EVALUATING MESSAGES

AND/OR IMAGES OF DIFFERENT

TYPES OF TEXTS REFLECTING
DIFFERENT CULTURES
What are Media Messages?
• Media messages contain information and ideas that
are shared to a large audience of people.
• If these are not scrutinized properly, they may
become agents of misinformation and lead people to
form wrong judgment and images on the subject of
the wrongly presented media message.
• By critically evaluating media messages, we ensure
that the ideas presented are accurate, relevant, and
appropriate to be posted or shared with everyone.
Why do we evaluate messages?
• The importance of evaluating the effectiveness of the
messages is developing and using strategic question to
identify strengths and weaknesses.

How do we evaluate messages?

• In order to evaluate whether a message is effective,
we can ask ourselves a series of questions which
reflect a message’s simplicity, structure, and
stickiness.
Four Main Qualities for an Effective Message

1. Simplicity - easy to understand or explain seems

simple.

• In order to ensure that the messages have simplicity,

we should ask ourselves two questions;

➢ Is the purpose evident?

➢ Is the core message clear?
Four Main Qualities for an Effective Message

2. Specificity - refers to our choices of language and its

usage on order to ensure language is specific we may ask
ourselves;

➢ Is the language specific?

➢ Is the language concrete, rather than abstract?
➢ Does it use words which have additional meanings
and could perhaps be misinterpreted?
Four Main Qualities for an Effective Message

3. Structure

• Ideas should be organized and easy to follow.

➢ Does the messages have a STRUCTURE?

➢ Is there a more effective way to arrange the ideas?
Four Main Qualities for an Effective Message

4. Stickiness

• The messages should display coherent and unity of

ideas.

➢ Does the idea of the message flow smoothly?

EVALUATING MESSAGES

➢ It is important to critically evaluate images you use

for research. Study and presentation images should
be evaluated like any other source, such as journal
articles or books, to determine their quality,
reliability, and appropriateness. Visual analysis is an
important step in evaluating an image and
understanding its meaning.
ANALYZING THE TEXT OR IMAGES

Here are questions for you to analyze a text or an image;

➢ What do you see?
➢ What is the image all about?
➢ Are there people in the image?
➢ What are they doing?
➢ How are they presented?
➢ Can the image be looked at different ways?
➢ How effective is the image as a visual message?
VISUAL ANALYSIS – increases your understanding of
how visual material communicates and functions,
whether it generates meaning, elicits emotion or creates
a mood.

Here are questions for you to analyze a visual image;

➢ How is the image composed?
➢ What is in the background and what is in the
foreground?
➢ What are the most important visuals?
IMAGE SOURCE-the point or place from which an
image originates.

Here are questions for you to analyze an image source;

➢ Where did you find the image?
➢ What information does the source provide about the
origins of the image?
➢ Is the source reliable and trustworthy?
➢ Was the image found in an image database or was it
being used in another context to convey meaning?
TECHNICAL QUALITY-measures the severity of image
distortions, which mainly involves low-level features.

Here are questions for you to analyze the image quality;

➢ Is the image large enough to suit your purpose?

➢ Are the color, light and balance, true?
➢ Does it have a quality digital image without pixelation
or distortion?
➢ Is the image in a file format you can use?
CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION-refers to the
surrounding details that provide insights into an
individual's emotional state or help in understanding the
meaning of short utterances in a conversation.

➢ What information accompanies the image?

➢ Does the text change how you see the image? How?
➢ Is the textual information intended to be factual or
intended to influence what and how you see?
➢ What kind of context does the information provide?
➢ Does it answer the questions where, how, and why?
To evaluate messages and images of different types of
text reflecting different culture, you should do the ff;
• Understand how the specified cultures live.
• How the people in the specified group communicate
each other.
• Learn the symbolism of their culture.
• Be aware in every detail such as artifact, language,
and symbolism.
• Get the meanings being addressed by the images.
• Get the important elements conveyed by the images.
• Getting the audience for the images.
Remember!

The interactions between non-verbal and

verbal forms of communication, more in
particular the relations between visual
symbols other than writing and the recording
of the speech in writing, are important for the
evaluation of both images and texts.
What is Cultural Text?

