Final Part 2
1) Early in the course I learned how different media outlets hold certain biases. Fox News is conservative and MSNBC is more moderate. No matter what news station I watch they portray the news in a manner to influence me towards their beliefs. With my new media literacy, it is important for me to find balance when watching the news. It’s also important for me to not interpret one news story as the only way to percieve that story. Different media outlets can cover the same story and portray on their broadcast in a completely different manner.
2) Another aspect of the class I really enjoyed was encoding messages in Illustrator. When I view digital media I try and take notice to all aspects of it, from the text to the image. While encoding, it was fun to work with two images and a quote that was sandwiched between them. Working in Illustrator allows me to have a better grasp of interpreting the media around me. I know the possibilities are virtually endless when it comes to using Illustrator and Photoshop.
3) The final positive aspect I have gained in my media literacy is the use of online forums. I had previously used forums to try and gather opinions on various topics: sports training, travel ideas, sports debate. I really never knew the bounds of forums. I have been messing around on some of the political forums lately. This helped me with a final project I was assigned on Barack Obama. There’s alot of information out there and forums are an excellent tool to help learn.
