essay writing about media literacy

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What is media literacy, and why is it important?

The word "literacy" usually describes the ability to read and write. Reading literacy and media literacy have a lot in common. Reading starts with recognizing letters. Pretty soon, readers can identify words -- and, most importantly, understand what those words mean. Readers then become writers. With more experience, readers and writers develop strong literacy skills. ( Learn specifically about news literacy .)

Media literacy is the ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages they're sending. Kids take in a huge amount of information from a wide array of sources, far beyond the traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines) of most parents' youth. There are text messages, memes, viral videos, social media, video games, advertising, and more. But all media shares one thing: Someone created it. And it was created for a reason. Understanding that reason is the basis of media literacy. ( Learn how to use movies and TV to teach media literacy. )

The digital age has made it easy for anyone to create media . We don't always know who created something, why they made it, and whether it's credible. This makes media literacy tricky to learn and teach. Nonetheless, media literacy is an essential skill in the digital age.

Specifically, it helps kids:

Learn to think critically. As kids evaluate media, they decide whether the messages make sense, why certain information was included, what wasn't included, and what the key ideas are. They learn to use examples to support their opinions. Then they can make up their own minds about the information based on knowledge they already have.

Become a smart consumer of products and information. Media literacy helps kids learn how to determine whether something is credible. It also helps them determine the "persuasive intent" of advertising and resist the techniques marketers use to sell products.

Recognize point of view. Every creator has a perspective. Identifying an author's point of view helps kids appreciate different perspectives. It also helps put information in the context of what they already know -- or think they know.

Create media responsibly. Recognizing your own point of view, saying what you want to say how you want to say it, and understanding that your messages have an impact is key to effective communication.

Identify the role of media in our culture. From celebrity gossip to magazine covers to memes, media is telling us something, shaping our understanding of the world, and even compelling us to act or think in certain ways.

Understand the author's goal. What does the author want you to take away from a piece of media? Is it purely informative, is it trying to change your mind, or is it introducing you to new ideas you've never heard of? When kids understand what type of influence something has, they can make informed choices.

When teaching your kids media literacy , it's not so important for parents to tell kids whether something is "right." In fact, the process is more of an exchange of ideas. You'll probably end up learning as much from your kids as they learn from you.

Media literacy includes asking specific questions and backing up your opinions with examples. Following media-literacy steps allows you to learn for yourself what a given piece of media is, why it was made, and what you want to think about it.

Teaching kids media literacy as a sit-down lesson is not very effective; it's better incorporated into everyday activities . For example:

• With little kids, you can discuss things they're familiar with but may not pay much attention to. Examples include cereal commercials, food wrappers, and toy packages.
• With older kids, you can talk through media they enjoy and interact with. These include such things as YouTube videos , viral memes from the internet, and ads for video games.

Here are the key questions to ask when teaching kids media literacy :

• Who created this? Was it a company? Was it an individual? (If so, who?) Was it a comedian? Was it an artist? Was it an anonymous source? Why do you think that?
• Why did they make it? Was it to inform you of something that happened in the world (for example, a news story)? Was it to change your mind or behavior (an opinion essay or a how-to)? Was it to make you laugh (a funny meme)? Was it to get you to buy something (an ad)? Why do you think that?
• Who is the message for? Is it for kids? Grown-ups? Girls? Boys? People who share a particular interest? Why do you think that?
• What techniques are being used to make this message credible or believable? Does it have statistics from a reputable source? Does it contain quotes from a subject expert? Does it have an authoritative-sounding voice-over? Is there direct evidence of the assertions its making? Why do you think that?
• What details were left out, and why? Is the information balanced with different views -- or does it present only one side? Do you need more information to fully understand the message? Why do you think that?
• How did the message make you feel? Do you think others might feel the same way? Would everyone feel the same, or would certain people disagree with you? Why do you think that?
• As kids become more aware of and exposed to news and current events , you can apply media-literacy steps to radio, TV, and online information.

Common Sense Media offers the largest, most trusted library of independent age-based ratings and reviews. Our timely parenting advice supports families as they navigate the challenges and possibilities of raising kids in the digital age.

Media Literacy

What is media Literacy?

Media literacy is the ability to understand, analyse, and create media messages. It is an evolving skill set that teachers and students must frequently encounter in the classroom, as the environments in which we consume and create media constantly change and become more complex.

Becoming media literate and teaching media literacy to students involves understanding how media messages are constructed and the techniques used to convey information and ideas.

Most importantly, it includes evaluating the credibility and reliability of media sources, recognising bias and disinformation, and understanding the impact media can have on individuals and society.

We have never lived in an era where it has been so easy to create and consume media and share it with the world as it is today; as such, we should be more enlightened about the purpose and intent of the messages being presented. Becoming media literate has never been more important as the validity and credibility of news, facts and opinions are more challenging to determine.

Students who are media literate are better equipped to critically analyze the information they receive and make informed decisions about what they believe and how they engage with media.

As teachers, it is crucial to integrate media literacy into all curriculum areas so students understand media reaches and influences us in many ways.

What skills are required to become media literate?

Becoming media literate is a process of critical thinking , healthy scepticism and understanding the factors that drive and influence the media itself. For this to occur, we have broken down these broad skills into individual components that students and teachers need to understand more deeply.

• How to analyse media messages : This involves teaching students the techniques used to inform, entertain, and persuade an audience and helping them understand the messages being conveyed.
• How to evaluate a source: When students can determine the credibility and reliability of media sources, they will make far wiser evaluations of the message and purpose of the content they consume.
• Understanding the impact of the media: What influence does the media have upon individuals, groups, and society? Teaching students why we should embrace freedom of speech and the search for truth above all else is essential. Students who understand the chaos of controlled and corrupt media approach it with a healthy level of scepticism and respect.
• Understanding how media is produced: By understanding the complexity and simplicity of producing various forms of media and sharing them with an audience, students can better determine if the media message they are consuming has been created by an agenda-driven machine or an expert in the field on a given topic.
• Knowing the difference between fact and opinion: It may seem simplistic and obvious, but when students can quickly identify if a statement is an absolute verified fact that has weight and credibility versus an opinion, it completely changes how that message is received. If students cannot separate these two areas, we educators have significantly failed them.
• Recognizing media manipulation: As terrible as it may seem, there are tens of thousands of people devoting their lives to producing propaganda, advertising, or disinformation for profit, persuasion and power every single day. Make it clear to all students that not all media should be trusted and that constant disinformation will be presented to them throughout their lives.
• Identifying and Understanding Bias: When students understand that all media has a purpose for being created and may frequently contain some degree of bias, they will look beyond simply what they are being told and ask why this message is being shared.
• Digital Literacy Skills and Media Creation: Navigating the media requires a basic understanding of technology and digital media. Providing students with the skills to effectively use technology and digital media to access, analyze, and create media messages moves them from consumers to creators with a practical and ethical understanding of the impact that their media messages can have.

TEACHING STUDENTS TO NAVIGATE THE “DISINFORMATION ERA”

Never before has it been so easy for someone, anyone, to create a message and share it with hundreds of millions of people, and even more concerning is that it has never been easier for governments to control that flow of information within their borders so that they control the narrative on every news story, and to the bend and erase history at will. We see this in action today in countries such as North Korea, China and Russia.

Disinformation is the spread of false or misleading information, often intended to control public opinion or promote a specific agenda. This problem has become increasingly prevalent in recent years and has driven a sharp rise in wild conspiracy theories, scams, and radicalization. It is essential that students are taught to navigate this complex digital landscape and identify credible sources of information.

The information era of the early 2000s has doubled down on its capacity to share and consume information through digital technology and has taken an unfortunate turn in recent years to create an information superhighway leading to a complex system of facts, opinions, bias, hatred and outright lies that are becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, especially for those who have grown up knowing nothing else but consuming their news through YouTube, Social media and the weight of opinion from social influencers outranks that of experts and proven research.

How did we get here?

The answer to that question is complex, but three critical turning points have driven us to the point at which we find ourselves.

1: The ease of content creation: This point has been covered well enough, but when anyone with the literacy skills of a child can use tools such as artificial intelligence to write a flawless 2000-word article or create a 10-minute video explaining in the style of a professional news outlet and share it with millions of people via social media via paid promotion for well under $100 this marks a clear turning point in the way we consume and create media.

To create and deliver content at this level of quality and scale only a decade earlier would have cost thousands of dollars and required far more checks and balances.

2: Algorithms determining what we consume: In the same way in which Spotify and Netflix determine what shows and music we should listen to based upon what we like, and thumbs down and so on, social media drives our consumption of news and information in the same way.

The primary intent of social media is to keep users on the platform for as long as possible regardless of what we are doing: watching videos, liking photos, or sharing posts. It doesn’t matter as long as our eyeballs remain on their platform. This allows social media outlets such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram to sell advertising and generate billions of dollars of revenue each month.

So just as you might prefer Beiber over Beethoven on your music playlists, computer-driven algorithms will increase music that has more in common with your tastes and then remove those that do not. Undeniably, these algorithms are practical and helpful in ensuring your wants and needs are often met.

But wait; what if those algorithms effectively removed some of the most fantastic music we have ever heard? Music that might provide insight into new cultural areas puts us in a completely different headspace or opens our eyes to how other generations of music shaped the music we listen to today. What a shallow pool of musical tastes we would quickly swim in as our playlists blend into the same 100 songs we listen to all the time. Sound familiar?

So if we transfer that process of algorithms feeding us our musical tastes into how social media feeds us news and events, it is not hard to see how our biases, likes and dislikes can be quickly targeted and capitalized upon in the same way.

The more significant problem here is that if you are interested in news articles revolving around science and technology, for example, not only will you find your news feed packed with these stories exclusively with news stories of this nature, but other news events will be removed.

3: Welcome to the Algorithmic “Rabbit Hole”

The third and final act explaining how we got here is the most interesting, and we can use it as a metaphor from the story Alice in Wonderland, where she enters the rabbit hole and is transported to a surreal state of being that is both disturbing and delightful.

The “YouTube” rabbit hole is a phenomenon that demonstrates this process most effectively; how we start innocently viewing videos on a specific topic, such as “NBA highlights from the 90s”, that within 10 – 12 videos will evolve into a new stream of “recommended content” exposing “NBA Scandals”, that then leads to “Celebrity Conspiracy theories” to videos focussed on (Insert topic here) full of foul language, wild opinions, conspiracies and flat out lies.

So what is happening here, and why?

If we remember that the sole focus is to keep you on the platform so that advertising can be sold, the algorithm also knows that you will quickly tire of the same content no matter what it is. As such, it needs to provide alternate content that is in a similar vein that might also be more contentious and packed full of user feedback and comments that will create a higher level of engagement.

Effectively the algorithm needs to keep upping the “sugar, or dosage”, leading creators to create more contentious and hyperbolic even radicalized content as the race for your attention span continues to evolve. All the while, that balanced understanding of any topic is pushed to the side and eventually completely removed in favour of your new and more extreme and niche areas of interest. And this is not a healthy place for anyone to exist, especially those who are blind to the process that led them here.

This leads creators to create more wild and contentious content to draw an audience, and the cycle is repeated.

Conscious and state-controlled disinformation

Until now, we have been referring to companies using technologies to keep users engaged and persuade them to consume particular information streams for financial gain. Still, it did not take long for authoritarian countries to use this same technology to generate propaganda, erase history and sway public opinion within their own borders and those of their ideological rivals.

The big difference here is we are moving at scale from a backyard operation of disinformation to an environment in which state-sponsored projects where money, time and resources are unlimited and the capacity to create chaos on a global scale dramatically increases. Effectively enabling the process of weaponising disinformation.

Why bother trying to invade your enemy when you can far more easily create chaos and revolution amongst their own citizens in relative obscurity?

Ironically, it is the countries that value free and open media that are at the most significant risk of falling victim to disinformation attacks as there is little capacity to filter, censor and control the flow of information within social media as opposed to autocratic nations have removed the technical pathways and human rights of free press and free speech within their own borders.

A Complete Teaching Unit on Fake News

Digital and social media have completely redefined the media landscape, making it difficult for students to identify FACTS AND OPINIONS covering:

Teach them to FIGHT FAKE NEWS with this COMPLETE 42 PAGE UNIT. No preparation is required,

Media Literacy Teaching Strategies

Media literacy has become essential in the digital age, enabling individuals to navigate the vast information landscape and critically analyze media messages. Educators must equip students with the tools and knowledge necessary to become media-literate citizens. This article will explore practical strategies for teaching media literacy in the classroom, providing teachers with practical approaches to empower students to decipher and engage with media content.

In this article, we will approach the principles of media literacy from five perspectives and provide three practical examples of media literacy lessons in the classroom.

1: Build a Foundation of Media Literacy Early On

Teaching media literacy from an early age is paramount for several reasons.

Firstly, starting early allows educators to develop  critical thinking skills in students . By introducing media literacy concepts and practices at a young age, students learn to question, analyze, and evaluate media content. They become more discerning consumers who can distinguish between reliable and unreliable information. Early exposure to media literacy enables students to understand the persuasive techniques, biases, and manipulative strategies employed in media, empowering them to make informed decisions about the information they encounter.

