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Media Literacy: Constructing Messages & Audience Analysis

Guiding Questions

  • What choices do media producers make—and why?
  • Who is the intended audience of a media message?
  • What is the purpose behind this message?

Objectives

  • Students will identify and describe techniques used in constructing media messages.
  • Students will analyze a media message to determine their purpose and target audience.
  • Students will engage in inquiry and reflection about media design and impact.

Student Resources

Anticipate

Glossary term(s): Media, Media Literacy, Constructed Message, Audience, Purpose

  • Introduce key terms while walking through three common media purposes using relatable examples:
    • Inform – news reports, infographics, documentaries
    • Persuade – ads, opinion pieces, campaign videos
    • Entertain – music videos, memes, comedy skits
    • Provoke – commentary clips, protest art, shocking headlines
  • Ask students to reflect on the types of media they interacted with in the past 24 hours. Have them create a pie chart or bar graph showing the proportion of time spent on different media types (e.g., social media, music, YouTube, texting, video games, reading news, watching TV).
  • After completing their pie charts, ask students to answer the following prompts in pairs.
    • Which type of media do you consume the most?
    • What was the purpose of that media—was it to inform, entertain, or persuade?
    • Who do you think the audience was for that message?

Engage

  • Transition: Let’s look at a recent media message and ask: Who made it, who is it for, and why does it exist?
  • Display the current event
  • Ask students to silently observe it for 1 minute.
  • Individually or in pairs, have students analyze what the media message is trying to do. Ask students to annotate the message using the following codes:
    • Underline if it is trying to inform
    • Circle if it is trying to persuade
    • Star (★) if it is trying to entertain
    • Exclamation point (!) if it is trying to provoke
  • Let students know that a single message might serve more than one purpose.

Reflect

  • As a whole class or in their pairs, ask students: What is this media message trying to do—inform, persuade, entertain, provoke, or something else? How do you know? What clues helped you decide?

Extend (Optional)

  • Students to find a contrasting media message about the same event or topic and compare the purpose and audience.
  • Ask: How would this message need to change to target a completely different audience?