So Yahoo figured out that they could geolocate users pretty well by IP address. Which is why we now can’t watch Netflix in some countries.

After the election, for instance, people began to recognize that they’re not all operating in the same informational landscape.

So, engineers may not be be malicious, of course. But I don’t think they have the requisite education in the humanities and social sciences to incorporate other frameworks into their work. And we see the outcomes of that.

decolonization is not accountable to settlers, or settler futurity

The labor to cage black bodies is paid for by thestate and then land is granted, worked by convict labor, to generate additional profits for theprison proprietors.

1 in 6 people in the state of Louisiana are incarcerated, the highestnumber of caged people per capita, making it the prison capital of United States, and thereforethe prison capital of the world

his is not to say that Indigenous peoples or Black and brownpeoples take positions of dominance over white settlers; the goal is not for everyone to merelyswap spots on the settler-colonial triad, to take another turn on the merry-go-round. The goal isto break the relentless structuring of the triad - a break and not a compromise

“The land belongs to those who work it,”

More significant examples are Occupiers’ claims to land andtheir imposition of Western forms of governance within their tent cities/colonies. Claiming landfor the Commons and asserting consensus as the rule of the Commons, erases existing, prior, andfuture Native land rights, decolonial leadership, and forms of self-government.

The call to “occupyeverything” has legitimized a set of practices with problematic relationships to land and toIndigenous sovereignty

Corrina Gould,

for manyIndigenous people, Occupy is another settler re-occupation on stolen land. The rhetoric of themovement relies upon problematic assumptions about social justice and is a prime example ofthe incommensurability between “re/occupy” and “decolonize” as political agendas. The pursuitof worker rights (and rights to work) and minoritized people’s rights in a settler colonial contextcan appear to be anti-capitalist, but this pursuit is nonetheless largely pro-colonial. That is, theideal of “redistribution of wealth” camouflages how much of that wealth is land, Native land.

asifika

By contrast, decolonization specifically requires therepatriation of Indigenous land and life

we respectfully disagree with George Clinton and Funkadelic (1970) andEn Vogue (1992) when they assert that if you “free your mind, the rest (your ass) will follow.”

Until stolen land is relinquished, critical consciousness does not translate into action that disruptssettler colonialism

relinquishing stolen land

Furthermore, the postcolonial pursuit of resources is fundamentally an anthropocentric model, asland, water, air, animals, and plants are never able to become postcolonial; they remain objects tobe exploited by the empowered postcolonial subject

Aleut internment during WWII is largely ignored as partof U.S. history.

oes against the wishes of his profiteeringsettler cousins and chooses to “keep” the land,

In addition to fabricating historical memory, the Tales serve to generate historicalamnesia. The books were published between 1823-1841, at the height of the Jacksonian periodwith the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and subsequent Trail of Tears 1831-1837. During this time,46,000 Native Americans were removed from their homelands, opening 25 million acres of landfor re-settlement. The Tales are not only silent on Indian Removal but narrate the Indian asvanishing in an earlier time frame, and thus Indigenous people are already dead prior to removal.

The adoption fantasy is the mythical trumpcard desired by critical settlers who feel remorse about settler colonialism, one that absolvesthem from the inheritance of settler crimes and that bequeaths a new inheritance of Native-nessand claims to land (which is a reaffirmation of what the settler project has been all along).

These fantasies can mean the adoption of Indigenous practicesand knowledge, but more, refer to those narratives in the settler colonial imagination in whichthe Native (understanding that he is becoming extinct) hands over his land, his claim to the land,his very Indian-ness to the settler for safe-keeping

Through the one-drop rule, blackness in settler colonial contexts is expansive, ensuringthat a slave/criminal status will be inherited by an expanding number of ‘black’ descendants.Yet, Indigenous peoples have been racialized in a profoundly different way. Native American-ness10 is subtractive: Native Americans are constructed to become fewer in number and lessNative, but never exactly white, over time. Our/their status as Indigenous peoples/firstinhabitants is the basis of our/their land claims and the goal of settler colonialism is to diminishclaims to land over generations

settlers locate or invent a long-lost ancestor who is rumored to havehad “Indian blood,” and they use this claim to mark themselves as blameless in the attemptederadications of Indigenous peoples

attempt to relieve the settler of feelings of guilt or responsibility without givingup land or power or privilege,