Secondly, with the pervasive presence of digital media in children’s lives, early media literacy education helps students navigate the digital landscape responsibly. Young children are increasingly exposed to online platforms, social media, and digital content. By teaching them media literacy skills, educators can guide students to critically evaluate the reliability of online information, identify potential risks and dangers, and understand the consequences of their digital actions.

Early exposure to media literacy aids in developing  digital citizenship  skills, enabling students to protect their privacy, engage in respectful online communication, and become critical consumers of digital content.

Moreover, early media literacy education is vital in countering misinformation and fake news. In the internet age, misinformation spreads rapidly, and young minds can be particularly vulnerable to its influence. By introducing students to fact-checking techniques, teaching them to identify credible sources, and instilling critical evaluation skills, educators empower students to actively debunk falsehoods and discern the authenticity of information.

Teaching students about media literacy from an early age is essential for fostering critical thinking skills, navigating the digital landscape responsibly, and countering misinformation. By equipping students with media literacy skills, educators empower them to become active and discerning participants in the media ecosystem.

Digital and social media have completely redefined the media landscape, making it difficult for students to identify  FACTS AND OPINIONS  covering:

• Radicalization
• Social Media, algorithms and technology
• Research Skills
• Fact-Checking beyond Google and Alexa

2: Promote Active Media Consumption

Encourage students to engage with media content rather than passively consume it actively. Teach them to question the sources, intentions, and biases behind the information they encounter. Encourage critical thinking by asking open-ended questions and facilitating discussions. Assign media analysis projects where students evaluate the credibility and reliability of different sources.

Let’s look at three strategies for promoting active media consumption in students.

Media Analysis and Discussion:  Engage students in media analysis activities that encourage critical thinking and discussion. Give them various media examples, such as news articles, advertisements, videos, or social media posts. Guide them to identify the main message, purpose, intended audience, and persuasive techniques employed in each media piece.

Encourage students to question the credibility of the sources, evaluate the evidence provided, and consider any biases or stereotypes present. Facilitate group discussions where students can share their insights, challenge each other’s perspectives, and develop their analytical skills.

Fact-Checking and Verification:  Teach students how to fact-check and verify the information they encounter in media. Introduce them to reliable fact-checking websites and tools, such as Snopes,  FactCheck.org , or  Google’s Fact Check Explorer.

Guide students through evaluating sources, cross-referencing information, and verifying claims made in media content. Encourage students to question the accuracy and reliability of information before accepting it as true. Provide real-world examples of  misinformation or fake news stories and engage students  in hands-on activities where they can fact-check and debunk false claims.

Media Creation and Critique:  Encourage students to become active creators of media content and engage in self-reflection and critique.

Assign projects where students create media artifacts, such as videos, podcasts, or blog posts, focusing on a specific topic or theme. During creation, emphasize the importance of ethical media production, accurate representation, and responsible storytelling. After students complete their creations, facilitate peer feedback sessions where they can provide constructive criticism, discuss the impact of their media choices, and reflect on how their biases and perspectives may have influenced their work.

By incorporating these three approaches into media literacy education, educators can foster active media consumption skills in students. Students will develop the ability to critically analyze media messages, fact-check information, and engage responsibly with the media they encounter.

3: Develop Digital Literacy Skills

Equipping students with digital literacy skills is essential in today’s digital landscape. Teach them to navigate online platforms responsibly, evaluate websites for credibility, and protect their privacy. Introduce them to fact-checking websites and tools that can help them verify information. Discuss the ethical considerations surrounding online content creation, including copyright and plagiarism.

Here are three strategies to enhance your student’s digital literacy skills.

Digital Research and Information Literacy:  Teach students how to conduct effective online research and evaluate the credibility and reliability of digital sources. Introduce them to various search strategies, such as using appropriate keywords and advanced search operators, to find relevant and trustworthy information. Guide students in critically evaluating websites, considering factors such as authorship, domain authority, date of publication, and potential biases. Provide them with practical exercises where they can analyze and compare different sources of information on a specific topic. Emphasize the importance of citing sources and avoiding plagiarism in their digital research.

Digital Communication and Collaboration:  Teach students effective digital communication and collaboration skills. Guide them in using appropriate language and etiquette in online communication, whether through email, discussion forums, or social media platforms. Discuss the importance of considering the audience and context when communicating online and the potential implications of their digital footprint.

Foster opportunities for collaborative digital projects, where students can learn to work together virtually, use digital collaboration tools, and engage in respectful and effective online teamwork. Emphasize the importance of clear and concise digital communication, active listening, and constructive feedback.

Educators can help students develop essential digital literacy skills by implementing these three strategies. Students will become adept at conducting effective online research, evaluating the credibility of digital sources, protecting their online privacy and security, and engaging in responsible digital communication and collaboration. These skills are vital for their success in the digital age and empower them to navigate the digital landscape with confidence and discernment.

4: Address Bias and Stereotypes in the Media

Guide students in identifying and challenging bias and stereotypes present in media. Teach them to recognize how media influences societal perceptions and impacts diverse communities. Provide examples of media representations that reinforce stereotypes and facilitate discussions on how these representations can perpetuate inequality and discrimination. Encourage  students to seek out alternative narratives  and diverse voices.

Here are three strategies for teaching this in the classroom.

Media Analysis and Deconstruction:  Engage students in critical media analysis and deconstruction activities to identify and challenge bias and stereotypes. Select media examples, such as advertisements, news articles, TV shows, or movies, that contain explicit or implicit biases or reinforce stereotypes.

Guide students to analyze the language, visuals, representations, and portrayals in the media content. Encourage them to question the underlying assumptions, stereotypes, and biases present. Facilitate discussions where students can express their observations, share alternative perspectives, and explore the potential consequences of these biases and stereotypes. Encourage them to critically reflect on how media influences societal perceptions and impacts diverse communities.

Undertake Media Representation Projects:  Assign projects that involve creating media representations that challenge bias and stereotypes. Ask students to create their own advertisements, news articles, videos, or other media artifacts that counter prevailing stereotypes and promote inclusive representations.

Provide guidelines and  prompts that encourage students  to think critically about the messages they want to convey and the impact they want to make. Emphasize the importance of accurately and respectfully representing different social, cultural, and ethnic groups. Encourage students to collaborate and share their creations, discussing the intentions and impact of their media representations.

Promote Diverse Media Consumption:  Encourage students to actively seek out and consume media content from diverse sources and perspectives. Introduce them to media outlets, books, films, and online platforms prioritising diverse voices and challenging stereotypes. Provide recommendations and resources that showcase alternative narratives and perspectives.

Guide students in critically evaluating the diversity of media they consume and discussing the representations they encounter. Encourage them to question the absence or underrepresentation of certain groups and to explore media that provides more balanced and inclusive portrayals. Facilitate discussions where students can share their findings, insights, and reflections on the importance of diverse media consumption.

By incorporating these strategies into media literacy education, educators can effectively address bias and stereotypes in media. Students will develop the skills to critically analyze and challenge biased representations, actively create media promoting inclusivity, and seek out diverse media content. This empowers students to become more discerning consumers, critical thinkers, and advocates for media representations that reflect the diversity and richness of our society.

5: Embed Media Literacy Across the Curriculum

Integrate a media literacy curriculum across various subjects beyond traditional media studies. Show students how media literacy skills relate to science, history, literature, and other disciplines. For example, in a history class, students can analyze primary sources or examine the portrayal of historical events in films. By connecting media literacy to different subjects, students understand its universal applicability.

Embed Media Analysis and Content Creation into all subject areas:  Integrate media analysis and creation activities across different subjects to enhance critical thinking and communication skills. For example, in English language arts, analyze media representations in literature or explore the persuasive techniques used in advertising.

In social studies, analyze historical documentaries or discuss the portrayal of different cultures and societies in media. In science, examine the portrayal of scientific concepts in popular media or evaluate the accuracy of scientific claims in news articles.

Encourage students to create media artifacts demonstrating their understanding of the subject, such as videos, podcasts, infographics, or written articles. Students gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter by integrating media literacy into various subjects while developing critical media analysis and media creation skills.

Create Collaborative Media Projects:  Implement collaborative media projects that span multiple subjects, promoting interdisciplinary learning. Design projects that require students to research, analyze, and create media content related to a specific topic.

For example, students could collaborate on a digital storytelling project that combines historical research, creative writing, and digital media production. Students could create multimedia presentations or documentaries integrating scientific research, data analysis, and visual communication skills. By working together on these projects, students develop a comprehensive understanding of the topic, enhance their media literacy skills, and learn the value of collaboration and teamwork.

Promote the pursuit of Media Ethics and Digital Citizenship Discussions:  Incorporate discussions on media ethics and digital citizenship into various subjects to foster responsible media consumption and online behaviour. Dedicate class time to explore topics such as media bias, fake news, online privacy, cyberbullying, or the responsible use of social media. Engage students in critical conversations about the ethical considerations of media production and consumption.

Provide opportunities for students to share their perspectives, debate relevant issues, and develop strategies for responsible digital engagement. By addressing media ethics and digital citizenship in different subjects, students comprehensively understand their responsibilities as media consumers and producers.

Educators can seamlessly integrate media literacy across all curriculum areas by employing these strategies. Students will develop critical thinking, creativity, communication, and digital citizenship skills, enabling them to navigate and engage with media in various academic contexts effectively.

Bonus tip for teaching media literacy: Stay Updated and Adapt:

Media landscapes and technologies evolve rapidly, so educators need to stay updated and adapt their teaching strategies accordingly. Stay informed about emerging media trends, new platforms, and changing media consumption patterns. Continuously refine your teaching methods to align with the ever-changing media landscape.

Teaching media literacy is essential for equipping students with the critical thinking skills to navigate the complex media environment. By starting early, promoting active consumption, developing digital literacy, fostering collaboration, addressing bias and stereotypes, incorporating media literacy across subjects, and staying updated, educators can empower students to become discerning consumers and active media content creators.

By implementing these strategies, educators play a pivotal role in shaping informed and engaged citizens who can confidently navigate the media landscape.

As educators, let us seize the opportunity to cultivate media literacy skills in our students, enabling them to analyze, evaluate, and create media content responsibly and effectively.

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• Writing Tips

How to Develop Your Media Literacy

• 8-minute read
• 26th January 2023

Quality writing includes citing sources correctly and avoiding bias or plagiarism. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, as the content we read online goes to extreme lengths to capture our attention and influence our behaviour. This is why developing media literacy is key, so you can read critically, make informed choices, and identify biases in your own writing.

What Is Media Literacy?

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages. It helps people become critical, active consumers and producers of media that understand the role of media in society.

Analyze Media Messages

Media messages are messages shared by organizations, individuals, news, and social media users with the intent to inform, entertain, persuade, or sell products to their target audience (you). This includes advertisements you see online, news clips, articles, social media posts, videos, images, and much more.

To develop your media literacy, it’s important to think critically about the media you consume and create. This includes understanding the purpose, audience, and techniques used in the message as well as identifying any bias or manipulation. It also includes understanding the context in which the message is presented, such as the source, medium, and historical and cultural background.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to analyze media messages (think who , what , when , where , why , and how ):

●  Who created this media?

●  Who is funding this information/media/platform?

●  Who is the intended audience for this message?

●  Who benefits from sharing this message?

●  What is the purpose of sharing this information/media?

●  What does this information/message tell me about [the topic]?

●  What sources back this message? Are they reputable? Are they from accredited and peer reviewed journals?

●  What techniques are being used in this message to persuade me/others?

●  What are the indirect messages?

●  When was this information/media created? (i.e., is it recent or outdated?)

●  When is this media message most relevant in my life? (e.g., does it pertain to a current event?)

●  Where is this message/media being shared? (e.g., in a social media group, to specific communities)

●  Where is this message/media NOT being shared? (i.e., who is being excluded?)

●  Why is this message/information being shared? (i.e., to persuade, inform, entertain, or sell a product)

●  Why is this message/information important or relevant to me/my community?

●  How does this information/message impact my life or other’s lives?

●  How is this message being shared across media platforms?

●  How are other people reacting to this message/information?

●  How might someone different from me (e.g., race, gender, nationality, socioeconomic background, age) interpret this message?

Evaluate Media Messages

Once you’ve analyzed a media message, evaluate it using your own criteria and values. This includes considering the accuracy, credibility, and reliability of the information, as well as the ethical and social implications of the information. It also includes considering your own emotions and reactions to it and whether they’ve been influenced by any manipulation or persuasion techniques .

To not fall victim of manipulation and persuasion techniques, it’s important to be aware of persuasive language strategies. Persuasive language is a powerful tool for winning your trust and influencing how you think. Let’s look at some examples.

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Storytelling

A lot of what we see online uses the power of storytelling to appeal to your emotions and suck you in. For example, the Dodo shares videos about cute animals or unlikely animal friends to keep you watching, which is their main goal. The more views they get, the more money they make.

Now, in the broad scheme of things, watching a 60-second video about animal friends is no big deal. But what if it’s a video from a social media user that’s asking for donations to a GoFundMe page? Is the story biased in any way? Is the story true?

Presenting Evidence

The power of statistics and facts is real. They can boost your credibility and support your argument. However, statistics and facts can be used in misleading ways . Always examine the evidence presented in media and check sources.

