What is Media Literacy?
More than at any point in history, we are subjected to a staggering amount of information every day. Due to the proliferation of electronic media, the average American will spend several years of their lifetime watching TV, listening to music, surfing the internet, and playing video games. Media literacy is the practice of turning passive media consumers into critical thinkers and media creators. Just as we do not simply throw a book at a child and expect to learn how to read on their own, we cannot just put electronic media in front of a child and expect them to be media literate.
Being Media Literate means being able to think critically about news, entertainment, and advertisements, asking questions such as "who is this targeting?", "what interests does it represent?", and "what techniques and tools are they using to persuade the intended audience?" Media literacy education teaches people to go from being passive consumers of media to being active citizens, able to differentiate between news and propaganda, and to recognize the techniques of manipulation inherent in public relations and advertising. Media literacy also teaches people to look for what is not in the media, and to ask why certain messages, viewpoints and perspectives are not included.
Beyond being able to critically evaluate the media on its own merits, media literacy skills allow people to place media into a larger context. This means understanding the structures and realities that make up a democratic "free market" society and how those affect media. It means understanding, in a general sense, the role of commercialism and advertising in shaping our media system. It means understanding how class, race and gender influence the media we consume. Most importantly, it means understanding that all media is constructed, that it is the product of peoples and organizations representing particular interests, biases, and viewpoints.