So what's this all about?

The ability to participate fully in today’s society relies heavily on a person’s ability to access, understand, and use media messages. Where people access these media messages, how they interpret them, and what they choose to do with this information once gained, relies almost entirely on their level of critical media literacy. A precise definition of critical media literacy is somewhat difficult to pin down. However, a number of themes seem to be indispensible. These are concepts such as ability to decode, understand and create personal meaning from a message, and the ability to identify bias in a message and thus not be taken advantage of (Thoman, 2005). Another important theme is that to teach critical media is to arm a person with the ability to ask the right questions when analysing a media message (Hobbs & Jensen, 2009) and thus empower them to participate more fully in society. Finally, Thoman (2005) also points out that critical media literacy should also be thought of as a skill or a method to be undertaken rather than a body of knowledge. This can be understood in the same way that science is a method of finding things out rather than a list of things known.

As many readers will already be aware, media messages are not value neutral. From letters to the editor in newspapers to the evening news, and from advertising to documentaries, media messages reach their audiences laden with meaning, subtext, and purpose which were carefully and intentionally included in their design. This has become all the more evident with the evolution of digital media. With the increasing ubiquity of blogs, websites, and social media, the number of messages and information that people encounter on a daily basis is higher than ever before and with this the need to be media literate is more essential than ever (Kellner & Share, 2005).

The Purpose of this blog is to develop a close reading of the official Earth Hour website with particular reference to the official 2011 Earth Hour video. The aim is to assist in preparation for a learning exercise for a Stage 6 Geography class. This is done using the media literacy framework articulated by Thoman (2005) and Kellner and Share (2005). This framework is comprised of five key concepts which should be addressed when critically analysing a media message. This blog will address each of these concepts in relation to the earth hour website. 

Global climate change and what should be done to combat it is a hot button issue in the media today. As emotion tends to run high on all sides of this debate, students exploring it are bound to encounter information that that is heavily laden with values, biases, and viewpoints. Therefore, critical media literacy is vital in this area.