Attacks on Other Parties

Attacking the “other party” in an effort to discredit them or tear apart their reputation is a common strategy when persuading people. This is often used in political campaigns. People or organizations who employ this strategy are trying to manipulate your emotions or make you angry to convince you of an idea.

They might exaggerate facts or use a misleading perspective to win you over, so you should always do your homework when presented with two sides of an argument or story.

This strategy is often used when trying to persuade consumers to buy a product or service. Many ads or salespeople shower you with compliments to make you feel good. When you feel good about yourself, such as your lifestyle or your physical appearance, then you’re more likely to purchase whatever they’re selling.

Inclusive Language

This is the “us versus the world” mentality that’s so common in media. Many companies use terms like “us,” “we,” and “our” to give you a sense of inclusion. Social media influencers, for example, might try to make their followers feel like they’re friends with them in real life.

This strategy makes you feel included, welcomed, and part of a community – all of which are great! But people may use this language to manipulate and influence your emotions so that you like them or are inclined to buy something.

Developing Media Literacy

Developing your media literacy is an ongoing process that requires practice and reflection. There are several strategies and resources that can help you to improve your media literacy skills.

Fact Checking and Verification

A key strategy for developing media literacy is fact checking and verifying information. This includes using multiple sources, checking their credibility and reliability, and looking for independent verifications. There are several fact checking tools:

●  Factcheck.org

●  PolitiFact

●  LinkedIn (to look up authors and see if they have expertise in their field)

Education and Resources

Another strategy to develop media literacy is seeking out education and resources that can help you better understand the role of media in society and politics. This includes studying media and communication, reading books and articles about media literacy, and following experts and organizations on social media. Some media literacy organizations are:

●  MediaSmarts

●  Center for Media Literacy

●  Media Education Lab

Children and Teens

Developing media literacy and being aware of the strategies and schemes that media uses is already difficult for adults, so imagine what it’s like for teens and children. They’re exposed to just as much (if not more!) media as adults are.

If you’re a parent and are concerned about your child’s media literacy , then have a conversation with them. You can also ask their teachers and school if they have a curriculum in place to educate students on media literacy. Be sure to also contact your local library for more resources and information.

Where can I find education and resources for media literacy?

Media Literacy Now is a great place to find resources for educators, parents, or individuals who are interested in learning more about media literacy.

How can media literacy help me to be a more informed citizen?

By becoming more media literate, you’ll learn to spot misinformation, misleading information, and manipulation tactics to make you believe a certain way. As a result, you’ll know where to find credible and reliable information so that you can make informed decisions when making purchases or casting your ballot.

How can I teach my children or students about media literacy?

If you’re a parent, have a conversation about media literacy with your children and educate yourself on media literacy so you can be prepared to answer their questions. For educators, using resources like Media Literacy Now is a great starting point, but you can also speak with your librarians or administration about implementing a media literacy curriculum at your school.

Media literacy is a big topic to take on and can feel overwhelming if you don’t know where to begin. The resources and links in this article are a great place to start educating yourself and expanding your knowledge of media literacy.

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Media Literacy, Essay Example

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Introduction

Media literacy is a complex issue that requires further investigation and evaluation in the modern era. It is important to identify the resources that are required to effectively adapt to a media-filled culture, whereby there are significant opportunities to achieve growth and change in the context of new ideas for growth and maturity for the average viewer/reader. It is known that “Interactivity as a core factor in multimedia is in some ways closely related to performance and can enable the viewer/reader/user to participate directly in the construction of meaning” (Daley 36). This quote is inspiring because it requires individuals to truly connect with the media on several levels that will have an instrumental impact on personal growth and the ability to be informative on many levels. The media saturates society through Facebook, Twitter, 24-hour news channels, and traditional forms such as magazines newspapers. Therefore, it is essential to identify a personal strategy that enables the reader/viewer to decipher through the hundreds if not thousands of messages that the media delivers on a daily basis so that individuals are better prepared to manage their own degree of literacy effectively.

For a website such as CNN.com, there appears to be a clash of sorts between that which is truly newsworthy and important to the lives of many people and that which might be deemed sensationalism to grab readers’ attention and an increased number of views, as well as ratings. This is a complex situation because the network and its accompanying website strive to remain competitive with the needs of its readers/viewers, while also requiring other factors to be considered that might improve their ability to decipher through the messages and to identify those which are most meaningful and appropriate within their lives. The homepage of the CNN website typically has an emerging or news-worthy story that is designed to grab the reader’s attention and to facilitate a response from the reader, perhaps a visceral reaction. This is part of the appeal of online news, as it attempts to draw viewers’ attention to what the website deems as newsworthy and of value to the reader. Although this is not always the case, the website achieves it key objective by attracting the reader enough to at least read the headlines and perhaps read some of the other stories that are listed on the homepage. Nonetheless, it is likely that many viewers will barely scratch the surface of an article because they lose interest or do not understand the backstory regarding the topic to keep reading. This is a key component of the high level of media illiteracy that exists in the modern era and that supports the development of new strategies to encourage readers to become less media illiterate and to improve their literacy regarding issues that generate much attention and focus from the masses.

There are critical factors associated with media literacy that require further consideration and evaluation, such as the tools that support the growth of individuals as they learn how to weave through the messages that they receive online, on television, and in print. Media literacy is more than merely reading stories, as it is about taking these stories in, forming opinions, developing a passion for a topic or an idea, and forming a bond with others who might share or contrast with these views (Media Literacy Project). In this context, it is important to identify the resources that are required to develop a strategy that supports media literacy on a much larger level that will impact society and its people as they develop a higher level of intelligence and/or acceptance of the ideas set forth within a given story or headline.

Overcoming media illiteracy requires the development of new strategies for individuals to take ideas that they read on a website such as CNN.com and to make them their own and perhaps apply them to their own lives in one or more ways. This is how media literacy works, as it enables individuals to transition from simply reading news stories online towards adapting them to their own lives in one way or another. This process engages readers and enables them to recognize the importance of improving their own level of literacy through these opportunities. It is imperative to recognize the value of media literacy as it applies to the human condition in the modern era, particularly as individuals have become increasingly dependent on the news as a part of their daily routines. This process supports and engages readers/viewers in the context of many different situations that enable them to cross over into a world where they have a better understanding of the media and how it impacts their lives in different ways.

Media literacy is a complex and ongoing phenomenon that has a unique impact on the lives of individuals. Many websites influence how people interpret the news, such as CNN.com, as they only tend to scratch the surface of news without any real opportunity to formulate opinions regarding the topics that are within. Therefore, it is important to identify some of the issues that are common in these stories and to recognize the importance of developing new approaches to stories that will have a positive impact on the response from readers/viewers. Media literacy is an ongoing process that requires the full attention and focus of individuals in order to accomplish the desired goals and objectives, while also considering the value of developing new perspectives that will encourage readers to take greater steps towards formulating their own opinions regarding stories and topics that may impact their own lives on many levels.

Works Cited

CNN.com. 11 May 2014: http://www.cnn.com/

Daley, Elizabeth. “Expanding the concept of literacy.” Educause, 11 May 2014: https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0322.pdf

Media Literacy Project. “What is media literacy?” 11 May 2014: http://medialiteracyproject.org/learn/media-literacy

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Connecting Writing with Media Literacy

You routinely connect writing with reading, but how often do you connect writing with media literacy? It's a symbiotic relationship. You teach students to write about different topics for different audiences and purposes. They can use the same skills to engage media about different topics for different audiences and purposes.

Most writing teachers, though, wouldn’t consider themselves media-literacy coaches. They might not even know how to define media literacy: the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create communication in various media formats.

The same critical-thinking skills you teach in the writing process can help your students evaluate media for truth, fairness, and bias—skills increasingly necessary for academic success and responsible citizenship. Likewise, developing media-literacy skills prepares students to ethically share ideas in writing.

How can the writing process teach media literacy?

Students learn that good writing takes time—prewriting, writing, revising, and editing. As the old saying goes, "Easy writing makes hard reading, and hard writing makes easy reading." So students learn to appreciate well-crafted ideas—and, equally importantly, dismiss shoddy ideas when media are slapped together. Thoughtful writers make thoughtful readers, listeners, and viewers.

Let's look at each stage of the writing process to see how it can help you teach media literacy.

To meet the specific demands of a writing task, students should first consider the communication situation—sender, message, medium, receiver, and context:

Students who can analyze the rhetorical situation for writing can also analyze the same situation for the media they consume. All media is constructed, so all students can learn to deconstruct it—breaking it into its parts, considering how they work, and evaluating them. This rhetorical awareness helps students use sources ethically and reject media that uses them unethically.

This video can introduce the communication situation to your students:

And these minilessons teach students about each part of the communication situation:

• Analyzing the Sender of a Message
• Understanding a Message's Subject and Purpose
• Analyzing the Receiver of a Message
• Thinking About the Context of a Message

After prewriting, students should create a first draft, writing freely. Students who try to make everything perfect in this draft end up with "writer's block"—writing and erasing and writing and erasing until, after an hour of frustration, they have just two miserable words. Instead, students should turn off their critical minds and just pour their ideas onto the page.

Similarly, to judge media, students should first approach the content uncritically, setting aside personal biases . What is this source saying? Why? After reading or viewing, students can freewrite in response to questions like these:

• What parts of this message stick out?
• How does the information make me feel?
• How could this information be useful for me?
• How does the message compare with what I already know?

Once students have responded openly to a source, they must engage their critical thinking. They'll use the same skills they've learned for revising.

During the crucial revising step, students return to what they have written and make big improvements to their ideas, organization, voice, and style. To revise effectively, students must closely read their drafts, seeking gaps in information, weak evidence, fuzzy logic, and unclear or disorganized parts.

Students can use the same close-reading skills to critically analyze media. By picking apart the ideas, organization, and voice of media messages, students can more readily uncover false, biased, or incomplete information. And in doing so, they will avoid using or citing deceptive ideas in their own writing.

Use the following minilessons to help your students closely read media:

• Detecting Media Bias
• Analyzing Point of View in Media
• Detecting Fake News

Editing involves fine-tuning language. In this step, students should make sure all of the words and sentences are clear and correct, checking spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage. You can help students build awareness of language through grammar minilessons .

Careful attention to language can help students detect unreliable information. Conspicuous errors in spelling, capitalization, or grammar are red flags about the trustworthiness of the information.

Publishing 

During publishing, students consider the design and presentation of their writing and how to best deliver it to their audience.

Close attention to media introduces students to effective design strategies and opportunities for submitting their writing outside of the classroom. Consider these publishing opportunities: 38 Ways Students Can Create Digital Content

Why should I teach media literacy?

Media literacy prepares your students to engage thoughtfully with the information that surrounds them. They need to sift the signal from the noise. The skills you teach them as writers—focusing on a specific topic with a specific purpose—help them become ethical consumers of information. And all that great writing instruction you're already providing helps them become ethical producers of information, as well!

Teacher Support:

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Standards Correlations:

The State Standards provide a way to evaluate your students' performance.

• 110.5.b.11.C
• 110.5.b.11.D
• LAFS.3.W.2.5
• 110.6.b.11.A
• 110.6.b.11.C
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• LAFS.7.W.2.5
• 110.24.b.10.A
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• 110.24.b.10.D
• LAFS.8.W.2.5
• 110.36.c.9.A
• 110.36.c.9.C
• 110.36.c.9.D
• 110.37.c.9.A
• 110.37.c.9.C
• 110.37.c.9.D
• LAFS.910.W.2.5
• LA 10.2.1.a
• LA 10.2.1.e
• LA 10.2.1.f
• LA 10.2.1.h
• 110.38.c.9.A
• 110.38.c.9.C
• 110.38.c.9.D
• 110.39.c.9.A
• 110.39.c.9.C
• 110.39.c.9.D
• LAFS.1112.W.2.5
• LA 12.2.1.a
• LA 12.2.1.e
• LA 12.2.1.f
• LA 12.2.1.h

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1.8 Media Literacy

Learning objectives.

• Define media literacy.
• Describe the role of individual responsibility and accountability when responding to pop culture.
• List the five key considerations about any media message.

In Gutenberg’s age and the subsequent modern era, literacy—the ability to read and write—was a concern not only of educators, but also of politicians, social reformers, and philosophers. A literate population, many reasoned, would be able to seek out information, stay informed about the news of the day, communicate effectively, and make informed decisions in many spheres of life. Because of this, literate people made better citizens, parents, and workers. Several centuries later, as global literacy rates continued to grow, there was a new sense that merely being able to read and write was not enough. In a media-saturated world, individuals needed to be able to sort through and analyze the information they were bombarded with every day. In the second half of the 20th century, the skill of being able to decode and process the messages and symbols transmitted via media was named media literacy . According to the nonprofit National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), a person who is media literate can access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information. Put another way by John Culkin, a pioneering advocate for media literacy education, “The new mass media—film, radio, TV—are new languages, their grammar as yet unknown (Moody, 1993).” Media literacy seeks to give media consumers the ability to understand this new language. The following are questions asked by those that are media literate:

• Who created the message?
• What are the author’s credentials?
• Why was the message created?
• Is the message trying to get me to act or think in a certain way?
• Is someone making money for creating this message?
• Who is the intended audience?
• How do I know this information is accurate?

