Media Literacy

Media literacy is the skill of understanding the nature of communications, particularly in regard to telecommunications and mass media. The skill entails knowledge of the structural features of the media, and how these might tend to influence the content of the media.

Major topics

• Understanding the processes involved in critically analyzing and creating media messages
• The business aspects of mass media such as broadcasting
• In particular, this includes the business and function of advertising
• The interaction of media and government
• The nature of journalism and the problem of media bias
• The sociopolitical nature of the media's content such as the depiction of social stereotypes and violence.

History and dispersal

The concept of media literacy as a topic of education first arose in the 1980s. Its establishment corresponds to a period of intensive academic and political investigation into the possibility that the media played a causative role in various social trends (usually 'negative' trends). It has become a standard topic of study in school in many countries. For example, media literacy is part of the government-directed 'Citizenship' curricula in the United Kingdom and Australia.

It is less widespread in the U.S., in large part because there is no central authority making nationwide curriculum recommendations. Each of the fifty states has numerous school districts, each of which operates with a great degree of independence from one another. Media literacy 'caucuses' or 'movements' arise as voluntary efforts by educationalists. Renee Hobbs of Temple University has documented [1] seven profound issues media literacy initiators are grappling with. Despite (or because of) the lack of federal government backing, US civic support and teaching resources for media literacy education are in some respects more academically rigorous, innovative and sustainable than their EU counterparts. In the 21st century, a growing number of education scholars and practitioners worldwide have begun to recognize media literacy as one of the 'new literacies' required for navigating in a contemporary multimedia environment.

Note that outside the U.S., media literacy is frequently referred to as media education. There is considerable overlap between the two terms, and they are nearly synonymous. However, those who espouse media education generally embrace the media as a site of pleasure, whereas some of those who espouse media literacy may take an innoculationist approach, seeking to protect children from what they perceive as its harmful effects. More recently, British educators and scholars have begun to use the phrase 'media literacy' to describe outcomes including critical analysis and media production skills while using the term 'media education' to refer to the instructional practices that promote these outcomes.

Proponents of media literacy

• Marshall McLuhan - an early Canadian theorist into the nature of media
• Noam Chomsky - an American linguist and political analyst most famous for his observations about corporate media's role in propaganda, which he describes as the 'manufacturing of consent'.
• Jean Baudrillard - a French sociologist and philosopher known for his writings about media, virtuality, and the Gulf War.
• Neil Postman (1931-2003) - a media ecologist and author of numerous popular press books, including Amusing Ourselves to Death
• David Buckingham (external link) British scholar and theorist on media literacy education
• Renee Hobbs (external link) - a leading authority on media education
• David Gauntlett - contemporary theorist whose 'new creative methods' offer new ways of exploring media literacy
• Frank W.Baker- nationally recognized media educator and workshop presenter for K-12 schools and conferences.
• Sut Jhally(external link) - communications professor and executive director of a foundation - Media Education Foundation(external link) - that produces educational videos and supporting study guides on the role of media in health, democracy and happiness.

Further information

• MANA - the Media Alliance for New Activism
• MEAC - Media education across the curriculum
• MEF - Media Education Foundation - founded by Sut Jhally, produces and distributes materials encouraging critical thinking and debate about media & culture
• - AMLA - This organization hosts the U.S. National Media Education Conference
• The Center for Media Literacy offers teaching plans, packs and online resources
• Media Literacy Clearinghouse, cited as a great starting point for K-12 educators; media educator/webmaster Frank W.Baker conducts workshops for K-12 schools and conferences
• MediaEd, the media education site for the UK run by organisations in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England
• Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has a section of its site dedicated to media literacy
• Action Coalition for Media Education, a grassroots media literacy coalition that does not accept funding from media corporations to promote better public understanding of the impact of media and marketing on health and democracy.
• Media Education Wales supports media and moving image education through projects, publications, training and consultancy.
• Mediachannel.org- political media literacy
• Professor, media critic, and author Robert McChesney's media group Free Press
• The Center for Public Integrity