Pre-Reading

Beyond Access: Cultural Capital and the Roots of the Digital Divide

I- Case Study: Hong Kong

Asian filmmakers: Romancing the Mid-Budget Film
Focus on the last section: The Digital Promise

Movie review: “The Haunted School”

More and more people, especially among the younger generation, download films from the internet instead of going to the cinema. The link above shows a successful example of a low-budget film in Hong Kong that used the internet rather than traditional media to promote itself. Through this case we want the students to become aware of the access to different media in their lives and how it is changing. Also, we would like the pupils to think about both the advantages and the disadvantages of this kind of access, and how some people are benefiting from it and others are not.

Marketing Movies on the Internet: How Does Canada Compare to the U.S.?

II- Theory

There are three different levels in accessing media. The first one is physical access, meaning you have access to newspaper, television, computers and so on. The second level is access to different kinds of media, meaning you not only get information from the newspaper but also through television or other types of media. The third level is access to different sources of media, meaning you can get different sides of the same information through different sources of media (news agencies, other countries’ media, etc).

Further reading:

What is Media Access?

III- Exercises

Let the students discuss how they access the media at the beginning of the class. How many different kinds of media do they use? What kind of media do they use the most? Why? What about their parents and grandparents? Is there a difference between them? Why?

IV- Key Questions

How do you define media access?

Why do people have different accesses to media?

What are the affects of different access to the media? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

What can journalists do about it?

Can you explain people’s media contact behavior in Hong Kong, according to the social conditions represented above?

Please compare the situation in your country (region), what is the most important factor that influences people’s media access?

V- Homework

Split into groups of 3 or 4 and have each group choose a different country. Collect information about people’s access to different media in that country. Try to analyze it and present it to the class in the next lesson.

Read:

Community Internet Access in Rural Areas: Solving the Economic Sustainability Puzzle

References:

Hong Kong Stories

Media freedom in Hong Long safeguarded but journalists worry about the future