Why Be Media Literate?

Culkin called the pervasiveness of media “the unnoticed fact of our present,” noting that media information was as omnipresent and easy to overlook as the air we breathe (and, he noted, “some would add that it is just as polluted”) (Moody, 1993). Our exposure to media starts early—a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 68 percent of children ages 2 and younger spend an average of 2 hours in front of a screen (either computer or television) each day, while children under 6 spend as much time in front of a screen as they do playing outside (Lewin). U.S. teenagers are spending an average of 7.5 hours with media daily, nearly as long as they spend in school. Media literacy isn’t merely a skill for young people, however. Today’s Americans get much of their information from various media sources—but not all that information is created equal. One crucial role of media literacy education is to enable us to skeptically examine the often-conflicting media messages we receive every day.

Advertising

Many of the hours people spend with media are with commercial-sponsored content. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimated that each child aged 2 to 11 saw, on average, 25,629 television commercials in 2004 alone, or more than 10,700 minutes of ads. Each adult saw, on average, 52,469 ads, or about 15.5 days’ worth of television advertising (Holt, 2007). Children (and adults) are bombarded with contradictory messages—newspaper articles about the obesity epidemic run side by side with ads touting soda, candy, and fast food. The American Academy of Pediatrics maintains that advertising directed to children under 8 is “inherently deceptive” and exploitative because young children can’t tell the difference between programs and commercials (Shifrin, 2005). Advertising often uses techniques of psychological pressure to influence decision making. Ads may appeal to vanity, insecurity, prejudice, fear, or the desire for adventure. This is not always done to sell a product—antismoking public service announcements may rely on disgusting images of blackened lungs to shock viewers. Nonetheless, media literacy involves teaching people to be guarded consumers and to evaluate claims with a critical eye.

Bias, Spin, and Misinformation

Advertisements may have the explicit goal of selling a product or idea, but they’re not the only kind of media message with an agenda. A politician may hope to persuade potential voters that he has their best interests at heart. An ostensibly objective journalist may allow her political leanings to subtly slant her articles. Magazine writers might avoid criticizing companies that advertise heavily in their pages. News reporters may sensationalize stories to boost ratings—and advertising rates.

Mass-communication messages are created by individuals, and each individual has his or her own set of values, assumptions, and priorities. Accepting media messages at face value could lead to confusion because of all the contradictory information available. For example, in 2010, a highly contested governor’s race in New Mexico led to conflicting ads from both candidates, Diane Denish and Susana Martinez, each claiming that the other agreed to policies that benefited sex offenders. According to media watchdog site FactCheck.org , the Denish team’s ad “shows a preteen girl—seemingly about 9 years old—going down a playground slide in slow-motion, while ominous music plays in the background and an announcer discusses two sex crime cases. It ends with an empty swing, as the announcer says: ‘Today we don’t know where these sex offenders are lurking, because Susana Martinez didn’t do her job.’” The opposing ad proclaims that “a department in Denish’s cabinet gave sanctuary to criminal illegals, like child molester Juan Gonzalez (Robertson & Kiely, 2010).” Both claims are highly inflammatory, play on fear, and distort the reality behind each situation. Media literacy involves educating people to look critically at these and other media messages and to sift through various messages and make sense of the conflicting information we face every day.

New Skills for a New World

In the past, one goal of education was to provide students with the information deemed necessary to successfully engage with the world. Students memorized multiplication tables, state capitals, famous poems, and notable dates. Today, however, vast amounts of information are available at the click of a mouse. Even before the advent of the Internet, noted communications scholar David Berlo foresaw the consequences of expanding information technology: “Most of what we have called formal education has been intended to imprint on the human mind all of the information that we might need for a lifetime.” Changes in technology necessitate changes in how we learn, Berlo noted, and these days “education needs to be geared toward the handling of data rather than the accumulation of data (Shaw, 2003).”

Wikipedia , a hugely popular Internet encyclopedia, is at the forefront of the debate on the proper use of online sources. In 2007, Middlebury College banned the use of Wikipedia as a source in history papers and exams. One of the school’s librarians noted that the online encyclopedia “symbolizes the best and worst of the Internet. It’s the best because everyone gets his/her say and can state their views. It’s the worst because people who use it uncritically take for truth what is only opinion (Byers, 2007).” Or, as comedian and satirist Stephen Colbert put it, “Any user can change any entry, and if enough other users agree with them, it becomes true (Colbert, 2006).” A computer registered to the U.S. Democratic Party changed the Wikipedia page for Rush Limbaugh to proclaim that he was “racist” and a “bigot,” and a person working for the electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold was found to have erased paragraphs connecting the company to Republican campaign funds (Fildes, 2007). Media literacy teaches today’s students how to sort through the Internet’s cloud of data, locate reliable sources, and identify bias and unreliable sources.

Individual Accountability and Popular Culture

Ultimately, media literacy involves teaching that images are constructed with various aims in mind and that it falls to the individual to evaluate and interpret these media messages. Mass communication may be created and disseminated by individuals, businesses, governments, or organizations, but it is always received by an individual. Education, life experience, and a host of other factors make each person interpret constructed media in different ways; there is no correct way to interpret a media message. But on the whole, better media literacy skills help us function better in our media-rich environment, enabling us to be better democratic citizens, smarter shoppers, and more skeptical media consumers. When analyzing media messages, consider the following:

• Author: Consider who is presenting the information. Is it a news organization, a corporation, or an individual? What links do they have to the information they are providing? A news station might be owned by the company it is reporting on; likewise, an individual might have financial reasons for supporting a certain message.
• Format: Television and print media often use images to grab people’s attention. Do the visuals only present one side of the story? Is the footage overly graphic or designed to provoke a specific reaction? Which celebrities or professionals are endorsing this message?
• Audience: Imagine yourself in another’s shoes. Would someone of the opposite gender feel the same way as you do about this message? How might someone of a different race or nationality feel about it? How might an older or younger person interpret this information differently? Was this message made to appeal to a specific audience?
• Content: Even content providers that try to present information objectively can have an unconscious slant. Analyze who is presenting this message. Does he or she have any clear political affiliations? Is he or she being paid to speak or write this information? What unconscious influences might be at work?
• Purpose: Nothing is communicated by mass media without a reason. What reaction is the message trying to provoke? Are you being told to feel or act a certain way? Examine the information closely and look for possible hidden agendas.

With these considerations as a jumping-off place, we can ensure that we’re staying informed about where our information comes from and why it is being sent—important steps in any media literacy education (Center for Media Literacy).

Key Takeaways

• Media literacy, or the ability to decode and process media messages, is especially important in today’s media-saturated society. Media surrounds contemporary Americans to an unprecedented degree and from an early age. Because media messages are constructed with particular aims in mind, a media-literate individual will interpret them with a critical eye. Advertisements, bias, spin, and misinformation are all things to look for.
• Individual responsibility is crucial for media literacy because, while media messages may be produced by individuals, companies, governments, or organizations, they are always received and decoded by individuals.
• When analyzing media messages, consider the message’s author, format, audience, content, and purpose.

List the considerations for evaluating media messages and then search the Internet for information on a current event. Choose one blog post, news article, or video about the topic and identify the author, format, audience, content, and purpose of your chosen subject. Then, respond to the following questions. Each response should be a minimum of one paragraph.

• How did your impression of the information change after answering the five questions? Do you think other questions need to be asked?
• Is it difficult or easy to practice media literacy on the Internet? What are a few ways you can practice media literacy for television or radio shows?
• Do you think the public has a responsibility to be media literate? Why or why not?

End-of-Chapter Assessment

Review Questions

• What is the difference between mass communication and mass media?
• What are some ways that culture affects media?
• What are some ways that media affect culture?
• List four roles that media plays in society.
• Identify historical events that have shaped the adoption of various mass-communication platforms.
• How have technological shifts affected the media over time?
• What is convergence, and what are some examples of it in daily life?
• What were the five types of convergence identified by Jenkins?
• How are different kinds of convergence shaping the digital age on both an individual and a social level?
• How does the value of free speech affect American culture and media?
• What are some of the limits placed on free speech, and how do they reflect social values?
• What is propaganda, and how does it reflect and/or impact social values?
• Who are gatekeepers, and how do they influence the media landscape?
• What is a cultural period?
• How did events, technological advances, political changes, and philosophies help shape the Modern Era?
• What are some of the major differences between the modern and postmodern eras?
• What is media literacy, and why is it relevant in today’s world?
• What is the role of the individual in interpreting media messages?
• What are the five considerations for evaluating media messages?

Critical Thinking Questions

• What does the history of media technology have to teach us about present-day America? How might current and emerging technologies change our cultural landscape in the near future?
• Are gatekeepers and tastemakers necessary for mass media? How is the Internet helping us to reimagine these roles?
• The idea of cultural periods presumes that changes in society and technology lead to dramatic shifts in the way people see the world. How have digital technology and the Internet changed how people interact with their environment and with each other? Are we changing to a new cultural period, or is contemporary life still a continuation of the Postmodern Age?
• U.S. law regulates free speech through laws on obscenity, copyright infringement, and other things. Why are some forms of expression protected while others aren’t? How do you think cultural values will change U.S. media law in the near future?
• Does media literacy education belong in U.S. schools? Why or why not? What might a media literacy curriculum look like?

Career Connection

In a media-saturated world, companies use consultants to help analyze and manage the interaction between their organizations and the media. Independent consultants develop projects, keep abreast of media trends, and provide advice based on industry reports. Or, as writer, speaker, and media consultant Merlin Mann put it, the “primary job is to stay curious about everything, identify the points where two forces might clash, then enthusiastically share what that might mean, as well as why you might care (Mann).”

Read the blog post “So what do consultants do?” at http://www.consulting-business.com/so-what-do-consultants-do.html .

Now, explore writer and editor Merlin Mann’s website ( http://www.merlinmann.com ). Be sure to take a look at the “Bio” and “FAQs” sections. These two pages will help you answer the following questions:

• Merlin Mann provides some work for free and charges a significant amount for other projects. What are some of the indications he gives in his biography about what he values? How do you think this impacts his fees?
• Check out Merlin Mann’s projects. What are some of the projects Merlin is or has been involved with? Now look at the “Speaking” page. Can you see a link between his projects and his role as a prominent writer, speaker, and consultant?
• Check out Merlin’s FAQ section. What is his attitude about social networking sites? What about public relations? Why do you think he holds these opinions?
• Think about niches in the Internet industry where a consultant might be helpful. Do you have expertise, theories, or reasonable advice that might make you a useful asset for a business or organization? Find an example of an organization or group with some media presence. If you were this group’s consultant, how would you recommend they better reach their goals?

Byers, Meredith “Controversy Over Use of Wikipedia in Academic Papers Arrives at Smith,” Smith College Sophian , News section, March 8, 2007.

Center for Media Literacy, “Five Key Questions Form Foundation for Media Inquiry,” http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/five-key-questions-form-foundation-media-inquiry .

Colbert, Stephen. “The Word: Wikiality,” The Colbert Report , July 31, 2006.

Fildes, Jonathan. “ Wikipedia ‘Shows CIA Page Edits,’” BBC News , Science and Technology section, August 15, 2007.

Holt, Debra. and others, Children’s Exposure to TV Advertising in 1977 and 2004, Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics staff report, June 1, 2007.

Lewin. “If Your Kids Are Awake.”

Mann, Merlin. http://www.merlinmann.com/projects/ .

Moody, Kate. “John Culkin, SJ: The Man Who Invented Media Literacy: 1928–1993,” Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article408.html .

Robertson, Lori and Eugene Kiely, “Mudslinging in New Mexico: Gubernatorial Candidates Launch Willie Horton-Style Ads, Each Accusing the Other of Enabling Sex Offenders to Strike Again,” FactCheck.org , June 24, 2010, http://factcheck.org/2010/06/mudslinging-in-new-mexico/ .

Shaw, David. “A Plea for Media Literacy in our Nation’s Schools,” Los Angeles Times , November 30, 2003.

Shifrin, Donald. “Perspectives on Marketing, Self-Regulation and Childhood Obesity” (remarks, Federal Trade Commission Workshop, Washington, DC, July 14–15, 2005).

Understanding Media and Culture Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Media Education in English Language Arts

Literacy is expanding, and English language arts (ELA) educators at all levels must help learners develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed for life in an increasingly digital and mediated world. Media education is defined as the study of the media with the aim of cultivating people’s media literacy competencies (Lee, 2010). For people of all ages, media function as a public pedagogy due to their influential role in “organizing, shaping, and disseminating information, ideas, and values” (Kellner & Share, 2007, p. 3). To address inequalities in digital technologies and competencies, continuing curricular innovation in the ELA curriculum at all levels of K–12 education is needed. In this position statement, we articulate three core themes that make media education fundamental to teaching and learning in ELA education:

• Exploring Representation and Power through Critical Reading, Listening, and Viewing. Educators value the use of teaching and learning practices that help to identify and disrupt the inequalities of contemporary life, including structural racism, sexism, consumerism, and economic injustice. Critical pedagogies help learners see themselves as empowered change agents, able to imagine and build a better, more just world.
• Empowering Voice with Writing, Speaking, and Self-Expression. All learners need to be able to express themselves using writing, speaking, and visual representation using varied modes, genres, and platforms of communication. These competencies are essential to work, life, and citizenship, impacting who has access to conversations, who can speak, and who is heard.
• Increasing Relevance by Critically Examining Digital Media and Popular Culture. Media education includes attention to teaching and learning practices that increase the relevance of school to society. Inquiry pedagogies can help all learners understand the strengths and limitations of different media forms through an examination of the texts and literacy practices of everyday life, including informative, entertaining, and persuasive genres.

