Multiple Media Literacies

There are at least three different types of media literacy, each linked to a different conception of what we mean by the term media. The notion that media are conduits that carry messages points to the need for media content literacy. The idea that media are distinct languages suggests the need for media grammar literacy, that is, understanding the use of production variables within each medium. The conception of media as environments suggests the need to grasp the influence of the relatively fixed characteristics of each medium (medium literacy), both on individual communications and on social processes in general. Medium literacy, in particular, offers some special thought into the origins, problems, and possibilities of the media literacy movement.