Concepts: Critical Inquiry About Media Messages
Questions To Ask About Media Messages
(Follow the Money Trail activity here)
Source: some of the above is derived from a curriculum entitled KNOW TV and from What really counts in the end is what we make of the text. All learning is an act of construction. Source:
previously published works.
Conceptual Framework for Media Education
Media Image
Questions to Ask
Industry
Who’s in charge?
What do they want of me, and why?
What else do they want?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Product
What kind of text is
this?
Are conventions followed or broken?
How is this message constructed?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Audience
Who is this intended
for?
What assumptions does the text make about the audience?
Who am I supposed to be in relation to this text?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Values
How real is this text?
How/where do I find the meaning?
What values are presented?
What is the commercial message?
What is the ideology of this text?
What social/artistic/political messages does the text contain?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Predisposition
Do I agree with
(assent to) this text’s message?
Do I disagree with (resist) this text’s message?
Do I argue/negotiate with the message of this text?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Perception
How does the text fit
my personal values/beliefs/ideology?
How does the text relate to my personal needs/hopes/fears/experiences?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Skills
What skills do I need
to apply to this text?
How do I deconstruct/reconstruct this text?
What new skills does this text demand of me?
HOW DO I KNOW?
Receiver
What does all this
mean in the end?
HOW DO I KNOW?
© Chris Worsnop, 1999. Adapted by the author from Screening Images: Ideas for Media Education. Wright Communications, 1994. Original post at:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/teaching_backgrounders/media_literacy/conceptual_framework_worsnop.cfm?RenderForPrint=1