MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION -A USEFUL FRAME FOR UNDERSTANDING MEDIA CONTENTS. REGINAACHOLONU, Ph.

Abstract

The growth of the mass media in the past century has created a world-wide environment of its own. If it were visible, it might be comparable to the weather patterns which flow and swirl around the planet, sometimes calm and sometimes stormy but always relentless and inescapable. We cannot do much about the weather except to adapt to it. Likewise, we cannot do much about the climate of mass communication except finding ways of adapting to it too. Mass communication process has been tremendously altered across the globe since the inception of the new media. The internet for instance has an unquantifiable effect on every aspect of human existence. It has added a new dimension to communication practice by providing many new communication tools which pose obvious challenges to understanding mass media contents. One of the major challenges is how to adapt to this media environment in order to maximize its benefits and avoid as much as possible its dangers. Consequently, this paper critically examines the realities of adapting to media environment through media literacy education.