WHO

CREATE
D THIS?
To explore the idea of 'authorship' in media literacy
is to look deeper than just knowing whose name is on
the cover of a book or all the jobs in the credits of a
movie. Key Question #1 opens up two fundamental
insights about all media -- "constructedness" and
choice.

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The first is the simple but profound understanding that media texts
are not "natural" although they look "real." Media texts are built
just as buildings and highways are put together: a plan is made, the
building blocks are gathered and ordinary people get paid to do
various jobs.
Whether we are watching the nightly news, passing a billboard on the street or reading a
political campaign flyer, the media message we experience was written by someone (or
probably many people), images were captured and edited, and a creative team with many
talents put it all together.

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“The second insight is that
in this creative process,
choices are made”
The second insight is that in this creative process, choices
are made. If some words are spoken, others are edited
out; if one picture is selected, dozens may have been
rejected; if an ending to a story is written one way,
other endings may not have been explored. However, as
the audience, we don't get to see or hear the words,
pictures or endings that were rejected. We only see,
hear or read what was accepted! Nor does anybody
ever explain why certain choices were made.

The result is that whatever is "constructed" by just a

few people then becomes "normal" for the rest of us.
Like the air we breathe, media get taken for granted
and their messages can go unquestioned. Media are not
"real" but they affect people in real ways, because we
take and make meaning for ourselves out of whatever
we've been given by those who do the creating. ALPINE SKI HOUSE
The goal of Key Question
#1 is simply to expose the
complexities of media's
"constructedness" and
thus create the critical
distance we need to be able
to ask other important
questions.
The success of media texts depends upon their
apparent naturalness; we turn off a TV show
that looks "fake." But the truth is, it's all fake -
even the news. That doesn't mean we can't still
enjoy a movie or sing along with a favorite CD
or tune in to get the news headlines.

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GUIDING QUESTIONS:
• What kind of "text" is it?
• What are the various elements
(building blocks) that make up
the whole?
• How similar or different is it to
others of the same genre?
• Which technologies are used in its
creation?
• What choices were made that
might have been made
differently?
• How many people did it take to
create this message? What are
their various jobs?
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• What kind of "text" is it?
• What are the various elements
(building blocks) that make up
the whole?
• How similar or different is it to
others of the same genre?
• Which technologies are used in
its creation?
• What choices were made that
might have been made
differently?
• How many people did it take to
create this message? What are
their various jobs?
Additional
Guiding Question
• Who is the author?
• What makes the author an expert?
• Who are they working for?
• Where is this information published?
• What kind of organization is this?
• What kind of peer review, critiquing, and
editing did the organization do before they
posted this information?
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Large Image slide

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