Mawhinney’s thesis theorizes the self-positioning of white people as simultaneously theoppressed and never an oppressor, and as having an absence of experience of oppressive powe

‘the race to innocence’, “the process through which a woman comes tobelieve her own claim of subordination is the most urgent, and that she is unimplicated in thesubordination of other women”

The absorption of decolonization by settler social justiceframeworks is one way the settler, disturbed by her own settler status, tries to escape or containthe unbearable searchlight of complicity, of having harmed others just by being one’s self. Thedesire to reconcile is just as relentless as the desire to disappear the Native; it is a desire to nothave to deal with this (Indian) problem anymore.

white Americans needed either to destroy Indians of assimilate theminto a white American world...both aimed at making Indians vanish from thelandscape.

Playing Indian is a powerful U.S.pastime, from the Boston Tea Party, to fraternal organizations, to new age trends, to even thoseaforementioned Native print underwear.

that dispossessed people are brought ontoseized Indigenous land through other colonial projects. Other colonial projects includeenslavement, as discussed, but also military recruitment

Under U.S. colonization, California law stipulated that Indians could be murdered and/orindentured by any “person” (white, propertied, citizen). These laws remained in effect until 1937.

He can only make his identity as a settler by making the landproduce, and produce excessively, because "civilization" is defined as production in excess of the"natural" world (i.e. in excess of the sustainable production already present in the Indigenousworld).

Indigenous peoples are those who have creation stories, notcolonization stories, about how we/they came to be in a particular place - indeed how we/theycame to be a place.

Epistemological, ontological, andcosmological relationships to land are interred, indeed made pre-modern and backward. Madesavage

all things Native become recast as ‘naturalresources’ - bodies and earth for war, bodies and earth for chattel

essential minerals for high tech devices

attending to what is irreconcilable within settler colonial relations and what isincommensurable between decolonizing projects and other social justice projects will help toreduce the frustration of attempts at solidarity

Solidarity is an uneasy, reserved, and unsettled matter that neither reconcilespresent grievances nor forecloses future conflict.

ot an approximation of otherexperiences of oppression. Decolonization is not a swappable term for other things we want to doto improve our societies and schools. Decolonization doesn’t have a synonym.

our/their1 struggles for the recognition of our/their sovereignty, or the contributions ofIndigenous intellectuals and activists to theories and frameworks of decolonization. Further,there is often little recognition given to the immediate context of settler colonialism on the NorthAmerican lands where many of these conferences take place

These are two distinct but overlapping tasks, the firstconcerned with how the invisibilized dynamics of settler colonialism mark the organization,governance, curricula, and assessment of compulsory learning, the other concerned with howsettler perspectives and worldviews get to count as knowledge and research and how theseperspectives - repackaged as data and findings - are activated in order to rationalize and maintainunfair social structures

Do not expect your precariously hired POC/BAME/Indigenous/queer/junior faculty to do the diversity work (or, ahem, as you call it ‘decolonizing’ work for you to take credit on

Hire faculty that actually challenge you – and listen to them (they are more than your token hire)

precarity does to one’s sense of self and relationship to others.

responsibility of publishers and librarians to give full meaning to the freedom to read by providing books that enrich the quality and diversity of thought and expression.

No art or literature can flourish if it is to be measured by the political views or private lives of its creators.

It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox, unpopular, or considered dangerous by the majority.

pressures toward conformity present the danger of limiting the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend.

The freedom to read and write is almost the only means for making generally available ideas or manners of expression that can initially command only a small audience. The written word is the natural medium for the new idea and the untried voice from which come the original contributions to social growth.

an even larger voluntary curtailment of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy or unwelcome scrutiny by government officials.

free enterprise in ideas and expression

we need school librarians to continue to expand the literary landscape available to children.

The RRSG model reminds us that different contexts make different demands on readers.

The RRSG model shows us that the reader’s motivation and the instructional context matters.

Rather than further intensification of phonics instruction, the researchers call for a more contextualized approach that gives children access to both the secrets of the alphabetic code and sophisticated understanding of texts.

three key understandings about reading: 1) there are reading difficulties within and beyond word recognition and language comprehension; 2) there is an overlap between word recognition and language comprehension, and there are bridging skills—including fluency, vocabulary, and morphological awareness—that support that overlap; and 3) self-regulation, an executive function skill, plays an important cognitive role in reading.

defines word recognition as phonological awareness (an understanding of sounds in spoken words), decoding, and sight recognition of familiar words. It defines language comprehension as the intersection of background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge.

