prevalent and the voters examine their promises before
choosing whom to vote for.
 6. Have students create media.

Let students create media appropriate to their levels such as presentations, videos, or
websites because the best way they can learn media is by creating one themselves.

15 Although this is given little emphasis in the classroom, Hobbs and Frost (1994) present the
skills that students are able to possess with the media they use in class.
1. Reflect on and analyze their own media consumption habits.
2. Identify the author, purpose and point of view in films, commercials, television and
radio programs, magazine and newspaper editorials and advertising.
3. Identify the range of production techniques that are used to communicate
opinions and shape the audience's response.

16 4. Identify and evaluate the quality of media's representation of the world by

examining patterns, stereotyping, emphasis and omission in print and television
news and other media.
5. Appreciate the economic underpinnings of mass media industries to make
distinctions between those media which sell audiences to advertisers and those
which do not.
6. Understand how media economics shapes message content.
7. Gain familiarity and experience in using mass media tools for personal expression
and communication and for purposes of social and political advocacy.

17 For the next topic, we the approaches to teaching media literacy.

18 Kellner and Share (2007) mentioned three approaches to teaching media literacy that
would utilize media in pedagogical practice. These are:
1. Media Arts Education Approach
2. Media Literacy Movement Approach
3. Critical Media Literacy Approach

19 1. Media Arts Education Approach

 It intends to teach students to value the aesthetic qualities of media and the arts
while using their creativity for self-expression through creating art and media.

For example, using media to create a song, a visual art, to post a video of yourself
dancing or doing something to express yourself. This approach is mainly concern
about utilizing media to create something.

20 2. Media Literacy Movement Approach

 It attempts to expand the notion of literacy to include popular culture and multiple
forms of media (music, video, Internet, advertising, etc.) while still working within
a print literacy tradition.

In this approach, we are also classifying popular culture as part of media literacy
while engaging with print literacy. This approach is concern with introducing
different forms of media As an instructor, you can encourage students to develop
 foundational media literacy skill sets by encouraging a diverse use of sources,
challenging students to consider the information being conveyed regardless of
form ("read" images, sound), and to always consider the authority of a source
within course and discipline contexts.

21 3. Critical Media Literacy Approach

 It focuses on ideology critiquing and analyzing the politics of representation of
crucial dimensions of gender, race, class, and sexuality; incorporating alternative
media production; and expanding the textual analysis to include issues of social
context, control, resistance, and pleasure.

From the word itself, the approach to teaching media literacy encourages students
to be involved in social issues and be critical in evaluating and utilizing media to
contribute in dealing with these social issues. Instructors can aid in student
development of critical media literacy skill sets by encouraging critical analysis of
how discipline specific issues are represented in the field and mass media .