Context: Why Now?

Today’s students live in highly mediated worlds where information, entertainment, and persuasion are delivered to them through the many screens of daily life. If it could ever be said that language is the carrier of all meaning, this is certainly no longer the case, as multimodality represents “the normal state of human communication” (Kress, 2010, p. 1). We no longer live in a print-dominant, text-only world. We experience this reality daily in the GIFs and selfies we share with one another, the memes and videos we circulate through our social media feeds, the news broadcasts we watch on demand, the podcasts we binge, and the films, TV series, and live events we stream through the ever-growing list of digital platforms. Yet all these modalities involve some element of written language.

Young people encounter many types of media texts and use many different literacy practices throughout a given day. Everyone in our society now needs the ability to assess the widely varying quality of the information, entertainment, and persuasion that surrounds them, to evaluate the veracity and validity of claims, and to debunk misinformation when necessary. The broadening of the communication landscape opens greater opportunities for student voice and agency as they move from users and consumers to participators and creators. Through media education, students begin to deepen sociopolitical consciousness as they recognize how power relationships structure the narratives that surround us (Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1993).  

Around the world, educators have recognized that the many forms of media offer an expanded set of genres for reading and writing, and these practices have generally been identified as the practice of media education (Buckingham, 2003). ELA educators have long been well poised to support students’ identities as digital consumers, creators, distributors, and inventors through curriculum and pedagogy (Mirra et al., 2018). ELA educators are responsible for preparing students for a future with an evolving media landscape. As society and technology change, so too does literacy (NCTE, 2019b). While some instructional practices of media education can be generalized across disciplines, many areas are unique to disciplinary literacy within ELA education.

Because English teachers have a professional responsibility to prepare students for work, life, and citizenship, media education must be an essential component of the professional identity of teachers. We believe that ELA educators are creative individuals who are familiar with the power of digital media authorship in their own lives. They are

• active participants in contemporary culture and in their local communities, and they recognize how continually evolving media texts and platforms shape how stories and information are created, shared, and circulated (Weninger, 2018);
• professionals who take steps to actively understand, teach about, and compensate for media landscapes that are specifically designed to amplify narratives where some voices and points of view are emphasized and others are trivialized, demeaned, or ignored (Garcia et al., 2015);
• supportive of lifelong learners’ ability to understand, question, and analyze the many spaces of media and communication that are part of everyday life (Morrell et al., 2015).

Members of our discipline have long recognized how print literacies work in tandem with multiple modes of expression (Multimodal Literacies Issue Management Team, 2005). Students should examine how digital media and popular culture are completely intermingled with language, literature, and writing. The time has come to decenter book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education. Speaking and listening are increasingly valued as forms of expression that are vital to personal and professional success, and with the rise of digital media technologies, they now occur in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. The ability to represent one’s ideas using images and multimedia is now a valued competency in a wide variety of professional careers in the knowledge economy. It behooves our profession, as stewards of the communication arts, to confront and challenge the tacit and implicit ways in which print media is valorized above the full range of literacy competencies students should master.

Research evidence amply shows the need to move beyond the exclusive focus on traditional reading and writing competencies. For example, secondary school students lack critical reading comprehension skills that require them to distinguish between journalism and sponsored content, and they routinely ignore the source of a message when judging its accuracy (Breakstone et al., 2019). But when students are empowered to critically examine popular culture texts in the classroom, the process can productively disrupt classroom hierarchies as learners exercise the right to freedom of expression on issues that are perceived to have meaningful relevance to their identity and values (Cannon et al., 2020).

The rapid changes in the information and communication ecosystem have had important implications for English teachers and others both in and outside of school. It is important for ELA educators to recognize the variety of approaches used in media education, which are each rooted in disciplinary contexts with distinctive lineages, keywords, and concepts.

Approaches to Media Education

The variety of approaches used in media education is a source of great strength for ELA educators, because it enables them to align instructional practices with the needs of their learners and their school and community context (NCTE, 2021). Considering the diverse learning needs of children, adolescents, young adults, preservice teachers, teachers, parents, and other adult learners, one or more of these media education approaches will be relevant to ELA educators:

• News literacy. Driven by rising interest in “fake news” and disinformation, students learn to understand, interpret, and evaluate different forms of news, analysis, and opinion.
• Information literacy. Students receive scaffolding and support for research processes as they access, locate, curate, and evaluate information content, using library databases and the open internet to appreciate how expertise and authority are constructed and contextual.
• Media literacy. Students examine authors, audiences, messages, meanings, representations, and social realities by accessing, analyzing, and creating media in a wide variety of forms, using language, images, sound, and interactivity. Through practices of reflection and action, they consider how information and communication make an impact in the world.
• Media production. Working individually or collaboratively, students compose media through a creative process, during which a completed work product is shared with an authentic audience. This work may occur in any classroom, or it may be offered as an elective in school journalism, video production, or in other activities where voice, agency, and civic engagement are cultivated.
• Critical literacy. Students examine the cultural, ideological, and sociolinguistic content of the curriculum and focus on the uses of literacy for social justice in marginalized and disenfranchised communities.
• Critical media literacy. Students examine mass communication, popular culture, and new technologies by analyzing relationships between media and audiences, information, and power, often with attention to media institutions and representations that address systemic inequalities and social justice.
• Digital literacy. Students develop competencies in using digital platforms for lifelong learning through activities that involve guided inquiry, creative production, and connected learning.
• Digital citizenship. Students learn about the rights and responsibilities of people in complex, diverse societies and reflect on their own ethical choices as they use digital platforms in the context of work, life, and citizenship.
• Newer terms including data literacy and algorithmi c literacy invite learners to understand the ethical, political, technological, and economic dimensions of digital platforms and how they structure and control people’s access to information, entertainment, and persuasion.

Although each of these terms reflects distinctive instructional practices of media education, there is substantial overlap between them, which we identify below as core themes. As an essential part of curriculum and instruction in English language arts, these core themes should be also addressed in preservice and inservice teacher education and professional development.

Core Theme 1: Exploring Representation and Po wer with Critical Reading, Listening, and Viewing

English language arts education has changed over time in response to changes in culture, technology, and society. Educators now include a range of forms and types of texts, tools, and technologies, which now include modes (including linguistic, visual, and auditory), industries (journalism, publishing, advertising, film and video games), and genres (fiction, nonfiction, opinion, romance, horror, memes, GIFs, etc.). Today, people generally experience many different forms of media through digital platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Facebook, etc.). The architecture of these platforms reflects the values and identities of their commercial creators, while simultaneously shaping how users interact with each other to express and share thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Narrative, expository, and persuasive texts are complex representations of social reality. As such, they shape our understanding of the world. In both the elementary and secondary grades, teachers model what they want students to do with texts, guiding and providing time for practice, then sharing and reflecting as a class. The use of digital texts and technologies amplifies existing literacy practices. For young children, these practices build trust, ownership, and a feeling of belonging (Muhtaris & Ziemke, 2015). Active discussion of media texts also enables learners to exert a degree of deliberate control over the reading process that may be less possible with other types of literature (Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1993). When the texts and learning activities in ELA classrooms are culturally responsive to the students we teach, education can function to reduce prejudice through developing critical questioning and cultural competence (Morrell et al., 2015). Student-initiated conversations that are responsive to the media texts of everyday life can generate critical thinking and rich inquiry on big topics like immigration, xenophobia, police brutality, racism, and environmental degradation, just to name a few.

Many teachers—whether consciously or unconsciously—tend to think of curriculum as a zero-sum game in which the study of literature competes with other activities, including the study of persuasive genres or popular culture. While updating our curricula beyond the canonical classics that have historically been taught may be necessary, media education need not displace the study of literature. A growing number of teachers value the opportunity to help students make connections between classic literature and contemporary media texts to advance multicultural understanding and address issues of equity. To this end, teachers benefit from developing confidence to implement instructional strategies that include

• Involving students as co-creators of the curriculum by acknowledging their unique lived experience, pleasures, and preferences in the selection of texts and learning activities (Dalton, 2020);
• Layering the reading of popular culture texts, multimodal texts, and classic literature together to showcase issues of representation in relation to the full scope of human creativity and imagination (Hall, 2016);
• Modeling how to use multiperspectival reasoning and critical evaluation strategies with digital texts and technologies (Hicks, 2021).

Core Theme 2: Empowering Voice with Writing, Speaking, and Self-Expression

Teachers of English language arts acknowledge that reading, writing, speaking, and writing should be central to the ELA curriculum, and they value the opportunity to help students become thoughtful and effective communicators. But some teachers feel pressure to prepare learners to succeed only on a few specific kinds of academic writing tasks, such as writing a five-paragraph essay, while others believe that speaking and multimodal composing activities take up too much classroom time.

Outside of the ELA classroom, the creative work of effective speakers and writers can be found in a wide array of media genres and forms, including journalism, blog posts, advertising, political campaigns, YouTube videos, social media, Buzzfeed-style listicles, photo essays, podcasts, infographics, and many other forms. Many students are more familiar with these forms than they are with traditional academic writing genres (Hobbs et al., 2019). When students can compose in a genre that they are familiar with and enjoy, they can explore ideas and issues in ways that academic writing alone cannot provide, often by deepening their emotional response to texts (Smith, 2018). Because not all students have the same access to compose and share digital media outside of the classroom, teachers can address issues of equity in media participation by providing students multiple opportunities to write and remix media genres within the classroom, as part of a media-rich academic writing curriculum. To this end, teachers benefit from developing confidence to implement instructional strategies that include

• Developing reading, listening, and viewing activities that use texts whose target audience crosses between age boundaries (Bintz & Ciecierski, 2021);
• Using multimodal composition practices to deepen critical engagement with academic content and present learners’ personal stances on contemporary social issues (Unsworth & Mills, 2020);
• Supporting learners as they compose messages to inform, persuade, and entertain, using language, music, and sound to advance critical listening and performance skills (Buckley-Marudas & Doerr-Stevens, 2019)

Core Theme 3: Increasing Relevance by Critically Examining Digital Media and Popular Culture

Outside the classroom, students’ engagement with digital media, popular culture, and multimodal texts is as high as it’s ever been and is ever increasing, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (Eales et al., 2021). ELA classrooms that exclusively rely on the study of literature and academic writing are becoming increasingly disconnected and remote from students’ lived experiences. Educators are often pleasantly surprised to discover how much time and talent students invest in their work when we expand our notions of literacy to include the analysis and production of video, infographics, podcasts, graphic novels, fanfiction, and other diverse modes. When literature, language, and writing are connected to students’ experiences with contemporary media and popular culture, it can also help keep the curriculum fresh and joyful (French, 2021).

Persuasion and propaganda play a central role in consumer culture, democracy, and public life, and the field of English language arts has long recognized the need to call attention to the power of misleading language that distorts reality (NCTE, 2019a). Still, for a variety of reasons, narrative and expository forms receive the lion’s share of attention in ELA classrooms, and the study of persuasive genres is uncommon—even when nearly every message in the home, workplace, and community includes persuasion. While some educators position argumentation as superior to persuasion and propaganda, classic theories of rhetoric have always recognized the coequal status of ethos, pathos , and logos as they work in concert to influence audience attitudes, knowledge, values, and behaviors (Fleming, 2019). To this end, teachers benefit from developing confidence to implement instructional strategies that include

• Exploring the interconnections between children’s participation in popular culture and their composing practices as they use diverse symbolic tools, including drawing, writing, and talking (Dyson, 2018);
• Using curated multimedia and popular culture resources, including music and podcasting, that are linked to ELA topics, issues, and themes (Evans et al., 2021);
• Deepening critical examination of persuasive genres, including the study of contemporary propaganda, by providing opportunities for learners to “talk back” to advertisers, political leaders, corporations, celebrities, and other public agents of persuasion (Hobbs, 2020).

Now that we have introduced three core themes, we briefly consider the importance of access and equity as well as the ongoing challenge of assessing student learning, which are key dimensions of media education in English language arts.

Access and Equity

Some English teachers may value the three themes of media education but not feel personally responsible for helping to develop students’ digital technology skills. But in the world outside the classroom, a wide range of literacy practices now rely on access to and use of digital texts, platforms, and technologies. Although digital texts, platforms, and technologies are important resources for learning, access to them is unevenly available in homes, schools, and communities. For this reason, ELA teachers should participate as active stakeholders and advocates in helping to increase access to digital devices, digital content, bandwidth, digital readiness, and the political economy of computational languages.