The SVR explains the necessity of both word recognition and language comprehension as “the most important cognitive capacities underlying reading success,

NAEP also found that 45 percent of white students are proficient, compared to just 18 percent of Black students and 23 percent of Latinx students.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), in 2019, only 40 percent of American fourth graders and eighth graders were proficient in reading

orthographic

phonological awareness and rapid automatic naming

A good rule of thumb is if staff is nottaking part in selection of materials - then they should not make a final weedingdecision.

Retain local history except when the item is shabby and beyond repair. Retainwritings by local authors during their lifetime and materials with local settings unlessthey have not circulated within the previous five years (or if a major milestonecelebration is coming up that would allow for these items to be put in the spotlight)

The policy should specify how gifts will behandled and indicate when and how to retire outdated materials.

approach an organized group or anindividual and request specific assistance in building an area of specialinterest and usefulness to them.

Nothing will discourage astudent as much as writing a paper based on research performed with librarymaterials that provided obsolete or erroneous information. The public countson the library providing accurate information.

criticism (e.g., skepticism,understanding of persuasive intent,d=.29), attitudes (d=.28), and behaviors(d=.23).

probe racial and ethnic media stereotypes in their own right, lest studentslimit their analysis to other social groups presumably “easier” to critique, suchas those defined by gender.

actively involve young people inthe curriculum rather than employ a “top–down” or overly dogmatic approach

utilize contemporary examples from mediacontent with which young people can relate;

carefully consider the complementaryanalysis of media stereotypes as well as media counterstereotypes in a medialiteracy educational framework

The work of Ramasubrama-nian also points to the importance of employing auspicious media exemplars thatprovide White non-Latino audiences with a positive intergroup experience

seen evidence of successful outcomes associated with media literacyeducation, particularly when curricula are focused and cohesive as well as whenthey employ multiple and longer sessions

We have precious little data to apply to thatsocially significant question. It is our hope that this article will inspire researchersto take up this important topic in future research.

Can media literacy education reduce the media’srole in perpetuating stereotypes

limitation of the current approach, as is the small sample of primarily Whitestudents from a relatively privileged economic background and the short durationof the media literacy unit on race and ethnicity in media.

Karate KidandLawrence of Arabiaas options not taken up at all by students)

discomfort in speaking about race

most were non-Latino

This could be interpretedin view of their own race (again, most were White, although a small number wereAsian)

tentative conclusions to draw from this small sample ofpredominantly White early adolescents

“It can help us by showing someone’s view and maybe that can relate toother people’s views.” Somewhat similarly, Jennifer pointed out the positive pos-sibilities of “Showing you people’s point of view. Knowing different experiences.Understanding them as a person.” Jackson noted the favorable possibility thatmedia “can help us to understand others, other places”

“Theycan be dangerous because it makes people assume things and prejudge otherswithout getting to know them. Although, some people aren’t like the stereotypes,so they are thought to be who they aren’t.”

there (sic)

Among thethemes emerging regarding the negative consequences of media stereotypes, manystudents wrote about potential effects on audiences.

“The mediais pretty much a big example of stereotypes and making people not feel goodenough. It can make people feel left out...”

“Media can display people in a negative way because of their race and gender andmake you feel that way too.”

Lois Lane character

Lawrence of Arabia(for Arab stereotypes)

Karate Kid(for Asian stereotypes)

if I am doing this (speaking inthe way the character had), I would be called stupid.”

“noone could understand what she said.”

What is most striking across the group of sixth-grade students who werepresented with the presumably relevant and familiar media clips was their over-whelming tendency to choose to discuss the clips having to do with gender stereo-types rather than racial or ethnic ones.

