My second image focuses on the dangers of illegitimate media practices concerning the youth. There is considerable danger and fear that young people are being exploited in the digital world (Livingston 2002 p.18). Despite the assumption that ‘digital natives’ are digitally literate (Kirschner & De Bruyckere 2017), they too can be manipulated by fake news. I used my image to convey the Walkley Foundation’s focus on truth to counteract that fear. To explore this issue, I chose to use an image of a child reading two alternative newspapers in a classroom to represent the link between media and education.
In this image, the girls gaze gives a natural salience towards the newspaper, allowing the viewer to consider the words on the paper before their gaze focuses on the girl and the classroom (Kress & van Leeuwen 1996). Further, the use of rhetorical questions on the newspaper forces the reader to question the implications of the media on children to be received by the viewer.
As with my other images, I’ve offered two alternative images to the reader. The ‘new’ information, the association of the Walkley foundation with trustworthy and truthful news media, is placed on the right (Kress & van Leeuwen 1996).
My first drafts of this just featured the girl with her original background, which was grey and not very engaging. Those who commented on my images suggested utilising the background more effectively, rather than having blank space. I wanted to incorporate the educative theme, so utilised the background in this way.
This was the first image where I removed the individual from their background and placed them in a more interesting and thematic environment. I used the lasso tool to select the girl and remove her from the background, before placing her over an image of a classroom. This background was much more engaging as opposed to the grey original background, and fit well with the educative theme.
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