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Catechetics and media literacy: is there a link?
by Rose Pacatte, fsp
Director
Pauline Center for Media Studies
In the United States, one of the most attention-grabbing
statistics of all times has revealed that by the age of 18, American
children have watched on the average of 22,000 (hours) of television(1).
President Clinton in an exclusive Newsweek interview(2) earlier
this year raised the statistic to 25,000 hours while supporting
the development of a ratings system by and for the television industry
and for the use of the V-chip. He also deplored how much "violence
and inappropriate behavior" children are exposed to because
of television when "strict guidance" is lacking.
We, as religious educators, may rightly ask: what
is strict guidance and according to whose standards? And if children
are watching this much television, why? We may automatically think
it is not a good thing for children to watch so much of television,
but have we asked ourselves in what ways television watching is
bad or good and what we can do about it? And finally, is a techno-gadget
or a rating system rather than parental interaction and communication
of values during television watching going to have long term effects
for the good, or are these approaches to television management going
to alienate young people and send them out the back door to the
neighbor’s houses?
I believe
that one of the major concerns of parents and educators is that
when children are watching television they are not doing
something else that is better than watching television. But
do we ever stop and analyze this idea? What is better and according
to whose standards? And do parents and teachers share their values
and standards with the young? We may also think in a common-sense
sort of way that children are passive in front of the television.
However, research has repeatedly determined that the vast majority
of children are mentally active when they are involved in media
consumption, although it may not be in the ways parents and teachers
would prefer.
So, what
is a religious educator to do? Certainly children are influenced
by the media, as are adults who consume media uncritically, who
fail to question what the media constructs and presents as natural.
For we are indeed having imposed upon us world views, ideas, opinions,
and situations that may well challenge not only our Christianity
but our humanity as well.
In Great
Britain and the US news media, film reviewers and the television
industry have our attention focused on how much bad language, how
many acts of violence and explicit sex are presented, yet these
forms of content analysis of the media are hardly the whole story.
We may then find it easy to blame the media instead of seeing
the real elements and issues at stake. For example, we may not realize
how many media products are opportunities for finding values that
are truly human and Christian and miss the chance to appropriate
them to help children develop criteria for choosing media programs,
music and computer games consistent with their lives as followers
of Jesus. Further, we may fail to see other problems such as the
disintegration of the family, poverty and drug-use as contributing
factors to our troubled western culture.
Media production
in developed countries is a capitalist, consumer-oriented pursuit
and as Christians we need to be actively concerned because we may
be letting our lives be consumer-driven, so much so that we may
lose sight of our Christian destiny. The media also render us passive
in the sense that we can yell at the television and toss the newspaper
in the trash when we disagree, but we do not have the same public
voice that the media have.
Thus, in
a democracy, to be uncritical of how the media work is to miss the
opportunity to respond and constructively build our culture, especially
through education and formation of self and others. We should not
be surprised then that we are voiceless. To be aware and choose
not to act is to be personally, and by extension, communally passive.
Conversely, to be aware of the powerful influence of the media on
how we make sense of the world and then to choose to opt out of
engaging with the media culture, is to give up one’s chance
to make a difference.
But how can
we understand all this? What do we do? To whom do we turn?
In 1992 the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications published a document
called Dawn of a New Era(3). Although it asks each diocese
in the world to develop a plan for social communications, it has
not received the wide attention it deserves. However, one key point
of this brief, practical and very readable document concerns media
literacy education.
For sure,
in a democracy we should be able to make our opinions and will known
and be able to change things by majority vote, something that in
the United States is increasingly attempted through boycott. Moral
panics are also frequently employed in an attempt to stir people
into action (such as boycotting to change a situation), but these
only teach a reactionary method of coping which has no longterm
results in terms of human and Christian development, formation and
education. We may then ask: is controversy leading to rule-laden,
censored or technology-controlled media consumption the most lasting
way to impact the lives of our children for the good and teach them
the love-guided morality of the Lord? This is why media literacy
education is advocatedby educators, parents, and concerned citizens:
teaching and learning about the media from the inside out can give
adults, youth and children the skills necessary to interact with
the media in order to contribute to the building up of a society
that is humane and just.