A total of 60 sixth graders from a rural, predomi-nantly White location in New England participated in the project (46% female).

yet still reproduce stereotypes when asked to create theirown media messages demonstrate just how embedded prejudicial views can be.

indicationsthat media literacy can inadvertently reinforce distinctions perceived betweenin-groups and out-groups (Dunlop, 2007) or promote the misplaced notion of acolorblind ideology that assumes racism is a condition of the past

There is some evidence that media literacy education can promotean understanding of the systemic and structural conditions that shape racial con-ditions in society (Dunlop, 2007)

some of these studies examine such knowledge andcritical awareness among members of nondominant groups themselves

First, there is some evidence (among even the very young) thatmedia education can promote an understanding of the role of media in producingand reproducing stereotypes related to such social groups as Arabs (Hobbs et al.,2010), Latinos (Vargas, 2006; Yosso, 2002) and Blacks or African Americans

Nevertheless, whenit came to their own media productions, they still relied on stereotypical racialportrayals of African Americans in constructing the plots and characters, and usedthe assumption that audiences would read their productions as satire as a meansof defending their decisions. 15404560, 2015, 1, Downloaded from https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.12103 by University Of Colorado, Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License

Dunlop (2007) put into place a 2-week long media literacy curriculum amonghigh school students in a predominantly White suburban context in the Midwestand used grounded theory to organize interview data regarding students’ views onmedia representations of race.

Brooksand Ward (2007) used discourse analysis to study college students’ responses toa course on race, gender, and media, and found students’ responses to films andclass discussion remained largely connected with a colorblind ideology in whichrace is considered unimportant and White privilege is unquestioned.

Vargas (2006) worked with a group of transnational Latina teenagers—foreign-born or first-generation female U.S. adolescents—in a program focusedon resistance of the stereotypical, often pejorative, media portrayals of Hispanicand Latina individuals. Using an ethnographic, in-depth interview method, Vargasobserved that, toward the completion of the program, the participating teenagersshowed recognition of the underrepresentation and stereotypical depictions ofLatinos/as in media and examined the distance between their own perceptions ofself and the mainstream depictions they critiqued.

Medi-ated contact with positive out-group media characters is a less anxiety-provokingand more practical approach to prejudice reduction compared to traditional inter-group face-to-face positive contact (Bodenhausen et al., 1995; Schiappa, Gregg,& Hewes, 2005).

The study suggests that exposure to counterstereo-typical media exemplars (i.e., positive vs. negative African American celebrities)decreases internal causal attributions for failures of African Americans and in-creases support for affirmative action.

Similarly, Bodenhausen and colleagues (1995) usethe generalized appraisal model to show that when White audiences are not madeconscious of the atypicality of successful and likable African American mediacelebrities, they are more likely to have positive attitudes toward this racial/ethnicout-group in general.

There is also a possibility that stereotype suppressioncan sometimes lead to ironic boomerang effects. For example, avoidance strategieslead to unintended stereotyping (Macrae, Milne, & Bodenhausen, 1994; Monteith,Sherman, & Devine, 1998). Similarly, Ramasubramanian and Oliver (2007) foundboomerang effects such that those in the media literacy condition were more likelythan those in the control group to report higher stereotypes.

motivation to appear nonprejudiced can curb or change even implicit prejudice

The findings suggest that implicit racial prejudice was most effectively reducedwhen a combination of audience-centered and message-centered approaches wereused.

Given the quasi-experimental nature of prior quantitative research studies onmedia literacy interventions, it is very difficult to understand the processes bywhich media literacy educational materials lead to prejudice reduction.

Similarly, exposure to positive intergroupmessages inSesame Streetalso reduced intergroup stereotypes among Israeliand Palestinian children (Cole et al., 2003).

(1976)

non-White children

randomly assigned Canadian nursery school children

there are currently very few studies of the role of media literacyeducation in reducing stereotypes

An even smaller number of quantitative studies are avail-able on the topic. These are most closely associated with the media literacy asintervention conceptualization and typically take an experimental approach tostudy the effects of media literacy training and counterstereotypes on reducingracial/ethnic prejudice.

For the current focus, it should be notedthat only one of the 51 studies in the meta-analysis dealt directly with our topic ofracial and ethnic stereotyping

Media literacy interventions with longer or more sessions resulted inlarger effect sizes

The effects were mostsubstantial for knowledge

shift attitudes and promote knowledge.

Finally, Austin’s message interpretation process(MIP) model (Austin & Meili, 1994) suggests individuals process media messagesand internalize or reject them based on comparisons of the media message to anindividual’s sense of generalized others as well as to the individual’s personalexperience.

inoculation theory (McGuire, 1964) which suggests priorexposure to a persuasive attempt (particularly when encountered through a criticallens) can help to reduce the impact of subsequent persuasive attempts.

