Media Literacy in the US

Abstract

Media literacy education is not as advanced in the US 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 Americans. 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 United States still have never heard of media literacy. In this paper, we first 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 United States and differences in their goals and pedagogy.