Allied Media Conference: Preach to the choir, not the kids

It's the first full day of sessions at the Allied Media Conference and there are 3-5 different sessions going on at any given time. There's a lot to choose from.

ACME's (Action Coalition for Media Education)Bob McCannon discussed media literacy and education in his session, “Process is more important than content.” McCannon says that the fastest way to alienate students, or the public for that matter, is to tell them how much their media sucks – that it's sexually exploitative, materialistic, crass, fluff-rich and content-poor. He said that makes his students feel guilty at best, angry at worst. Either way, it's a turn-off.

McCannon, who teaches college courses on media,says introducing critical thinking exercises is key to getting people to become educated about what they're being sold. And by, “sold,” I mean the concrete, as in the material goods that are being marketed in their media and metaphorically, as in, “the bill of goods they're trying to sell,” as in the brand identities that they're selling.

In this session, McCannon shows a film clip from a Sean Connery movie in which he plays a Vietnam vet who is a drunk, has post-traumatic stress syndrome and is redeemed by a scholarly, inner-city black kid. He says these elements – all visible in a 14 second clip – are counter to most of the images that are conveyed by the pop-media-industrial complex. 14 seconds, he says, is far longer than the attention span that's ingrained by MTV's .5 second scenes.

Several marketing examples were presented for discussion:
Seventeen Magazine – One cover advertised ways to boost sex appeal and asked, “Does your personality SUCK?” - covering the bases of both depression and obsession with body image. The magaine's covers are decided by formula, he says, as is the content – stories are decided on the basis of who is advertising. More clothing ads equals more stories on clothing.
President Bush on stage with a Bush impersonator – McCannon says this was an engineered by the administration to make Bush look softer and more like a regular guy.

“We never say the media are mad and we never say the media are good...the media are always good and bad,” McCannon says.