At the same time, the observation that many media literacy cur-ricula blur and blend these approaches has also been voiced in the field

Can media consumers’ examination of the principles and practices behind me-dia production, media content, and media reception facilitate critical analysis ofmedia’s treatment of underrepresented social groups and open up their views ofrace and ethnicity? Might media literacy education help to increase knowledgeand/or shape attitudes about media’s roles and practices pertaining to race andethnicity?

Quantitative research onthe effect of media literacy training and mediated counterstereotypes on reducingracial/ethnic prejudice is described.

digital citizenship skills

Library workers, educators, and administrators have a responsibility to educate themselves about safety threats while continuing to advocate for the intellectual freedom of minors.

Instances of inappropriate use of social media and online applications should be addressed as individual-behavior issues, not as justification for restricting or banning access to such tools.

prevent the collection and use of information about minors and their online activities for marketing and for-profit activities.

Instead, libraries and library workers should educate youth about online activities that are appropriate for their maturity level without blocking access for others.

These restrictions deny minors’ rights to free expression online.

Libraries and their governing bodies shall ensure that only a parent or guardian has the right and the responsibility to determine what their child—and only their child—accesses online.

Library workers curate age-appropriate resources for academic and personal pursuits and teach children and young adults how to be safe online.

constructively

School librarians resist efforts by individuals or groups to define what is appropriate for all students or teachers to read, view, hear, or access regardless of technology, formats or method of delivery.

employ educational criteria to select resources unfettered by their personal, political, social, or religious views.

To support these efforts, and to ensure equitable access to resources and services, the school library provides resources that reflect the linguistic pluralism of the community.

Resources in school library collections are an integral component of the curriculum and represent diverse points of view on both current and historical issues.

The school library plays a unique role in promoting, protecting, and educating about intellectual freedom. It serves as a point of voluntary access to information and ideas and as a learning laboratory for students as they acquire critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed in a pluralistic society.

“We affirm the responsibility and the right of all parents and guardians to guide their own children’s use of the library and its resources and services.”4 Libraries and their governing bodies cannot assume the role of parents or the functions of parental authority in the private relationship between parent and child. Libraries and their governing bodies shall ensure that only parents and guardians have the right and the responsibility to determine their children’s—and only their children’s—access to library resources. Parents and guardians who do not want their children to have access to specific library services, materials, or facilities should so advise their own children. Libraries and library governing bodies should not use rating systems to inhibit a minor’s access to materials.5

Unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness should be able to obtain a library card regardless of library policies related to chronological age.

We could experience freedom from such contrived and stereotypical representations by not supporting compa-nies that foster a lack of social, political, and economic context in search engine results, especially as search engines are being given so much power in schools, libraries, and in the public domain.

t appears that identity-based search results could be nothing more than old bigotry packaged in new media

One of the myths of our digital democracy is that what rises to the top of the pile is what is most popular.

long been subject to exploitation in the media.

sapphires

64 percent of respondents believing search engines are a fair and unbiased source of information.

searching is the most popular online activity among U.S. adults.

we must ask ourselves how the things we want to share are found, and how the things we find have surfaced.

And unlike the vetting of journal-ists and librarians, who have been entrusted to fact-check and curate information for the public, the legitimacy of websites is taken for granted.

The rapid shift over the past decade from public-interest journalism to the corporate takeover of U.S. news media—which has made highlighting any kind of alternative news increasingly difficult—has occurred simul-taneously with the erosion of professional standards applied to information provision

The question that the Federal Trade Commission might ask is whether search engines like Google should be probed about the values they assign to keyword combinations like “black girls,” “Latinas,” and other racial, gendered, and sexual-identity combinations, and whether saying they are not responsible for what happens through disclaimers should suffice.

(Google will not sur-face certain neo-Nazi websites in France and Germany, where Holocaust denial is against the law)

largest commercial search engines fail to provide relevant and culturally situated knowl-edge on how women of color have traditionally been discriminated against, denied rights, or been violated in society and the media even though we have organized and resisted this on many levels.

“DON’T BE EVIL.”

free market economy, market share dominance and control over search results isn’t a crime.

Universal Search is not a neutral search process, but rather a commercial one that moves sites that buy paid advertising (as well as Google’s own investments) to the top of the pile.

