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Who created this message? (invested interest?)

What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
(auditory and visual?)

How might different people understand this message differently
than me? (Demographics and Target audience?)

What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in or
omitted from this message?

Why is this message being sent?

Awareness
 Access information from a variety of sources.

Analysis
 Analyze and explore how messages are "constructed" --
whether print, verbal, visual or multi-media.

Reflection
 Evaluate media's explicit and implicit messages against
one's own ethical, moral and/or democratic principles.

Action
 Express or create your own messages using a variety of
media tools.

Media: any tool or technology used for sending
and/or receiving messages

Mass Media: any tool or technology used for
sending messages from a central source to many
receivers; usually only one-way communication is
possible

Media Text: any message sent via media; could be
words, pictures, sounds, or multimedia

Write down all of the modes of communication you
can think of

What is the difference between one-way and twoway communication?

Which type of communication is most prevalent?

What are advantages of each?

Media literacy is an alternative to
censoring, boycotting or blaming 'the
media.’

The power of media literacy is its ability to
inspire independent thinking and foster
critical analysis.
.
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newspapers
radio
television
internet
billboards, posters and message signs
mass mailings of brochures, fliers, and
newsletters
magazines
1. To Inform
 Certain strategies affect the public’s emotional
and intellectual connection and reaction to
information.
 News networks are supposed to employ fair and
neutral broadcasting practices.
▪ IS THE NEWS BIAS?
2. To Entertain
 television, movie, advertising, theatrical, and
musical industries.
 These industries are free to find techniques that
appeal to diverse audiences and employ these
techniques to sell their products.
CAN ENTERTAINMENT BE HARMFUL?

Television: The Drug of a Nation by
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (Michael
Franti, 1991

Highlight or underline ALLUSIONS in the
song


What is Michael Franti’s central assertion?
How does he use allusions to construct this
message?
3. To Transmit Culture

The media determines what the public hears,
what the public sees, and what the public knows

The public depends on the media for information,
but is also suceptable to manipulation and
misinformation.

Popularity is based on exposure and the media
determines who or what gets this exposure, thus
molding American and International cultures.

Do you believe people can be influenced by
music (consciously or subliminally)?

What is conscious hip-hop? Any examples?

What is the difference between mainstream
and underground artists?
4. To Pursuade

Persuasion techniques are employed by
entertainers, commentators, advertisers and
politicians, etc.

People are persuaded to purchase products, to
believe a certain view, or to vote for a certain
individual.

Propoganda is the thoughts, ideas, and images
used to sway the public.

The art of speaking or
writing effectively

“the ability, in each
particular case, to see
the available means of
persuasion” Aristotle

Aristotle’s persuasive
strategies:
 Ethos (credibility)
 Pathos (Emotional)
 Logos (logical)

Ethos: the source's
credibility, the
speaker's/author's
authority

Logos: the logic used
to support a claim
(induction and
deduction); can also be
the facts and statistics
used to help support
the argument.

Pathos: the emotional
or motivational
appeals; vivid
language, emotional
language and
numerous sensory
details

Greek etymology:
Character

Language appropriate to
audience and subject

Ethical Appeal based on
credibility

Restrained, sincere, fair
minded

Demonstrates authors
reliability

Appropriate level of
vocabulary

Establishes respect for
audience’s ideas and
values

Correct grammar

References expert opinions
on the subject

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Greek etymology:
Suffering or Experience

Vivid, concrete language

Emotionally loaded
language

Connotative meanings
Causes the audience to
respond emotionally or
identify with argument

Emotional examples

Vivid descriptions
The power with which a
story can impact an
audience

Narratives

Emotional tone
“Appeal to the audience’s
sympathies and
imagination”

Greek etymology: Word

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The use of reasoning:
inductive and deductive
Theoretical, abstract
language

The use of support to
substantiate a thesis
Literal and historical
analogies

Definitions

The clarity of a claim

Factual data and statistics

Evokes cognitive, rational
response

Quotations

Citations from experts

Informed opinions

THE ART OF PERSUASION
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Errors in reasoning and faulty
arguments

Deductively invalid

Inductively weak

Unjustified premise

Ignores relevant evidence

Fails to provide adequate proof

“Disguises” inadequate proof as
valid
Both formal and informal
Sometimes created
unintentionally
More often created intentionally
to deceive people or as a means
to an end

Over 200 common fallacies

Many overlapping concepts and
classifications
INDUCTIVE

Arguments based on
experience or observation

Open ended and
exploratory

Inductive Method is the
Scientific Method
DEDUCTIVE

Arguments based on laws,
rules, and evidence

Moves from general truths
to specific conclusions

Concerned with testing or
confirming a hypothesis

Logic is authority of
deductive method

Using emotion-charged
language to arouse an
audience (potential
fallacy)

Fallacy occurs when
someone appeals to you
to accept a claim merely
because it arouses your
emotion

“FOR THE CHILDREN”
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Appeal to consequences
Appeal to fear
Appeal to flattery
Appeal to pity
Appeal to ridicule
Appeal to spite
Wishful thinking
Appeal to Ignorance*
Appeal to snobbery
Appeal to vanity
 If a proposition has not
been disproven, then it
cannot be considered
FALSE and must be
considered TRUE
 Argumentum ad


 If a proposition has not
been proven, then it
cannot be considered
TRUE and must be
considered FALSE


ignorantiam
Absence of
evidence=evidence of
absence
Used to shift the burden
of proof in debate
False dichotomy (false
dilemma)
Inductive reasoning

Black and White

Unfair presentation of too few choices

Implies a choice must be made based on
choices presented

“If you are not with us, you are against us”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Straying off topic
Missing the point
Going off on a tangent
Digressing
Not sticking to the issue
Answering questions with other
questions
Non Sequitur


Non Causa Pro
Causa
Improperly
concluding that
one thing is the
cause of another

4 kinds of False Cause
Fallacies
 Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
 Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter
Hoc
 Regression
 Reversing Causation
A leads to B
B leads to C
C leads to D
…
D leads to Z
Z leads to HELL
 We don’t want to go
to HELL so don’t take
that first step A
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Domino Theory
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Patriot Act

Reichstag Decree

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Argumentum Ad
Novitatem

Bandwagon

Appeal to the masses

Appeal to the mob

Appeal to the gallery

Appeal to past practice

Argument from
popularity

Common practice
Often used in advertising
Giving credit to an idea
or belief solely on the
grounds of its popularity

Twisting the words of an opponent

Misquoting or taking statements out of
context

Misrepresentation on purpose

Undermining opponent’s actual position

Often used in political debates

Attack on the person
rather than the issue

5 kinds of Ad Hominem
 Genetic Fallacy


Undermines credibility
of opponent
Points out irrelevant
circumstances in an
attempt to distract or
discredit
 Tu Quoque
 Guilt by Association
 Two Wrongs Make a Right
 Circumstantial

Begging the Question: petitio principii
 When an argument does not make progress
 The argument is composed by repeating premises
that presuppose the conclusion
▪ All intentional acts of killing human beings are morally
wrong.
▪ The death penalty is an intentional act of killing a human
being.
▪ Therefore the death penalty is wrong.

Description of Red Herring
 A Red Herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in
order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to
"win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and
to another topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following form:
 Topic A is under discussion.
 Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic A
(when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A).
 Topic A is abandoned.
 This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because merely changing the
topic of discussion hardly counts as an argument against a claim
The IEP: The Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/

Purdue Owl: Establishing Arguments
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/01/ 