14mm

7mm

7mm7mm

7mm

14mm

280mm

280mm

210mm

210mm

Me

dia

Lit

er

ac

y

a G

uid

e f

or t

he

yo

ut

h o

f B

hu

ta

n

• C

onsc

ious

ly c

hoos

e th

e m

edia

you

en

gage

with

. •

Be

a cr

itica

l and

act

ive

view

er o

f m

edia

mes

sage

s an

d im

ages

. •

Que

stio

n w

hat y

ou s

ee (o

r w

hat y

ou

do

n’t s

ee) i

n th

e m

edia

. •

Add

med

ia is

sues

and

you

r ow

n op

inio

ns

on

them

to e

very

day

conv

ersa

tion.

•

Prod

uce

your

ow

n m

edia

! Tel

l you

r st

ory

thro

ugh

art,

wri

ting,

mus

ic, o

r vi

deo/

film

.

Issu

ed in

the p

ublic

inter

est.

D

epar

tmen

t of

Info

rmat

ion

and

Med

ia [

DoI

M],

Min

istry

of

Info

rmat

ion

& C

omm

unica

tions

, an

d th

e Bhu

tan

Cen

tre fo

r Med

ia a

nd D

emoc

racy

. w

ww.

doim

.gov

.bt

/

ww

w.bc

md.

bt

6. I

ndiv

idua

ls ca

n un

ders

tand

the

sam

e m

edia

mes

sage

s di

ffere

ntly.

If

pare

nts,

teac

hers

, stu

dent

s an

d ci

tizen

s ar

e to

lear

n ab

out m

edia

, let

’s ho

nour

, dis

cuss

, and

de

bate

eac

h ot

her’s

mea

ning

s. A

sk: W

hat

mea

ning

do

you

find

in th

e m

edia

? W

hat

diffe

rent

mea

ning

s m

ight

oth

er in

divi

dual

s or

gro

ups

find?

7. C

onsu

min

g m

edia

imag

es d

eman

ds

criti

cal r

eflec

tion.

TV

and

mov

ies

run

at 3

0 fr

ames

(stil

l im

ages

) per

sec

ond,

w

here

as th

e co

nsci

ous

min

d ca

n pr

oces

s ab

out 8

fram

es p

er s

econ

d. T

here

fore

, TV

an

d m

ovie

s te

nd to

kee

p us

from

con

scio

us

anal

ysis

and

refl

ectio

n ab

out i

ndiv

idua

l m

essa

ges

and

larg

er in

dust

ry c

onte

xts.

A

sk: H

ow d

oes

this

pie

ce o

f m

edia

mak

e yo

u fe

el?

Wha

t doe

s it

mak

e yo

u th

ink?

Ho

w t

o b

e a

M

ind

ful M

ed

ia u

ser

Ma

kin

g y

ou

r o

wn

Me

dia

Pa

tH

!

DoI

M, M

oIC

14mm

7mm

7mm7mm

7mm

14mm

280mm

280mm

210mm

210mm

Ho

w t

o b

e a

M

ind

ful M

ed

ia u

ser

4. C

ompa

re m

edia

imag

es a

nd p

ortra

yals

of

you

r sur

roun

ding

env

ironm

ent w

ith y

our

real

ity.

Mak

e a

list o

f diff

eren

ces s

o th

at

you

are

mor

e aw

are

of th

em.

5. In

vest

igat

e th

e so

urce

of t

he m

edia

im-

ages

you

enc

ount

er.

Who

ow

ns th

e ne

t-w

ork

of y

our f

avou

rite

tele

visi

on sh

ow?

Is

it a

Bhu

tane

se c

ompa

ny...

or is

it In

dian

or

Am

eric

an?

Wha

t are

the

com

mer

cial

(mon

-ey

-mak

ing)

mot

ives

beh

ind

this

med

ia?

wH

at

ar

e

Me

dia

st

er

eo

ty

Pe

s?

Ster

eoty

pes g

ener

ally

con

form

to a

pat

tern

of

dre

ss a

nd b

ehav

ior t

hat i

s eas

ily re

cog-

nise

d an

d un

ders

tood

, but

can

lead

you

to

form

fals

e im

pres

sion

s of t

he p

erso

n or

gr

oup

portr

ayed

. A

typi

cal m

ale

ster

eoty

pe,

for e

xam

ple,

is o

f a “

real

man

” w

ho is

ad-

vent

urou

s, m

aste

rful

, int

ellig

ent,

and

stro

ng.

