Current Trends of Media Literacy in Europe: An Overview

Current Trends of Media Literacy in Europe: An Overview

Laura Manuel Pérez Cervi (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain), Oralia Paredes (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain) and José Tornero (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain)
Copyright: © 2010 |Pages: 9
DOI: 10.4018/jdldc.2010100101

Abstract

In this paper, the authors give an overview of the current trends of media literacy in Europe. The study titled “Current trends and approaches to media literacy in Europe”, commissioned in the second half of 2007 by the European Commission to the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, maps current practices in implementing media literacy in Europe and recommends measures to increase the level of media literacy in Europe. Starting with information from the study, this paper will examine the evolution of media literacy in Europe, its orientation, and its relationship with other related fields, such as media education and digital literacy to explore the emerging trends, innovations, changes, crisis points, alternatives, and so forth.
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Evolution Of Media Education And Media Literacy

Educational interest in the media, which has centered on media education, or media literacy, has had different stages or origins which we will describe below, but these phases often correspond to specific focuses and models of media literacy (Table 1) and which, therefore, can coexist at the same time and in the same setting. We will still, however, present the phases in stages to facilitate comprehension and to explain the dynamic orientation of the media literacy.

Table 1.
Models of media literacy (adapted from Pérez Tornero & Celot, 2007)
ModelTechnologyFocusesPrivileged actorsPremisesObjectivesPriorities
ProtectionMASS MEDIAMoral protectionismTutors
and
Educators		Media represent risk to the moral development of children and young peopleCondemnation of abuses.
Protection of children and young people		Creation of control mechanisms
Ideological ProtectionismSocial activistsMedia have power of manipulation and ideological control.Acts of resistance, suggestions for alternative reading.Social debate: condemnation and criticism
Promotion (awareness and appropriation)INTERACTIVE MEDIA
(Small and social media)		Proposal of critical readingEducators
Education
Authorities
Regulatory_authorities		Different ways of reading media messages can be developed.Critical reading
Awareness		Critical thinking
Media education in the curriculum
Regulation/ self-regulation
Production proposalEducation authorities
Industry
Professionals		New media facilitate the liberty to produce messagesAutonomy and personal initiative
Creation of standards
Innovative
Production		Individual appropriation of the media
Improvement of production quality
Web 2.0Cooperative action proposalCommunities and associations
Industry teamwork		Network communication boosts cooperative mediaMediation between citizens/media
Social appropriation of media		Active_citizenship
Participation
Cooperative production
Co-regulation
Corporate responsibility

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