Critical Media Literacy

Aish Saminathan, Upper Elementary Conference teacher, teaches Critical Media Literacy to our Middle School students. The goal of the course is to empower students to be informed consumers of media. The sixth and seventh graders critically analyze media content and build awareness about their own perspectives and those of others. Armed with the foundational knowledge of journalism and constitutional rights, the students will continue to discover the purpose of different media messages, assess the authenticity and reliability of news, and apply their skills in various civic engagement projects.

What does Critical Media Literacy mean? In her recent ebook, Defining Critical Media Literacy, Allison Butler describes it this way – “Critical media literacy encourages analysis of the dominant ideology and an interrogation of the means of production. It is rooted in social justice (Kellner & Share, 2007) and explores the “behind the scenes” of ownership, production, and distribution. Critical media literacy is an inquiry into power, especially the power of the media industries and how they determine the stories and messages to which we are the audience.”