➢ Cultural texts are those objects, actions,

and behaviors that reveal cultural
meaning. A photo is an image, but is
also a cultural text, a picture with
cultural information beyond just the
picture itself.
SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION OF A CULTURAL TEXT

Take a look around the room or place you are in right now and briefly catalog the
people and/or things you see. These objects and actions are cultural texts. In
traditional American college classroom, there are some cultural texts that are
fairly standard: tables and chairs or desks; bright lighting; black or white board
to write on. Your class room may also be a 'smart room', complete with a
computer or LCD projector. There may be windows, one or two doors. The floor
may or may not be carpeted. There will also be the presence of decoration-paint,
tile, etc. A space may or may not be void of people, who are also considered to be
cultural texts. Their actions, arrangements and demographics reflect how the
space is used. What is in a space and what happens in the space are all cultural
texts that are available for analysis. In other words, the space and objects with in
it are "readable" cultural texts. They say some thing about the purpose, needs,
and perhaps even values and beliefs of the people who occupy it.
THE IDENTIFICATION OF CULTURAL TEXTS WILL BE
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, BUT THEY ARE FAIRLY
EASY TO IDENTIFY ONCE YOU GET THE HANG OF IT.

If your classroom is traditional, there will be places for people

to sit, and surfaces on which to write. What we may not all
share is the form of these seats and surfaces and the formation
of these seats in the room. Look around and take note: Are
there individual desks, or tables and chairs? Can you move
seats into different arrangements? Are there computers? How
are the desks arranged? Where do the students sit? Where does
the instructor sit/stand?
Analysis can be challenging because we have all agreed to the meaning which we take
them for granted.

For example, it is most likely that you have never entered a classroom and been all
that confused about where you should sit or what part of the space is intended for the
instructor. It is also most probably true that whether the classroom desks are
arranged in rows, or in a circle, students will always leave the "front" of the room for
the instructor and arrange themselves at a distance from the instructor. There is an
invisible buffer zone around the teacher space that students seem to acknowledge, yet
it is not some thing they discuss and agree on before they enter the room. These
things speak to the strong message of hierarchy and authority set through the way
the furniture is organized in the class room space and how well it connects to the
students' existing beliefs about the positions they and their teachers occupy in that
space. This larger observation, then, one that goes beyond the mere description of
what happens to suggest a reason why this is how and why certain behavior occurs, is
the starting point for cultural analysis.
The analysis continues as you work to ask even more questions:

• Are there any works of art or books or media that pro vide insight into
the values and ideas of the people there?
• How do your classmates or other people around you present
themselves through their clothing?
• What messages are you "reading" from them? How might they be
"reading" you?
• These types of questions are really just the beginning as you identify
the variety of cultural texts available to you in your research.

As a researcher, you will be working to uncover the stories and deeper

meaning in artifacts (things) and behaviors.
Artifacts at a site may seem so "normal" to the people
who use them that they don't even realize they carry any
meaning. As reader and researcher of cultural texts
(artifacts, styles, rituals, behaviors, expressions, etc.), you
will have to interpret as you observe while attempting at
the same time to under stand how the community you are
observing interprets their own cultural patterns. Whether
you are an insider (a member of the community) or an
outsider (an observer of the community), when you
present your study/research, you will attempt to tell the
story of how things look from the inside.
Returning to the instance of the classroom, consider the following
questions:

• Why are the desks arranged as they are? What does that say
about the power dynamic in the classroom?
• Why do you already know where to sit and what it means to sit in
the front, middle or back of the class room?
• Where have you chosen to sit?
• Where have you been assigned to sit? How has this experience
affected your feelings about school in general?
• What was your favorite/worst class in high school?
• How was the room arranged/decorated? Can you reach any
conclusions about the relevance of design or decoration?
DETECTING BIAS
IN THE MEDIA
DETECTING BIAS IN THE MEDIA

➢Media bias is ubiquitous (everywhere)

and not easy to detect. It is always useful
to compare several sources of
information and, in doing so, it becomes
clear that media coverage is never
completely objective.
DETECTING BIAS IN THE MEDIA

➢Media have tremendous power in setting

cultural guidelines and in shaping
political discourse. It is essential that
news media, along with other
institutions, are challenged to be fair
and accurate.
Bias by omission:
• For every news story that is selected, there
are many others that are left out. Do the
news stories you see show a balanced view
of real life? What are the characteristics
they have in common? (e.g., Are they
mostly about violence, famous people,
wealth?) Do some news sources include
items that are ignored by others?
Bias by emphasis:

