Media education, a citizen-related issue
Media education is at the centre of Média Animation’s project. First and foremost media education is a “political” project and an issue concerning active and socially responsible citizenship, whose vocation is to turn every citizen into true actors of cultural life, democracy and social life in a society where the media are the major communication medium.
Our association has developed this project in two distinct areas :
- In education : since 1995, the government of the French-speaking Community has appointed Média Animation as the media education resource centre for private subsidized education.
- In the associative and cultural field : In this case, media education is promoted through specific projects with associative structures, parents organizations, youth groups and, more generally, social and cultural sectors.
Our definition
Media education is a political project in the sense that it inheres in a society project. A long series of methods and definitions, sometimes antinomic, are unclear due to an apparent consensus. Therefore Média Animation has chosen the common definition of the Conseil de l’Education aux Médias (CEM), the media literacy government board.
Media education aims at turning every citizen into active, self-reliant and aware media users or recipients.
In that way, citizens will be able to appropriate media languages and to learn interpretation, expression and communication media-tools. In this regards, media education prepares individuals to be responsible citizen, able to play a part in the development of a democratic, pluralistic and connected society open to other cultures, and guarantees them equal opportunities of social emancipation.
Media education refers to all kind of electronic, audiovisual and printed media regardless of their supports. It is not restricted to any kind of media and, as a result, encompasses the whole range of communication types (public or private, instructive, convincing, entertaining, convivial or for fun). Therefore media education concerns written press, radio, cinema or television as well as multimedia.
What is sought through media education is then :
- To reinforce the thinking process of every citizen towards the media, which is a voluntary intellectual and emotional detachment from the usual media-related experience.
- To raise critical awareness of personal and social issues related to media communication.
- To get a creative vision of the media and to develop expression and innovation skills about media communication.
Media education does not only address students but also adults at any time of their lives. It is adapting and developing in a dynamic manner in line with an endlessly evolving media scene.