On a very
practical level, media literacy education means that educators (and
parents) need to know why they like or do not like certain
programs, songs and games. By articulating their ideas they are
challenged to think about the media and their own lives, and decide
what their opinions and convictions are in front of the media. It
means that they need to be one step ahead of their students and
know what is going on in the media world and why certain films,
songs and the Internet are important to them. And better yet, to
be media literate means to accompany young people in their media
consumption and then talk about and share not only likes and dislikes,
but above all, values. Media literacy for religious educators especially
never means to turn one’s back on the culture, but to engage
in it in order to create it anew in Christ. If the etymological
meaning of catechesis is "to make an echo," then the media
provide the perfect space for that echo, that joyful noise telling
salvation’s story, to resound with the proclamation of the
Word rooted in the experience of young people today. And herein
lies the link between catechesis and media literacy education.
The role
of religious educators and catechists regarding the media is not
to educate and form to denigrate media artifacts so students will
"turn off the tube." Instead, their role is to assist
in the development of "mindful viewing" leading to Christ-like
living. And this will include learning and practicing media management
skills integrated with media learning and catechesis.
Children
today are growing up in a media culture and the Gospel must permeate
this culture, as Pope John Paul II said in his 1990 encyclical Mission
of the Redeemer(4). He spoke about the media as a zone of dialogue
for the modern world, as a positive force for good. Alienation is
not a positive educational approach, but when significant adults
share their values, with respect for the taste and opinions of young
people, real education for life takes place. This on-going dialogue
with significant adults, especially in the family, is how children
learn their basic values. This talk, this communication
provides them with truths and ideas that will help them build their
own standards as they daily approach Christian adulthood when they
will be making their own choices and parents and teachers will be
far away. Rules and gadgets are not life-giving; education and formation
through communication of values is.
In the US,
the National Telemedia Council(5) advocates television management
in the home. This means that through a familial democratic process,
television times and programs are decided upon as a family unit
and each family member has a say in the planning. The next step
is to watch together and dialogue respectfully about the values
in the programs chosen. The National Telemedia Council defines media
literacy as "mindful viewing, reflective judgment."
The Center
for Media Literacy(6) in a new series of leaders guides for its
excellent program Beyond Blame: Challenging Violence in the Media(7),
notes that "Since the introduction of television in the 1950’s,
society has been engaged in a ‘circle of blame’ about
who’s ‘responsible’ for violence in the media and
popular culture. The truth is, we all share responsibility for the
cultural environment we live in, just as we’re responsible
for the physical environment our children will inherit from us."
The programs
offered by the Center
for Media Literacy* are all based on "five core principles
of media literacy":
1. All
media are constructions
2. Media use unique ‘languages’
3. Audiences ‘negotiate meaning’
4. Media have commercial interests
5. Media have embedded values
As religious
educators endeavor to integrate faith with everyday life so as to
form the whole child, the media must become part of the process
both as means and end of pre-evangelization, evangelization and
catechesis. For years catechists and religious educators have used
audio-visual media for catechetical instruction and reinforcement.
Many have used film for discussions about Gospel values. Now, in
a mass mediated culture which is rapidly merging with cyber-communications,
we must consider again our role as catechists, as we proclaim the
message of the Lord Jesus to the young people who will be the faith
leaders of the next century. For as Kevin Kersten, SJ, past Director
for the Center for Communications and Culture in St. Louis, Missouri,
recently told a group of women religious, "We do not have time
to be irrelevant(8)".
Sr Rose
Pacatte, fsp, received an Advanced Diploma in Education in 1994
and an MA in Education in Media Studies in 1995 from the Institute
of Education, University of London, England. Sister is currently
the Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies for the Daughters
of St Paul, US Province, 50 St Paul’s Avenue, Boston, MA 02130.
E-mail Rosemed35@aol.com. This article appeared in the catechetical
newsletter Word of Life, September 1996 issue, published by the
Daughters of St Paul and in Educommunication News, March 1977.
NOTES
1) Oldenburg
in Impact of Mass Media: Current Issues, edited by R. E.
Heibert, 1995. Longman: New York
2) March 11, 1996. page 62
3) Aetatis Novae, 1992, available from Pauline Books &
Media, Boston, MA 02130
4) Redemptoris Missio, 1990, n. 37, available from Pauline
Books & Media, Boston, MA 02130
5) National Telemedia Council, 120 East Wilson Street, Madison,
WI 63703
6) Center for Media Literacy, 4727 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 403,
Los Angeles,CA 90010
7) Published in 1995
8) The Media and Religious Life: formation, culture, dialogue
and ministry, Address given at the regional meeting of the Conference
of Major Superiors of Women Religious, Boston, MA, May 6, 1996.
*Center for
Media Literacy
4727 Wilshire Blvd
Suite 403
Los Angeles, LA 90010
1-800-226-9494
www.medialit.org
e-mail: cml@medialit.org
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