The

dang

er, h

owev

er, i

s tha

t if s

een

ofte

n,

this

imag

e ca

n af

fect

the

way

a v

iew

er p

er-

ceiv

es m

en in

gen

eral

. M

ale

ster

eoty

ping

ca

n na

rrow

one

’s n

otio

n of

wha

t men

can

be

and

do; i

t can

affe

ct w

omen

’s a

nd c

hild

ren’

s ex

pect

atio

ns o

f men

; it c

an e

ven

shap

e th

e vi

ews o

f men

and

boy

on

them

selv

es

and

how

they

shou

ld b

ehav

e. S

tere

otyp

es

of w

omen

in m

edia

show

them

as w

eak,

de

pend

ent o

n m

en, a

nd a

s obj

ects

of b

eaut

y re

liant

on

a st

rong

mal

e.

Med

ia su

rrou

nds u

s: e

very

whe

re w

e tu

rn,

new

spap

ers,

radi

os, m

agaz

ines

, film

s and

TV

show

s and

com

mer

cial

bea

m o

ur w

orld

ba

ck a

t us.

Our

s is a

med

icat

ed w

orld

, co

nsta

ntly

bro

adca

stin

g m

essa

ges,

tryin

g to

influ

ence

how

we

see

ours

elve

s, ho

w w

e liv

e, a

nd w

hat w

e bu

y. I

t’s e

asy

to g

et lo

st

in a

sea

of m

essa

ges a

nd im

ages

from

the

med

ia.

Med

ia li

tera

cy is

abo

ut n

avig

atin

g th

roug

h th

ese

mes

sage

s with

the

skill

s of

criti

cal t

hink

ing.

Crit

ical

thin

king

skill

s app

ly e

very

whe

re in

ou

r liv

es--

not

just

in c

lass

dis

cuss

ions

, pa-

pers

, and

read

ings

. Th

ey a

re h

andy

whe

ther

yo

u’re

read

ing

edito

rials

in th

e ne

wsp

aper

s, w

atch

ing

BB

S du

ring

the

elec

tions

, or p

re-

parin

g fo

r sch

ool t

ests

. To

mak

e su

re y

ou

are

fam

iliar

with

thes

e te

chni

ques

of c

ritic

al

thin

king

, go

thro

ugh

the

edito

rial p

ages

of a

ne

wsp

aper

and

dis

sect

the

big

issu

es o

f the

da

y.

You’

ll be

surp

rised

how

eas

y it

is.

tH

e M

ed

ia:

ev

er

yw

He

re, a

ll t

He t

iMe

1. R

emem

ber t

hat a

ll m

edia

imag

es a

nd

mes

sage

s are

con

stru

ctio

ns, o

r the

cre

atio

ns

of a

noth

er h

uman

min

d. M

edia

mes

sage

s fr

om T

V, fi

lms,

the

Inte

rnet

, and

vid

eo

gam

es h

ave

been

car

eful

ly c

rafte

d w

ith th

e in

tent

to se

nd a

ver

y sp

ecifi

c m

essa

ge, a

nd

it’s i

mpo

rtant

to a

sk w

hat v

alue

s thi

s mes

-sa

ge is

tryi

ng to

send

.

2. Q

uest

ion

why

cer

tain

mes

sage

s are

con

-si

sten

tly p

rese

nt in

mai

nstre

am m

edia

and

w

hy o

ther

s are

abs

ent.

For

exa

mpl

e, T

V,

vide

o ga

mes

, and

onl

ine

fare

ofte

n pr

omot

e st

ereo

type

s-- o

verly

sim

ple

and

pred

ict-

able

imag

es o

r a p

erso

n or

gro

up o

f peo

ple.

A

sk: W

hat s

torie

s abo

ut th

e w

orld

exi

st

othe

r tha

n th

ose

that

you

see

in th

e m

edia

?

3. L

ook

clos

ely

at th

e ap

pear

ance

of m

edia

im

ages

: the

col

ours

, the

edi

ting,

the

cam

-er

a an

gles

, the

app

eara

nce

of th

e pe

ople

, th

e lo

catio

n, a

nd th

e so

und

or ty

pe o

f tex

t.

Com

mer

cial

s and

mul

ti-m

edia

exp

erie

nces

op

erat

e pr

imar

ily a

t an

emot

iona

l lev

el a

nd

are

usua

lly d

esig

ned

to tr

ansf

er th

e em

otio

n fr

om o

ne sy

mbo

l of l

ifest

yle

onto

ano

ther

. Sy

mbo

ls, fl

atte

ry, r

epet

ition

, fea

r, hu

mor

, po

wer

ful w

ords

, and

sexu

al im

ages

are

es

peci

ally

com

mon

and

effe

ctiv

e te

chni

ques

of

med

ia p

ersu

asio

n.