Digital devices: In creating compositions of all kinds, tools always matter. Just as pens and paper were once essential for traditional forms of literacy, digital devices are necessary to participate in the literacy practices of work, life, and citizenship. Although many students have access to smartphones, not all devices are created equal, and both hardware and software can impact a student’s ability to use the device in English language arts contexts. For instance, the hardware a student uses can affect their composition options in creating multimodal texts. Tablets and mobile phones are application-based, and their design lends itself to documenting life around students by capturing video, visual, audio, and geolocation information. But tablets and Chromebooks often limit pedagogies to consumption-focused practices (Sahin et al., 2016). Students in robust ELA curricula need to be able to do far more. Students need access to digital devices that enable them to engage with and manipulate digital texts, and schools can either provide greater access to a wider range of more useful devices in the classroom or offer more flexibility in allowing students to use their own digital devices (Woodall, 2021).

Digital content : Not all digital content is created equal. Whereas traditional textbook content could often be traced through clearly visible publishers, editors, and advisory boards, digital content often appears before teachers without comparable transparency. Whether from small, start-up ed tech companies, or from well-meaning teachers, it can be frustratingly difficult for teachers to gauge the trustworthiness and quality of digital content. In addition, digital content is often inseparable from the digital devices and applications used to access it. Whereas traditional static print-based content appeared straightforward to teachers, digital content always includes dynamic elements that are both seen and unseen: buttons to click on, text boxes to type into, voice-recording options, and a constant flow of data generated that sometimes (though not always) informs a student’s learning. Teachers must increase their confidence in scrutinizing both the source of digital content itself and the ways dynamic digital elements influence what and how students learn.

Bandwidth: Access to the internet can vary widely based on socioeconomic and geographic factors. When students or families report that they have home access to the internet, that does not mean that the access they have is equitable. A student who has access to the internet via a cable modem will in many cases be able to work more quickly and multitask compared to a student who reported having home internet access but is sharing a single device with cellular phone service. This is especially relevant as more and more schools are turning to video conferencing applications to facilitate blended and online learning.

Digital readiness: Discussion about digital divides now includes increasing emphasis on the degree to which people succeed or struggle when they use technology to try to navigate their environments, solve problems, and make decisions (Horrigan, 2016). Both students and teachers benefit from digital literacy competencies that empower them to use internet-connected devices well. Just as writers gain fluency through opportunities to read and write daily, students gain competencies through regular invitations to compose, share, and revise digital media compositions. In constructing multiple opportunities for students to build digital competencies, we foster students’ capacity to speak and be heard in the larger social conversations happening outside of the classroom. Because confidence in using technologies is necessary for lifelong learning, teachers must be sensitive to how an individual student’s readiness to engage with digital technology may be specific to a particular task, device, or app. For this reason, teachers also benefit from diverse professional development opportunities that increase their own confidence in implementing instructional practices that make use of digital media tools, apps, and platforms. Professional development experiences need to offer educators the chance to practice technical skills as well as to learn to implement rich, nuanced pedagogical practices. This need not be time consuming. Educators who explore DIY and makerspace approaches to teaching and learning have found that having shorter timeframes to create work and setting limits on the materials to be utilized increase both creativity and learning (Lahana, 2021).

Computational languages and power: All of the digital tools, platforms, and applications used by students and teachers are themselves composed of computer code written (most often) by companies. It is important for English educators to advance in our own critical awareness of how issues of power and inequity operate in the greatly invisible computational languages that comprise digital tools, platforms, and applications, especially as a small number of companies dominate our online activities and profit from the data we produce through online interactions (Nichols et al., 2022). Because our access to digital media is mediated and shaped by profit-seeking firms, it is important to unmask and critique the less-visible dimensions of the digital platforms we use for school, work, and daily life (Lynch, 2015), which are comprised of computational languages written for commercial purposes. Educators also have the right to be critical of technology firms that push gadgets into school districts in the name of revolutionizing education.

The inequalities of access to digital technologies in education heighten larger social inequalities in society. For this reason, many students need explicit instruction, modeling, and time to become proficient readers who comprehend and use digital technologies as tools for thinking. Without ongoing opportunities to learn, practice, revise, and reflect upon the digital tools they are using, students with limited or low-tech instruction will be missing key building blocks to becoming lifelong learners. For these reasons, we recommend that ELA teachers participate as active stakeholders, advocates, and co-learners in helping to increase access to digital devices, bandwidth, and digital readiness, and to understand and challenge the political economy of digital platforms and computational languages.

Assessment of Student Learning

The assessment-centric culture of schools clearly affects how teachers, parents, administrators, and students perceive the value of media education pedagogies and practices. While high-stakes testing and interruptions to instruction place demands on time and space in the ELA curriculum, educators have the power to articulate priorities in the choices they make during the school day.

Although many ELA teachers are quite receptive to expanding the concept of literacy, they often acknowledge that assessments of student learning are poorly aligned with the many new instructional practices of media education that are implemented in elementary and secondary schools (Dalton, 2020). Educators may struggle to apply conventional assessment practices to students’ use of digital and media technologies. For example, when students create digital media using online platforms, some teachers are unaware of how templates and design format options have influenced the structure and shape of the work. For this reason, it is important to align medium- or genre-specific criteria for evaluation with foundational rhetorical concepts like audience, purpose, point of view, structure, sequence, and tone.

Teachers need to design learning experiences with clear criteria for evaluation, and then provide timely, specific, and goal-oriented feedback that helps them develop knowledge and skills. Projects that require students to create media to demonstrate their learning provide opportunities to evaluate students based on their labor, which can include free-writing, drafting, peer review, revision, and editing (Hicks, 2021). Using multiple strategies for assessment includes attention to both process and product, self-reflection on learning, and attention to the affordances of digital technology for using, remixing, manipulating, and creating multimodal texts (Tan et al., 2020).

Feedback is the most important driver of student learning, and ELA educators understand deeply that it should be a primary form of assessment. Digital annotation enables students and instructors to have significant flexibility in commenting on student-created work, providing personalized, detailed feedback by highlighting text, adding comments, drawing notes, or attaching additional images, videos, or other resources directly within the creative work. Video annotation tools permit instructors and peers to make comments on student videos by pinpointing their comment to a particular moment in time.

Another intervention that may assist the migration of media education into the mainstream of education practice would be a disciplinary acceptance or agreed-upon language and systems for assessing and evaluating the communicative qualities present in diverse, multimodal texts (McGrail et al., 2021). While the communicative qualities deemed rhetorically effective will shift in relation to genre, audience, purpose, usage, and platforms, some general criteria have emerged for creative digital media products produced by learners. For example, criteria such as appropriation and transformativeness (the appropriate use of copyrighted material in the creative process) may provide a means to assess some features of student-produced media, helping students to avoid the perils of plagiarism and engage in remix practices that are creatively generative.

A Call to Action

In summary, we offer these action steps to advance media education in English language arts:

• The time is now to bring media education into the mainstream of ELA education. NCTE members should take personal responsibility for this work, working individually and collaboratively at the local, regional, and national levels.
• There are many different instructional practices and approaches to media education because of the rapid changes that have occurred in the information and communication ecosystem. NCTE members should make strategic decisions about which approaches to implement with their learners, taking into consideration their needs and using practices that are most relevant to the context of their classroom, school, and community.
• explore questions of representation and power through critical reading, listening, and viewing;
• use their empowered voices through writing, speaking, and self-expression in multiple genres and formats;
• make relevant connections between school and society through the use of digital media and popular culture.
• As an essential part of curriculum and instruction in English language arts, these media education themes should be addressed in both preservice and inservice teacher education and professional development through hands-on, minds-on learning.
• ELA teachers should participate as active stakeholders, advocates, and co-learners in helping to increase access to digital devices, bandwidth, and digital readiness, and to understand (and challenge) the political economy of digital platforms and computational languages.
• In assessing student learning, students and teachers should make use of digital and video annotation tools to provide multidirectional feedback from teachers, learners, and public audiences. Research and policy leadership initiatives should be implemented to help NCTE articulate best practices in assessment for project-based media assignments, including frameworks that support both medium-specific and general criteria for evaluation.

For students to be prepared for success in college and careers, they need high levels of engagement in their own learning and a strong sense of confidence in their identity as learners. For this reason, media education pedagogies can be a key lever in education reform when educators wield influence in ways that support critical, flexible, responsive, and creative thinking.

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National Council of Teachers of English (2019a, March 6). Resolution on English education for critical literacy in politics and media. https://ncte.org/statement/resolution-english-education-critical-literacy-politics-media/

NCTE 21st Century Literacies Definition and Framework Revision Committee (2019b, November 7). Definition of literacy in a digital age. [Position statement]. National Council of Teachers of English. https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/

NCTE Task Force on Critical Media Literacy (2021). Report of the Task Force on Critical Media Literacy. National Council of Teachers of English. https://www.canva.com/design/DAERz0BpJyk/I4sPUxfrZlHLVys3QIVilQ/view?utm_content=DAERz0BpJyk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=homepage_design_menu

Nichols, T. P., Smith, A., Bulfin, S., & Stornaiuolo, A. (2022). Critical literacy, digital platforms, and datafication. In J. Z. Pandya et al. (Eds.), The handbook of critical literacies  (pp. 345–353). Routledge.

Sahin, A., Top, N., & Delen, E. (2016). Teachers’ first-year experience with Chromebook laptops and their attitudes towards technology integration.  Technology, Knowledge and Learning ,  21 (3), 361–378.

Smith, B. E. (2018). Composing for affect, audience, and identity: Toward a multidimensional understanding of adolescents’ multimodal composing goals and designs.  Written Communication ,  35 (2), 182–214.

Tan, L., Zammit, K., D’warte, J., & Gearside, A. (2020). Assessing multimodal literacies in practice: A critical review of its implementations in educational settings. Language and Education , 34 (2), 97–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2019.1708926

Unsworth, L., & Mills, K. A. (2020). English language teaching of attitude and emotion in digital multimodal composition.  Journal of Second Language Writing ,  47 , 100712.

Weninger, C. (2018). From language skills to literacy: Broadening the scope of English language education through media literacy . Routledge.

Woodall, M. K. (2021). Beyond apps and activities: Intentional integration of technology in English language arts education. In C. M. Moran (Ed.),  Affordances and constraints of mobile phone use in English language arts classrooms  (pp. 29–40). IGI Global.

This statement is an update of the NCTE position statement on Multimodal Literacies (2005).

Statement Authors

• Renee Hobbs, chair, University of Rhode Island
• Denise Chapman, Monash University, Australia
• Candance M Doerr-Stevens, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Seth D. French, Bentonville High School, AR
• Tom Liam Lynch, The New School, New York, NY
• Cruz Medina, Santa Clara University, CA
• Ernest Morrell, University of Notre Dame, IN
• Chris Sloan, Judge Memorial Catholic High School, UT
• Lisa Stringfellow, The Winsor School, MA
• Kristin Ziemke, Big Shoulders Fund, Chicago, IL

Critical Friends

• Bill Bass, Parkway School District, St. Louis, MO
• Fred Haas, Hopkinton High School, MA
• Troy Hicks, Central Michigan University
• Sara Kajder, University of Georgia
• Katie Muhtaris, Barrington Community Unit School District 220, IL
• Csilla Weninger, National Institute of Education, Singapore

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.

Media and Information Literacy, a critical approach to literacy in the digital world

What does it mean to be literate in the 21 st century? On the celebration of the International Literacy Day (8 September), people’s attention is drawn to the kind of literacy skills we need to navigate the increasingly digitally mediated societies.

Stakeholders around the world are gradually embracing an expanded definition for literacy, going beyond the ability to write, read and understand words. Media and Information Literacy (MIL) emphasizes a critical approach to literacy. MIL recognizes that people are learning in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom through information, media and technological platforms. It enables people to question critically what they have read, heard and learned.

As a composite concept proposed by UNESCO in 2007, MIL covers all competencies related to information literacy and media literacy that also include digital or technological literacy. Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO has reiterated significance of MIL in this media and information landscape: “Media and information literacy has never been so vital, to build trust in information and knowledge at a time when notions of ‘truth’ have been challenged.”

MIL focuses on different and intersecting competencies to transform people’s interaction with information and learning environments online and offline. MIL includes competencies to search, critically evaluate, use and contribute information and media content wisely; knowledge of how to manage one’s rights online; understanding how to combat online hate speech and cyberbullying; understanding of the ethical issues surrounding the access and use of information; and engagement with media and ICTs to promote equality, free expression and tolerance, intercultural/interreligious dialogue, peace, etc. MIL is a nexus of human rights of which literacy is a primary right.

Learning through social media

In today’s 21 st century societies, it is necessary that all peoples acquire MIL competencies (knowledge, skills and attitude). Media and Information Literacy is for all, it is an integral part of education for all. Yet we cannot neglect to recognize that children and youth are at the heart of this need. Data shows that 70% of young people around the world are online. This means that the Internet, and social media in particular, should be seen as an opportunity for learning and can be used as a tool for the new forms of literacy.

The Policy Brief by UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, “Social Media for Learning by Means of ICT” underlines this potential of social media to “engage students on immediate and contextual concerns, such as current events, social activities and prospective employment.

UNESCO MIL CLICKS - To think critically and click wisely

For this reason, UNESCO initiated a social media innovation on Media and Information Literacy, MIL CLICKS (Media and Information Literacy: Critical-thinking, Creativity, Literacy, Intercultural, Citizenship, Knowledge and Sustainability).

