Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.
For centuries, literacy has referred to the ability to read and write. Today, we get most of our information through an interwoven system of media technologies. The ability to read many types of media is an essential skill in the 21st Century.
Media literate youth and adults are better able to understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and all other forms of media. Media literacy skills are included in the educational standards of every state—in language arts, social studies, health, science, and other subjects. Many educators have discovered that media literacy is an effective and engaging way to apply critical thinking skills to a wide range of issues.
My approach to media literacy education comes from a media justice framework. Media Justice speaks to the need to go beyond creating greater access to the same old media structure. Media Justice takes into account history, culture, privilege, and power. We need new relationships with media and a new vision for its control, access, and structure. Media Justice understands that this will require new policies, new systems that treat our airways and our communities as more than markets.
Andrea Quijada is the former Executive Director of Media Literacy Project. She served on the Federal Communication Commission Consumer Advisory Committee from 2011-2015. In 2018 she completed coursework for her PhD in Art History & Visual Culture.
Media literacy skills can help youth & adults
Develop critical thinking skills
Understand how media messages shape our culture and society
Identify target marketing strategies
Recognize what the media maker wants us to believe or do
Name the techniques of persuasion used
Recognize bias, spin, misinformation, and lies
Discover the parts of the story that are not being told
Evaluate media messages based on our own experiences, skills, beliefs, and values
Create and distribute our own media messages
Advocate for media justice
OFFERINGS
Language of Persuasion: We review 40 different techniques of persuasion divided into beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. This information is useful for students, teachers, or anyone who would like to learn more about how the media persuades us on a daily basis. , Appropriate for ages 7 to adult.
Intro to Media Literacy: We review 24 different concepts and skills to help build your media literacy knowledge. Workshops can be customized for schools, community settings, or professional development trainings. Appropriate for ages 11 to adult. Content: Media Literacy Concepts, Text and Subtext, Language of Persuasion, Deconstructing Media Messages, Creating Counter Ads, Looking Beyond the Frame.
Tailored Trainings
Custom Curriculum Development