Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy

Abstract

Media literacy education is not as advanced in the USA as in several other English speaking areas, such as Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. Despite decades of struggle since the 1970s by individuals and groups, media education is still only reaching a small percentage of K–12 schools in the US. While some major inroads have been made, such as getting elements of media literacy included in most of the 50 state's educational standards and the launching of two national media education organizations, most teachers and students in the USA are not aware of issues involved in media literacy education. In this paper we set forth some models of media literacy, delineate key concepts of critical media literacy, and then examine some of the most active organizations in the USA and differences in their goals and pedagogy.

Notes

1. On multiple literacies, see Kellner (1998, 2004).

2. On the new forms of Internet culture and online communities see Kahn and Kellner (2003).

3. For examples of analyses of media literacy and pedagogy see Cortés (2000), Fleming (1993), Giroux (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996), Giroux and McLaren (1994), Giroux and Shannon (1997), Goodman (2003), Kellner (1995a, 1995b), Kellner and Ryan (1988), Luke (1994, 1997), Masterman (1985/2001), McLaren, Hammer, Sholle, and Reilly (1995), Potter (2001), Semali and Watts Pailliotet (1999), Schwoch, White, and Reilly (1992), Sholle and Densky (1994). See also the work of Barry Duncan and the Canadian Association for Media Literacy (http://www.nald.ca/province/que/litcent/media.htm) and the Los Angeles based Center for Media Literacy (www.medialit.org). It is a scandal that there are not more efforts to promote media literacy throughout the school system from K to 12 and into the university. Perhaps the ubiquity of computer and multimedia culture will awaken educators and citizens to the importance of developing media literacy to create individuals empowered to intelligently access, read, interpret, and criticize contemporary media and cyberculture.

4. See Kellner (1995a, 1995b) and Kellner and Kahn (2003).