MIL CLICKS is a way for people to acquire MIL competencies in their normal, day-to-day use of the Internet and social media. To think critically and click wisely. This is an unstructured approach, non-formal way of learning, using organic methods in an online environment of play, connecting and socializing.  

MIL as a tool for sustainable development

In the global, sustainable context, MIL competencies are indispensable to the critical understanding and engagement in development of democratic participation, sustainable societies, building trust in media, good governance and peacebuilding. A recent UNESCO publication described the high relevance of MIL for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Citizen's engagement in open development in connection with the SDGs are mediated by media and information providers including those on the Internet, as well as by their level of media and information literacy. It is on this basis that UNESCO, as part of its comprehensive MIL programme, has set up a MOOC on MIL,” says Alton Grizzle, UNESCO Programme Specialist. 

UNESCO’s comprehensive MIL programme

UNESCO has been continuously developing MIL programme that has many aspects. MIL policies and strategies are needed and should be dovetailed with existing education, media, ICT, information, youth and culture policies.

The first step on this road from policy to action is to increase the number of MIL teachers and educators in formal and non-formal educational setting. This is why UNESCO has prepared a model Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers , which has been designed in an international context, through an all-inclusive, non-prescriptive approach and with adaptation in mind.

The mass media and information intermediaries can all assist in ensuring the permanence of MIL issues in the public. They can also highly contribute to all citizens in receiving information and media competencies. Guideline for Broadcasters on Promoting User-generated Content and Media and Information Literacy , prepared by UNESCO and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association offers some insight in this direction.

UNESCO will be highlighting the need to build bridges between learning in the classroom and learning outside of the classroom through MIL at the Global MIL Week 2017 . Global MIL Week will be celebrated globally from 25 October to 5 November 2017 under the theme: “Media and Information Literacy in Critical Times: Re-imagining Ways of Learning and Information Environments”. The Global MIL Feature Conference will be held in Jamaica under the same theme from 24 to 27 October 2017, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, hosted by The University of the West Indies (UWI).

Alton Grizzle , Programme Specialist – Media Development and Society Section

More on this subject

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Story of Media Literacy Overview Essay

In the 21st century, Americans live in a world of powerful, ubiquitous media. Children and young people spend much of their time in front of the screen. According to Common Sense Media (2019), the screen time for American children (8-to-12 years) and teens were 4 hours and 44 minutes and 7 hours and 22 minutes on average, respectively. Consistently, research shows that children and adolescents are increasingly bombarded with vast amounts of information from various sources (Elmore et al., 2017). Exposure to these messages significantly influences the audience as they may interpret the content in a particular direction. For example, an image or message and how it is presented in a commercial advert can be biased and cause the audience to take a specific position on the issue depicted in the promotion. Consequently, it is imperative for students and people, in general, to consume media content objectively and to analyze the message portrayed in the news. In this context, media literature becomes integral to the active consumption of media messages.

The term “media literacy” denotes the ability to decode media messages and critically evaluate the influence of those messages on how people think, feel, and behave. The concept also entails the skill to create and use media content thoughtfully and consciously. A literate audience is able to scrutinize media content and decipher the intended message. Informed viewers analyze the content to determine whether it reflects both sides of a story or argument fairly and accurately. Media consumers need to examine the source of the information they read and understand the particular goal the creator sought to achieve. This level of keenness can help viewers to establish the authenticity and reliability of the source. For instance, it is pivotal to remain alert when reading adverts on the Internet because some sites which advocate for a certain stance firmly, especially on controversial subjects, may not present factual information. Such websites are hardly objective in their depiction, as they often seek to sell their idea, product, or opinion. It is also imperative to observe that media messages are often created with a specific audience and purpose in mind. Media literacy is the ability to understand the underlying meaning of that message.

The most essential skill needed for media literate people is critical thinking. Such people can evaluate the received information; they discern whether the content makes sense, what and why specific details are included or omitted, and the underlying ideas. They use facts to support their reasoning, and they can make a well-informed decision about the information based on prior knowledge. Furthermore, they can recognize, interpret, and construct different perspectives on real-world processes. Such people create and consume media content actively and responsibly. They can realize the author’s purpose and distinguish credible information from straight propaganda. In this context, media illiteracy is a grave danger to society. Thus, it is essential to consider the purpose of a media message and the credibility of its source to draw a fair, objective conclusion regarding the perspective or position being presented.

Finally, a media-illiterate community can be vulnerable to many serious risks. Notably, a less informed society is likely to be manipulated and misinformed by the media. Its children and young people stand a chance of being sexualized and bullied on the Internet. Moreover, such a society is vulnerable to negative racial and gender stereotypes and loss of privacy. Building media literacy knowledge and skills can provide children, teens, and even adults with some protection by empowering them to discern possible risks of bias and manipulation and make informed media usage choices. Therefore, media literacy can compromise a society’s ability to create, engage, and consume different media types and technology intelligently.

Common Sense Media (2019 ). The Common Sense Census: Media use by tweens and teens, 2019. Web.

Elmore, K. C., Scull, T. M., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (2017). Media as a “super peer”: How adolescents interpret media messages predicts their perception of alcohol and tobacco use norms. Journal of youth and adolescence , 46 (2), 376–387. Web.

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IvyPanda . 2022. "Story of Media Literacy Overview." February 26, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/story-of-media-literacy-overview/.

1. IvyPanda . "Story of Media Literacy Overview." February 26, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/story-of-media-literacy-overview/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Story of Media Literacy Overview." February 26, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/story-of-media-literacy-overview/.

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Media Literacy in the Modern Age

How to understand the messages we observe all day every day

Cynthia Vinney, PhD is an expert in media psychology and a published scholar whose work has been published in peer-reviewed psychology journals.

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Morsa Images / Getty Images

How to Practice Media Literacy

Media literacy is the ability to apply critical thinking skills to the messages, signs, and symbols transmitted through mass media .

We live in a world that is saturated with media of all kinds, from newspapers to radio to television to the internet. Media literacy enables us to understand and evaluate all of the media messages we encounter on a daily basis, empowering us to make better choices about what we choose to read, watch, and listen to. It also helps us become smarter, more discerning members of society.

Media literacy is seen as an essential 21st-century skill by educators and scholars, including media psychologists . In fact, the mission statement of Division 46 of the American Psychological Association , the Society for Media Psychology and Technology , includes support for the development of media literacy.

Despite this, many people still dismiss media as harmless entertainment and claim they aren't influenced by its messages. However, research findings consistently demonstrate that people are impacted by the media messages they consume.

Media literacy interventions and education help children and adults recognize the influence media has and give them the knowledge and tools to mitigate its impact.

History of Media Literacy

The earliest attempts at media literacy education are often traced back to the British Film Institute's push in the late 1920s and early 1930s to teach analytical skills to media users. Around the same time in America, the Wisconsin Association for Better Broadcasters sought to teach citizens to be more critical consumers of media.

However, the goal of these initial media literacy efforts, which continued into the 1960s, was to protect students from media by warning them against its consumption. Despite this perspective, the dominance of media—and television in particular—continued to grow, even as interest in media literacy education waned.

More recently, the advent of the internet and portable technologies that enable us to consume media anywhere and anytime has led to a resurgence in the call for media literacy. Yet the goal is no longer to prevent people from using media, but to help them become more informed, thoughtful media consumers.

Although media literacy education has now become accepted and successful in English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, and Britain, it has yet to become a standard part of the curriculum in the United States, where a lack of centralization has led to a scattershot approach to teaching practical media literacy skills.

Impact of Media Literacy

Despite America's lack of a standardized media literacy curriculum, study after study has shown the value of teaching people of all ages media literacy skills.

For example, a review of the research on media literacy education and reduction in racial and ethnic stereotypes found that children as young as 12 can be trained to recognize bias in media depictions of race and ethnicity and understand the harm it can cause.

Though the authors note that this topic is still understudied, they observe that the evidence suggests media literacy education can help adolescents become sensitive to prejudice and learn to appreciate diversity.

Meanwhile, multiple studies have shown that media literacy interventions reduce body dissatisfaction that can be the result of the consumption of media messages.

In one investigation, adolescent girls were shown an intervention video by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund before being shown images of ultra-thin models. While a control group reported lower body satisfaction and body esteem after viewing the images of the models, the group that viewed the intervention first didn't experience these negative effects.

Similarly, another study showed college women (who were at high risk for eating disorders ) reported less body dissatisfaction, a lower desire to be thin, and reduced internalization of societal beauty standards after participating in a media literacy intervention. The researchers concluded that media literacy training could help prevent eating disorders in high-risk individuals.

Moreover, studies have shown that media literacy education can help people better discern the truth of media claims, enabling them to detect "fake news" and make more informed decisions.

For instance, research into young adults' assessment of the accuracy of claims on controversial public issues was improved if the subjects had been exposed to media literacy education. In addition, another study showed that only people who underwent media literacy training engaged in critical social media posting practices that prevented them from posting false information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The evidence for the benefits of media literacy suggests it is valuable for people of all ages to learn to be critical media consumers. Media scholar W. James Potter observes that all media messages include four dimensions:

• Cognitive : the information that is being conveyed
• Emotional : the underlying feelings that are being expressed
• Aesthetic: the overall precision and artistry of the message
• Moral : the values being conveyed through the message

Media psychologist Karen Dill-Shackleford suggests that we can use these four dimensions as a jumping off point to improve our media literacy skills. For example, let's say while streaming videos online we're exposed to an advertisement for a miracle weight loss drug. In order to better evaluate what the ad is really trying to tell us, we can break it down as follows:

• On the cognitive dimension we can assess what information the ad is conveying to us by asking some of the following questions: What does the ad promise the drug will do? Does it seem likely the drug can deliver on those promises? Who would need this kind of drug?
• On the emotional dimension, we can evaluate the feelings the creator of the ad wants us to feel: Do they want us to feel insecure about our weight? Do they want us to imagine the positive ways this drug could change our lives? Do they want us to envision the satisfaction we would feel after the drug delivers its quick fix?
• On the aesthetic dimension, we can determine how the ad employs messages and images to make us believe the product will deliver on its promises: Does the ad show "before" and "after" images of someone who supposedly took the drug? Does the "before" image look sad and the "after" image happy? Does the ad offer testimonials from people that are identified as experts?
• On the moral dimension, we can examine what the ad makers wanted to say: Are they equating thinness with happiness? Are they sending the message that it's a moral failing when someone is overweight? Are they saying that one has to be thin to be loved and respected?

This is one avenue for learning to practice media literacy in everyday life. Remember, the purpose of media literacy isn't to enjoy media less, it's to give people the tools to be active media consumers.

Not only will media literacy enable you to detect, analyze, and evaluate negative or false media messages, it will actually enable you to enjoy media more because it puts control over the media back into your hands. And research shows this is likely to increase your health and happiness.

About the Society for Media Psychology & Technology . Society for Media Psychology & Technology, Division 46 of the American Psychological Association. 2013.

Dill-Shackleford KE.  How Fantasy Becomes Reality . New York: Oxford University Press; 2009.

Arke ET. Media Literacy: History, Progress, and Future Hopes . In: Dill-Shackleford KE, ed.  The Oxford Handbook Of Media Psychology . 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2012. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195398809.013.0006

Scharrer E, Ramasubramanian S. Intervening in the Media's Influence on Stereotypes of Race and Ethnicity: The Role of Media Literacy Education .  Journal of Social Issues . 2015;71(1):171-185. doi:10.1111/josi.12103

Halliwell E, Easun A, Harcourt D. Body dissatisfaction: Can a short media literacy message reduce negative media exposure effects amongst adolescent girls?  Br J Health Psychol . 2011;16(2):396-403. doi:10.1348/135910710x515714

Coughlin JW, Kalodner C. Media literacy as a prevention intervention for college women at low- or high-risk for eating disorders .  Body Image . 2006;3(1):35-43. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.01.001

Kahne J, Bowyer B. Educating for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation .  Am Educ Res J . 2016;54(1):3-34. doi:10.3102/0002831216679817

Melki J, Tamim H, Hadid D, Makki M, El Amine J, Hitti E. Mitigating infodemics: The relationship between news exposure and trust and belief in COVID-19 fake news and social media spreading .  PLoS One . 2021;16(6). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252830

Potter WJ.  Media Literacy . 4th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE; 2008.

By Cynthia Vinney, PhD Cynthia Vinney, PhD is an expert in media psychology and a published scholar whose work has been published in peer-reviewed psychology journals.

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Sonia Livingstone

October 25th, 2018, media literacy: what are the challenges and how can we move towards a solution.

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Last time I wrote about media literacy, I was glad to observe that, as the media increasingly mediate everything in society, there is growing emphasis on the importance of ensuring that people have the media literacy not only to engage with the media but to engage with society through the media . But I was also frustrated at some of the superficial hand-waving from policy makers towards media literacy and media education, seemingly without understanding what is involved or what the challenges are.

Silver bullet solution?

In our ever-more complex media and information environment, media literacy is being hailed as a silver bullet solution – hopefully to be dealt with by one-shot awareness-raising campaigns delivered by brand-promoting CSR departments, or by issuing vaguely-phrased high-handed injunctions to the (apparently unhearing and otherwise preoccupied) Department of Education. The motivation is rarely pedagogic but, rather, more the policy of ‘last resort.’

