Media Literacy: An Alternative to Censorship

by Marjorie Heins & Christina Cho

Fully revised and updated (fall 2003) - a detailed survey of media literacy education and why it is preferable to TV ratings, Internet filters, "indecency" laws, and other efforts to censor the ideas and information available to the young.

Read the full report in html, or pdf. For a printed copy (or bulk copies), email margeheins@verizon.net
Note: Some computers have trouble opening large PDF files. If this happens, you can right-click, then highlight "save link as" and download the PDF to a folder on your computer.

CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Introduction: Why Media Literacy Education is Preferable to Censorship

I. What is Media Literacy Education?

II. Media Literacy in the U.S.: A Brief History

The Beginnings

The Government Gets Involved

The 1980s

Expansion in the 1990s

Media Literacy Comes of Age

III. Media Literacy Today

Advocacy and Information Groups

State Initiatives

The International Scene

Conclusion

Policy Recommendations

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index (only in the .pdf version)

From the Executive Summary:

Media literacy education has come a long way since the 1970s, when the first "critical thinking" courses were introduced in a few American schools. Most educators today understand that with the revolutionary changes in communication that have occurred in the last half-century, media literacy has become as essential a skill as the ability to read the printed word. Equally important, media literacy education can relieve the pressures for censorship that have, over the last decade, distorted the political process, threatened First Amendment values, and distracted policymakers from truly effective approaches to widely shared concerns about the mass media's influence on youth. ...

From Chapter 1:

Media literacy leaders ... disagree over fundamental objectives. Many oppose the "protectionist" or "inoculationist" philosophy, which sees media education primarily as a way to protect children from bad messages - and in the process, denigrate their favorite TV programs, music videos, and video games. The result, they fear, is decreased student interest and ineffective education. "Many teachers at both the K-12 and university levels have found that students are unresponsive to the idea that they are helpless victims of media influence who need to be rescued from the excesses and evils of their interest in popular culture," reports media literacy pioneer and Temple University professor Renee Hobbs. Others point out that the protectionist approach "privileges" certain texts over others, and substitutes value judgments for truly critical analyses.

From Chapter 2:

In early 2002, the White House released an important policy statement supporting media literacy education - at least for purposes of teaching youngsters about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Summarizing a "Media Literacy Summit" held the year before, the government's report acknowledged "the power and influence of the media on America's youth" and argued for expanded media literacy education to help them "gain skills to intelligently navigate the media and filter the hundreds of messages they receive every day." The report suggested three approaches: "parent-focused," Internet-focused, and "faith-based," but skirted the politically charged question of whether government funding can be used for the third approach, which involves the teaching of religious messages.

The White House report recognized critical thinking and "healthy self-esteem" as key components of successful media literacy education, and emphasized the importance of respecting youngsters' intelligence and accepting their "pleasure in media use." "Don't 'bash' the media," it warned; instead, "acknowledge that the media are a powerful and amazing influence that can be used for positive and healthy ends. Media literate people more fully appreciate media's complexity, creativity and potential. They do not blame the media for society's problems."

From Chapter 3:

The Action Coalition for Media Education is, as of 2003, the newest media literacy organization. In part a reaction to the AMLA founding conference in 2001 (the fifth national meeting organized by essentially the same group of media literacy leaders), ACME's explicit purpose is to use media education to "deal with corporate censorship, racism, commercialism in the schools, news monopolies and the misrepresentation of women and minorities." As The Nation magazine wrote of ACME in January 2002, "leading media scholars and educators are forming a new progressive media literacy organization, one that will remain independent of media conglomerates that bankroll existing groups."

From the Conclusion:

Continuing concerns about sexual messages, stereotypes, and fantasy violence in the mass media have made the need for media literacy education all the more evident in recent years. Critical thinking is an essential skill for all citizens in a democracy, whether they are evaluating a TV ad, an action movie, or a news report of a politician's speech. Rather than resorting to censorship or ratings schemes in response to the presumed influence of violent or otherwise troublesome messages in popular culture, policymakers should commit to making media literacy an essential part of every young person's education.

In the past few years, the federal government and education departments in many states have come to recognize the importance of media literacy and have supplied some financial and institutional support. Yet the U.S. still falls short of much of the world in embracing media literacy education. American politics often seems stuck in a rhetorical blind alley where, instead of focusing on forward-looking educational policies, advocates and politicians expend their energies on headline-grabbing but ineffective - and constitutionally dubious - calls for more ratings, filters, and other forms of censoring the young. Media literacy is far better than censorship, not only for those concerned about troublesome media messages but for everyone committed to modern education, intellectual freedom, or the healthy development of youth.