Google effectively blocks sites that it competes with and prioritizes its own proper-ties to the top of the search pile (YouTube over other video sites, Google Maps over MapQuest, and Google Images over Photobucket and Flickr).

. Information that rises to the top of the search pile is not the same for every user in every location

In some cases, there may be more media and interest in non-pornographic information about black girls in your locale that push such sites higher up to the first page, like a strong nonprofit, blog, or media source that gets a lot of clicks in your region

Google applications like Gmail and social media sites like Facebook track your identity and previous searches to unearth something slightly different. Search engines increasingly remember where you’ve been and what links you’ve clicked in order to provide more customized content.

web indexing.

“black girls.”

Based on these search results, constructions of women’s identities and inter-ests seem to be based on traditional, limited sexist norms, just as they are in the traditional media.

Top 25 Sexiest Female Athletes

These titles are the default for representa-tions of women’s magazines, while alternative women’s media—say, those with a feminist perspective—can be found only via searching by name or including purposeful search terms like “feminist.”

Hearst Corporation

Bitch

having a hunch that feminist periodicals would not rise to the top of the search pile

I do care about porn turning up in the results when people are searching for support, knowledge, or answers about identity. I care that someone might type in “black girls,” “Latinas,” or other terms associated with women of color and instantly find porn all over their first-page results. I care that women are automatically considered “girls,” and that actual girls find their iden-tities so readily compromised by porn.

Cuts to public education, public libraries, and community resources

They make sure the computer isn’t logged in to Gmail, as if past searches for pornography might be affecting the results.

Sylvester Stallone agreed to pay ½ million dollars to atobacco company and in exchange he promisedtheir cigarettes would appear in five movies.

On average, the 531participating students showed a 21.1% increase in understanding from thepre to post tests, which exceeded expectations for the project.

goal of training teachersand students (15-16 years old) to identify incidents of tobacco usage in moviesand television, and to become more aware of how tobacco is depicted and usedin stories through product placement and other story-telling techniques.

2014

Have I represented other voices or social groups? Are these • representations nuanced or are they stereotypical?

Have I respected copyright, trademarks or other intellectual property • that I may have used?

“manufacture”

gain profit and/or power.

Much of the world’s media were developed as money-making enterprises and continue to operate today as commercial businesses

What judgments or statements are made about how we treat other • people?

Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power

Media literacy is about understanding our relationship with media, about how we make meaning from a media product and about understanding the greater role of media in society.

We have both personal and social power, and therefore personal and social responsibility toward our audi-ence.

But with democracy at stake almost everywhere around the world, citizens in every country need to be equipped with the ability to determine both economic and ideological “spin.”

purpose of a message also uncovers issues of ownership and the structure and infl uence of media institutions in society

The real purpose of the programs on television, or the articles in a magazine, is to create an audience (and put them in a receptive mood) so that the network or publisher can sell time or space to sponsors to advertise products.

money, ego or ideology.

skills to question and rationally identify both overt and latent values in a mediated presentation, whether from the news, entertainment – or now especially from the Internet – we are likely to be much more astute in our decision-making to accept or reject the overall message. That’s vital for effective citizenship in a democratic society.

1) Less popular or new ideas can have a hard time getting aired, especially if they challenge long-standing assumptions or commonly-accepted beliefs; 2) Unless challenged, old assumptions can create and perpetuate stereotypes, thus further limiting our understanding and appreciation of the world and the many possibilities of human life.

What type of person is the reader / watcher / listener invited to identify with?

we also need to know how to locate alternative sources of both news and entertainment and to be able to evaluate the alternatives as well for their own embedded value

Sometimes, like us, media makers are careless and turn a generalization (a fl exible observation) into a stereotype (a rigid conclusion).

Because all media messages are constructed, choices have to be made. These choices inevitably refl ect the values, attitudes and points of view of the ones doing the constructing. The decision about a character’s age, gender or race mixed in with the lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors that are portrayed, the selection of a setting (urban? rural? affl uent? poor?), and the actions and re-actions in the plot are just some of the ways that values become “embedded” in a TV show, a movie or an ad.

Even the news has embedded values in the decisions made about what stories go fi rst, how long they are, what kinds of pictures are chosen, and so on.

When you think about it, no two people see the same movie or hear the same song on the radio; even parents and children do not “see” the same TV show! Each audience member brings to each media encounter a unique set of life experiences (age, gender, education, cultural upbringing, etc.)