• What stories are on the front page or

“at the tope of the hour?” Which stories
get the largest headlines, or the first and
longest coverage on TV or radio?
Consider how this placement influences
people’s sense of what is important.
Bias by use of language:

• The use of labels such as

“terrorist”, “revolutionary”, or
“freedom fighter” can create
completely different impressions of
the same person or event.
Bias in photos:

• Unflattering pictures can create

bad impressions, and partial
pictures of scenes can completely
change the context of an event.
Bias in the source:
• An article about a cure for cancer written
by a drug company is not the same as an
article by an independent researcher.
Often, private companies, governments,
public relations firms, and political groups
produce press releases to gain media
exposure and to influence the public.
Bias by headlines:

• Some headlines can be deceptive, as their

main purpose is to grab attention. Many
people read only the headlines, which can
create a distorted sense of what is really
going on, or turn a non- event into a
sensational event.
Bias by repetition:

• The repetition of a particular event or

idea can lead people to believe that it is
true, very widespread, and much more
important than it really is.
Bias in numbers and statistics:

• Statistics need to be interpreted; they are often used

to create false impressions. Of the following
statements, which statistic would you use to try to
convince someone that the death penalty is a good
idea?
• Almost 30% of those surveyed support the death
penalty.
• More than 70% of those surveyed are against the
death penalty.
Bias in diversity:

• What is the race and gender diversity at the news

outlet you watch compared to the communities it
serves? How many producers, editors or decision-
makers at news outlets are women, people of color
or openly gay or lesbian? In order to fairly
represent different communities, news outlets
should have members of those communities in
decision-making positions.
Bias from the point of view:

• Political coverage often focuses on how issues affect

politicians or corporate executives rather than those
directly affected by the issue. For example, many stories
on parental notification of abortion emphasized the
"tough choice" confronting male politicians while quoting
no women under 18-those with the most at stake in the
debate. Economics coverage usually looks at how events
impact stockholders rather than workers or consumers.
• Demand that those affected by the issue have a voice in
coverage.
Different Type of Texts

• Narrative texts have to do with real-world events

and time. They may be fictional (fairy tales, novels)
or non-fictional (newspaper report). They are
characterized by a sequencing of events expressed
by dynamic verbs and by adverbials such as "and
then", "first", "second", "third" Example: First
we packed our bags and then we called a taxi. After
that we... etc.
Different Type of Texts

• Descriptive texts are concerned with the location

of persons and things in space. They will tell us
what lies to the right or left, in the background
or foreground, or they will provide background
information which, perhaps, sets the stage for
narration. It is immaterial whether a description
is more technical-objective or more
impressionistic- subjective.
Different Type of Texts

• Directive texts are concerned with concrete

future activity. Central to these texts are
imperatives (Hand me the paper) or forms
which substitute for them, such as polite
questions (Would you hand me the paper?) or
suggestive remarks (I wonder what the paper
says about the weather).
• Narrative, descriptive and directive texts have
grammatical forms associated with them
which may be expanded to form sequences of
a textual nature.
• They are all centered around real-world
events and things. In contrast, expository and
argumentative texts are cognitively oriented,
as they are concerned with explanation and
persuasion, which are both mental processes.
Different Type of Texts
• Expository texts identify and characterize phenomena. They
include text forms such as definitions, explications,
summaries and many types of essay. Expository texts may
be subjective (essay) or objective (summary, explication,
definition) may be analytical (starting from a concept and
then characterizing its parts; e.g. definitions) or synthetic
(recounting characteristics and ending with an appropriate
concept or conclusion; e.g. summaries) are characterized by
state verbs and epistemic modals (Pop music has a strong
rhythmic beat; Texts may consist of one or more sentences)
or by verbs indicating typical activities or qualities.
Different Type of Texts

• Argumentative text is one of the most

common types of text and is characterized
by trying to persuade the reader of an idea
by providing arguments. Writing such a text
is a common task in language-learning, and
is widely used as an assessment tool in
official exams.
“Always be critical and aware as
you read, watch, or listen to mass
media. Keep alert for there many
forms of bias.”
THANK YOU!