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“I
t is an alarming feature of modern society: what we think in ‘our minds’ is the creation of a media elite. It is the deep anomaly of democracy: Yes, it is the rule of the people, whose minds though are manipulated, through media, by the ruling class. I tremble before this modern god called Media.” So said Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist and former Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent Rigoberto Tiglao in his June 6 article, “Anastasia, Flory Basa, Conchita,” on how, in his view, the Philippine press had, in his view, distorted truth.
Are You Media-Literate?
While some may dispute Tiglao’s view, the might of mass media to move or manipulate minds in the millions has been a global concern for at least half a century. Recounted in a timeline of its media education initiatives, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has pushed media education since 1961 with a paper on film education, then a conference the following year, and full-fledged programs since the 1970s.
With the global information explosion, humanity must counter manipulation and master mass communication By Ricardo Saludo
STRATEGY POINTS Media literacy is crucial for full human development as well as the advancement of harmony, governance and democracy. Promoting critical thinking on media in Asia must contend with conformity and authority, plus the dominance of Western culture. Media must play a major role in promoting media literacy — including user instructions for citizens to use media intelligently.
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It wasn’t always that way. Massachusetts educator and columnist Bill Walsh’s “A Brief History of Media Education” counts four phases of how schools treated media. Before the 1960s, “educators ignored the media.” even confiscating newspapers brought to class. Then came the “inoculation” phase: teachers showed students samples of media to ridicule and disdain them.
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