91.5 Support for Media Literacy
[Whereas,] Rationale:
Film, radio, television and home videos are new and powerful influences shaping our society. The more traditional print media
are also affected significantly by the information explosion, instant global communication and mass production.
The effectiveness of the democratic process depends on citizen’s ability to evaluate information critically. Constant exposure to
television is leading to a growing inability to distinguish between fact and fiction for many viewers, especially children.
Academic research has compiled convincing evidence to show that entertainment violence is a significant factor in the increasing
and unacceptable levels of real violence in contemporary society. Almost all Canadian television viewers have easy access to
violent and sexist programming from non-Canadian networks and stations over which our government has no regulatory control.
Parents are children’s first teachers, orienting them positively or negatively to society and their roles in it, and research has shown
that preschool children tend to spend an unhealthy amount of time watching unsupervised television.
Professional educators are increasingly concerned that media literacy becomes part of core curricula. At the same time, the
current restrictions of the Copyright Law prevent them from using excerpts from current programming and print resources in school.
[RESOLVED,] NCWC urges the Government of Canada to:
- use the means already at its disposal to educate parents about their responsibility for supervising the amount of
time spent viewing television and videos and teaching their children to select appropriate, pro-social programming
(e.g. fliers in family allowance cheque envelopes, public service announcements on radio and television, pamphlets
on child welfare); - Encourage all provincial and territorial ministries of education to consider including media literacy as part of their
core curricula; - provide limited educational exemptions from the existing Copyright Law for schools and other organizations
involved in teaching critical evaluating skills relating to mass media; - Continue to provide funding through the CBC, NFB, Telefilm Canada and other organizations receiving government
funding for the development of contemporary resources for the teaching of media literacy.