The output model of the eCLIPse project clearly mentions two dimensions of literacy: the ‘reading’ (analysis) and the ‘writing’ (production) part. As well as being able to "decode" the symbols that dominate their society, students should be able to "encode" them. Just as we must integrate writing with the development of reading skills, we should integrate formal media analysis with media production.

Analysis Phase | Introduction
Feb 04 – May 04

In the first phase, the analysis, students analysed the way media, and especially news  features,  (re)present, portray, depict ethnic minorities and immigrants. It is a known fact that the representation of minority groups constructed by the media plays a very important role, not only in the perception the public has of these people, but also in the very perception they have about themselves, their self-esteem and their aspirations (Shepherd 2003).(1) Most importantly, the imagery of television news may contribute to racism and discrimination through promotion of various stereotypes (Campbell 1995). Both positive and negative representations in media may reflect ideology and attempts to encode meanings for audience members (McQuail 2000).

It would be silly in media education to pretend that ideologies did not exist or that they did not influence the media. It would, perhaps, be criminal. Ignoring ideology is no better than pushing a single ideology. The only tenable stance towards ideology is one that helps students identify ideological influences in their media, clarify their own ideological beliefs, and come to terms with the way that ideologies operate within the media.(2)

So the general questions that we kept on asking throughout the project were:

1. How do we judge the relationship between the representation that the media offer of people, places and events, and their existence in the ‘real world’?
2. Who is included in the representations of the media?
3. Who is not included?
4. Why?
5. What/who is behind the message?

The model that we are here presenting is a combination of pre-set stages, strategies, resources and evaluation criteria on one hand (a priori), and the real experience of the project on the other (a posteriori).

For our subject, the representation of ethnic minorities and immigrants in the media, we considered four crucial stages in the analysis phase:

Awareness: make students aware of media messages and the stereotypes that are implicit to them

Analysis: give students tools to analyse the media message, both in its contents and its form, to detect the stereotypes

Evaluation: give students tools to think critically about the media message, and ask questions about its form, contents, context and consequences, to ‘demask’ the stereotypes

Presentation of results: students share their experiences with each other in a face-to-face meeting, present their analysed clips and exchange ideas about the analysis processw

(1) Shepherd, Rick (2003). Contenidos y conceptos en una educación en medios, in: Roxana Murdochowicz (Coord.), Comunicación, medios y educación, Barcelona, Ediciones Octaedro, p. 103.

(2) Worsnop, Chris. (2003). Orthodoxy is the Enemy: Four Ways NOT to Teach Media Literacy. Center for Media Literacy. www.medialit.org

 

 

 

Eclipse Project - racism, xenophobia and cultural prejudices in the media  |  LMI-2005

Universitat of Barcelona  |  Universtität zu Köln
Universiteit Gent  |  Universitetet i Stavanger

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