So, in the face of multiple problems of hate speech, or cyberbullying, or hacked YouTube content, or fake news etc., we are witnessing urgent calls to manage the media environment better – especially, to regulate the internet. But in the face of clashes of positive and negative rights, regulatory difficulties, powerful global companies and short-termist political expediency, this call in turn quickly morphs into a call for the supposedly ‘softer’ solution of educating the internet-using public.

Let me be clear. I am 100% in favour of educating the public. I have devoted years to arguing for more and better media literacy. In this digital age, I believe media literacy’s time has come, and its advocates should grab the opportunity with both hands and advance the cause with all their energy.

But energy and enthusiasm are most effectively expended when the challenges to be met are properly recognised. So let me set these out, as I see them, lest our energies are wasted and the window of opportunity is lost.

First, three educational challenges

• Investment . Make no mistake: education is an expensive solution in terms of time, effort and infrastructure. It needs a pedagogy, teacher training, curriculum resources, mechanisms for audit and assessment. To manage schools, governments devote an entire ministry to achieve this – yet they are simultaneously heavily criticised for their failures, and yet constantly under siege to solve yet more of society’s pressing ills.
• Reaching adults not in education or training is an even larger challenge, rarely met in any area of demand. So who is responsible, and who are or should be the agents of change? The answers will vary by country, culture and purpose. But they should be identified so that the actions of civil society, public services such as libraries, industry and other private actors can be coordinated.
• Exacerbating inequalities . We like to think of education as a democratising mechanism, because everyone has the right to school and training. But research consistently shows that education affects life outcomes differentially, advantaging the already-advantaged and failing sufficiently to benefit the less-advantaged, especially the so-called “hard to reach.” What proportion of media literacy resources are provided equivalently to all (risking exacerbating inequality) and what proportion are targeted at those who most need them? (I don’t know the answer, but someone should know it).

Then there’s the challenges of the digital

• Mission creep . As more and more of our lives are mediated – work, education, information, civic participation, social relationships and more – the scope of media literacy grows commensurately. Just today, in my Twitter feed, I read exhortations to ensure that people:

– Understand how black-boxed automated systems make potentially discriminator decisions

– Distinguish the intent and credibility signalling behind mis- and dis-information to tackle “fake news”

– Identify when a potential abuser is using their smart home technology to spy on them

– Weigh the privacy implications when they use public services in smart cities

It is, therefore, vital to set some priorities.

• Legibility . As I’ve observed before: we cannot teach what is unlearnable, and people cannot learn to be literate in what is illegible. We cannot teach people data literacy without transparency, or what to trust without authoritative markers of authenticity and expertise. So people’s media literacy depends on how their digital environment has been designed and regulated.
• Postponing the positives . The rapid pace of socio-technological innovation means everyone is scrambling to keep up, and just battling with the new harms popping up unexpectedly is extremely demanding. The result is that attention to the “ hygiene factors ” in the digital environment dominates efforts – so that media literacy risks being limited to safety and security. Our bigger ambitions for mediated learning, creativity, collaboration and participation get endlessly postponed in the process, especially for children and young people.

For the media literacy community itself, there’s some very real challenges of expertise and sustainability.  These may be dull, or even invisible, to those calling for the silver bullet solution. But they matter.

• Capacity and sustainability . The media literacy world comprises many small, enthusiastic, even idealistic initiatives, often based on a few people with remarkably little by way of sustained funding or infrastructure. The media literacy world is a bit like a start-up culture without the venture capitalists. We can talk a good story, but there’s always a risk of losing what’s been gained and having to start over.
• Evidence and evaluation . When you look closely at the evidence cited in this field, it’s not as robust or precise as one would like. Even setting aside the now tiresome debate over definitions of media literacy, the difficulties of measurement remain. Perhaps for the lack of agreed measures, there’s more evidence of outputs than outcomes, of short term reach rather than long term improvements. There’s remarkably few independent evaluations of what works. Compare media literacy interventions to other kinds of educational interventions – where’s the randomised control trials, the systematic evidence reviews, the targeted attention to specific subgroups of the population, the costed assessments of benefit relative to investment?

Last but certainly not least, there’s the politics of media literacy

• “Responsibilising” the individual. In policy talk especially, the call for media literacy and education to solve the problems of digital platforms tends, however inadvertently, to task the individual with dealing with the explosion of complexities, problems and possibilities of our digital society. In a policy field where governments fear they lack the power to take on the big platforms, it is the individual who must wise up, becoming media-savvy, rise to the challenge. Since, of course, the individual can hardly succeed where governments cannot, the politics of media literacy risks not only burdening but also blaming the individual for the problems of the digital environment.

As Ioanna Noula recently put it , “by emphasising kindness and ethics, these approaches also undermine  the value of conflict and dissent  for the advancement of democracy” and they “decontextualize” citizenship such that “ the attentions of concerned adults and youth alike are turned away from the social conditions that make young people vulnerable.” So instead of empowered media-literate citizens exercising their communicative entitlements , the emphasis becomes one of dutiful citizens, as part of a moralising discourse.

How can we turn things around?

I’ll make three suggestions, to end on a positive:

Before advocating for media literacy as part of a solution to the latest socio-technological ill, let’s take a holistic approach. This means, let’s get really clear what the problem is, and identify what role media or digital technologies play in that problem – if any! We might even ask for a “ theory of change ” to clarify how the different components of a potential solution are expected to work together. And, getting ambitious now, what about a responsible organisation – whether local, national or international – tasked with coordinating all these actions and evaluating the outcomes?

Then let’s figure out all the other players, so that we can articulate which part of the solution media literacy may provide, and what others will contribute – regulators, policy makers, civil society organisations, the media themselves – thereby avoiding the insidious tendency for the whole problem to get dumped at the feet of media educators. We might further expect – demand – that the other players should embed media literacy expectations into their very DNA, so that all organisations shaping the digital environment share the task of explaining their operation to the public and providing user-friendly mechanisms of accountability.

Last, let’s take the questions of value, empowerment and politics seriously. What does good look like? Is it dutiful citizens being kind to each other online, behaving nicely in an orderly fashion? Or is it deliberating, debating, even conflicting citizens? Citizens who express themselves through digital media, organise through digital media, protest to the authorities and insist on being heard? I think it should be the latter, not least because our societies are increasingly divided, angry and dis-empowered. It’s time that people are heard, and it’s time for the digital environment to live up to its democratizing promise. But this requires change on behalf of the policy makers. We should not only ask whether people trust media, or trust the government. We should also ask whether the media trusts the people and treats them with respect. And whether governments and related authorities and civic bodies trust the people, treat them with respect, and hear what they say.

This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Media Policy Project nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.   

About the author

Sonia Livingstone OBE is Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Taking a comparative, critical and contextual approach, her research examines how the changing conditions of mediation are reshaping everyday practices and possibilities for action. She has published twenty books on media audiences, media literacy and media regulation, with a particular focus on the opportunities and risks of digital media use in the everyday lives of children and young people. Her most recent book is The class: living and learning in the digital age (2016, with Julian Sefton-Green). Sonia has advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe and other national and international organisations on children’s rights, risks and safety in the digital age. She was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2014 'for services to children and child internet safety.' Sonia Livingstone is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the British Psychological Society, the Royal Society for the Arts and fellow and past President of the International Communication Association (ICA). She has been visiting professor at the Universities of Bergen, Copenhagen, Harvard, Illinois, Milan, Oslo, Paris II, Pennsylvania, and Stockholm, and is on the editorial board of several leading journals. She is on the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, is a member of the Internet Watch Foundation’s Ethics Committee, is an Expert Advisor to the Council of Europe, and was recently Special Advisor to the House of Lords’ Select Committee on Communications, among other roles. Sonia has received many awards and honours, including honorary doctorates from the University of Montreal, Université Panthéon Assas, the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the University of the Basque Country, and the University of Copenhagen. She is currently leading the project Global Kids Online (with UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti and EU Kids Online), researching children’s understanding of digital privacy (funded by the Information Commissioner’s Office) and writing a book with Alicia Blum-Ross called ‘Parenting for a Digital Future (Oxford University Press), among other research, impact and writing projects. Sonia is chairing LSE’s Truth, Trust and Technology Commission in 2017-2018, and participates in the European Commission-funded research networks, DigiLitEY and MakEY. She runs a blog called www.parenting.digital and contributes to the LSE’s Media Policy Project blog. Follow her on Twitter @Livingstone_S

There’s a funny thing about media literacy, and that is that media have crept their way into everyone’s daily life. A young person knows who’s a friend and who’s not and media have a lot to do with that…. Isn’t media literacy also: discussing daily life and the latest news wit peers and teacher and trying to reach a common goal: making the world a better, more liveable place? PS I’m a schoollibrarian in Amsterdam, Holland and for me media literacy also means also informing teachers about books that tell about worldwide digital developments, like The raod to Unfreedom by Timoty Snyder, not exactly hopeful information, but it’s better to know than not to know.

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Home — Essay Samples — Information Science and Technology — Digital Literacy — Value of Being a Media and Information Literate Individual

Value of Being a Media and Information Literate Individual

• Categories: Digital Literacy

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Published: Sep 1, 2023

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Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Students are often asked to write an essay on Media And Information Literacy in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Understanding media and information literacy.

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is knowing how to smartly handle and use information from different sources like TV, internet, and books. It’s like learning to swim in a sea of endless news, pictures, and videos.

The Importance of MIL

It’s crucial because it helps you tell what’s true from what’s not. With MIL, you can make better choices about what to read, watch, and share. It’s like having a map in the world of media.

Learning to Check Facts

A big part of MIL is learning to check if something is correct. Before believing a story, see if trusted places also report it. It’s like double-checking your answers in a test.

Using Media Wisely

MIL teaches you to use media in a good way. It means not spending too much time on screens and knowing that not everything online is good for you. It’s about making smart media choices.

Sharing Responsibly

With MIL, you learn to think before you share something online. Ask yourself if it’s helpful, true, and kind. It’s about being a good friend in the digital world.

250 Words Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Media and Information Literacy, or MIL, is knowing how to smartly use the internet, newspapers, books, and other ways we get information. It’s like learning how to fish in a huge sea of news and facts. With MIL, you can tell which fish are good to eat and which might make you sick.

Why MIL is Important

Today, we get bombarded with tons of messages and pictures through our phones, TVs, and computers. Some of these are true, but others are not. MIL helps you sort out the truth from the lies. It’s like having a special tool that helps you know which friend is telling the truth and which is just making up stories.

One part of MIL is checking if something is true or not. Before you believe a story, ask yourself: Who wrote this? Why did they write it? Is there proof? It’s like being a detective, looking for clues to solve a mystery.

MIL also teaches you to use media in a good way. It means spending the right amount of time watching TV or playing games and also using the internet to learn new things. Think of it as a diet for your brain—you need a mix of fun, learning, and rest.

Sharing the Right Information

Lastly, MIL helps you share information the right way. Before you send a message or a picture to others, think: Is it kind? Is it necessary? Is it true? By doing this, you can be a hero who helps stop lies and spread kindness.

500 Words Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Media and information literacy is like learning how to read a map in a world full of signs and messages. It teaches us how to understand and use the information we get from television, the internet, books, and other sources. Just like knowing how to read and write helps us in school, media literacy helps us make sense of the news, advertisements, and even social media posts we see every day.

The Need for Media Literacy

We live in a time when we are surrounded by a sea of information. From the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed, we are bombarded with messages from our phones, TVs, and computers. With so much information coming at us, it’s important to know what is true and what isn’t. This is where media literacy comes in. It helps us tell the difference between facts and opinions, and it teaches us to ask questions about what we see and hear.

Spotting Fake News

One of the biggest challenges today is fake news. This is information that is made to look real but is actually made up to fool people. Media literacy gives us the tools to spot fake news by checking where the information comes from, who is sharing it, and whether other reliable sources are reporting the same thing. By being careful and checking the facts, we can avoid being tricked by false information.

Using Information Wisely

Information isn’t just about news. It’s also about understanding how to use the internet safely and responsibly. Media literacy teaches us to protect our private information online, to be respectful to others, and to understand how our clicks and shares can spread information quickly, for better or for worse. It’s like learning the rules of the road before driving a car.

Advertising and Persuasion

Advertisements are everywhere, trying to persuade us to buy things or think a certain way. Media literacy helps us see the tricks advertisers use to grab our attention and make us want something. By understanding these tricks, we can make better choices about what we buy and believe.

Creating Media

Media literacy is not just about what we take in; it’s also about what we put out into the world. With smartphones and the internet, anyone can be a creator. Media literacy teaches us how to share our own stories and ideas in a clear and honest way, and how to respect other people’s rights and feelings when we do.

In conclusion, media and information literacy is an important skill for everyone, especially students. It helps us navigate through the vast amount of information we encounter every day and use it in a smart and ethical way. By being media literate, we can be better students, smarter consumers, and more responsible citizens in our digital world.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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• Essay on Media And Information Effect On Communication
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Home / Essay Samples / Information Science and Technology / Digital Literacy / Navigating the World of Information: Media Literacy

Navigating the World of Information: Media Literacy

• Category: Information Science and Technology , Sociology
• Topic: Digital Literacy , Effects of Social Media , Modern Society

Pages: 2 (1063 words)

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