Rethinking copyright in the media age

After the controversy surrounding last year's proposed copyright bill C-61, which eventually died on the order table when Parliament was prorogued, the Federal government has decided to hold consultations across Canada before introducing a new version of the bill. While only time will tell how responsive the government will be to the public's submissions, the series of town halls and round tables is definitely a good start in making the process transparent and taking the views of a wide variety of Canadians into account. Below is an expanded version of MNet's submission to the Round Table held in Gatineau, Quebec on July 29th 2009.

Media education is essential

To begin with, any new copyright law must recognize that the media environment has changed radically since the Copyright Act was written; even since its last major revision in 1985. Canadians live in a media environment that would have been literally unimaginable to the Act's original drafters. For young people, especially, media form one of the most important parts of their lives: according to a Fast Forward Trend Analysis study, Canadians aged 12 to 14 watched 18 hours of TV a week in 2006 and spent 21 hours a week on the Internet, while those aged 15 to 19 spent 15 hours watching TV and 22 hours online. (Fast Forward Trend Analysis, August 2006) That's not to mention the increasingly sophisticated cell phones, personal audio and video devices, computer and video games and other media sources that youth use to entertain themselves. Simply put, youth are immersed in media almost from day one.

How this media exposure affects youth is very much up to us. Whether or not they are aware of it, youth take values and messages from media. They need to learn to recognize the ways in which those messages are communicated and question and engage with them. From advertising to violence to body image, issues essential to the health and well-being of our youth are tied to media consumption.

More and more, youth are media creators as well. Whether it's participating in social networking sites, writing blogs, filming and posting online videos or crafting user-generated content for video games, new technologies are allowing youth to actively participate in creating media. We are only just beginning to realize the implications of putting media creation and worldwide publication tools into the hands of children and teenagers, marvelling at what they can achieve and fearful of the consequences of the bad choices they can make.

Understanding and participating in the media are also increasingly a part of being an active citizen. As media messages dominate our political debates and tools such as Facebook are used for activism and organizing political movements, it is becoming increasingly important for young people to be able to view media critically in order to participate as citizens of Canada.

In this increasingly complex media world, media literacy is the most effective tool we have to provide children and youth with the necessary critical thinking skills to maximize the benefits of media and new technologies and minimize the risks.

In short, media literacy is essential. Citizens who lack the ability to question, engage with and create media are at a disadvantage as consumers and citizens and are all too likely to be left behind in the knowledge economy. Canada has been a world leader in getting media education into the classroom, to the point where it is now an essential component of the core curricula of all provinces and territories.


post by santan...29th...july......