Media Literacy

"Media literacy refers to the knowledge skills and competencies that are required in order to use and interpret the media.  It is morethan functional literacy the ability to sense the programme. It uses an inquiry-based instructional model that encourages people to ask questions about what they watch, see and read. Media literacy education is one means of developing media literacy. It provides tools to help people critically analyze messages to detect propaganda, censorship, and bias in news and public affairs programming (and the reasons for such), and to understand how structural features -- such as media ownership, or its funding mode  affect the information presented.

Media literacy aims to enable people to be skillful creators and producers of media messages, both to facilitate an understanding as to the strengths and limitations of each medium, as well as to create independent media.

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy. By transforming the process of media consumption into an active and critical process, people gain greater awareness of the potential for misrepresentation and manipulation  and understand the role of mass media and participatory media in constructing views of reality."

Media literacy a form of critical  literacy. It involves analysis evaluation and critical reflection. It entails the acquisition of meta language that is means of describing  the forms and structures of different modes of communication. It leads to broader knowledge of the social, economic and institutional contexts of communication and how these affect people's experiences and practices. Media literacy includes the ability to use and interpret media also analytical understanding.