The Media And Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People

Description

From foundations in critical thinking skills to practical tools and real-life perspectives, this book empowers young adult readers to be independent media users. During the recent presidential election, "media literacy" became a buzzword that signified the threat media manipulation posed to democratic processes. Meanwhile, statistical research has shown that 8 to 18 year-olds pack more than eleven hours with some form of media into each day by "media multitasking." Young people are not only eager and interested to learn about and discuss the realities of media ownership, production, and distribution, they also deserve to understand differential power structures in how media influences our culture. The Media and Me provides readers with the tools and perspectives to be empowered and autonomous media users. The book explores critical inquiry skills to help young people form a multidimensional comprehension of what they read and watch, opportunities to see others like them making change, and insight into their own identity projects. By covering topics like storytelling, building arguments and recognizing fallacies, surveillance and digital gatekeeping, advertising and consumerism, and global social problems through a critical media literacy lens, this book will help students evolve from passive consumers of media to engaged critics and creators. The Media and Me is a joint production of The Censored Press and Triangle Square Books for Young Readers.

With decades of experience in critical media literacy, the authors include AVRAM ANDERSON, electronic resources management specialist in the University Library at California State University, Northridge; NICHOLAS BAHAM III, professor and chair of Ethnic Studies at California State University East Bay; BEN BOYINGTON, high school English teacher and media educator; ALLISON BUTLER, director of the Media Literacy Certificate Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; NOLAN HIGDON, professor of history and media studies, and author of The Anatomy of Fake News; KATE HORGAN, an undergraduate studying Communication and Psychology in the Commonwealth Honors College at University of Massachusetts Amherst; MICKEY HUFF, director of Project Censored, a media watchdog that promotes independent journalism, critical media literacy, and freedom of expression; REINA ROBINSON, founder of the Center for Urban Excellence, a non-profit that fosters resilience in system-involved youth; ANDY LEE ROTH, a sociologist who coordinates Project Censored's national network of students researching important but underreported news stories; and MARIA CECILIA SOTO, an undergraduate studying Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Cover art and illustrations by PETER GLANTING, a Portland-based artist and designer.

"A work that comprehensively surveys the knowledge and skills that encompass not only critical media literacy, but the broader corpus of media literacy and its various subdisciplines. The Media and Me will excite, sometimes overwhelm, and always challenge both educators and students to think differently about the media they encounter and consume. Texts like this one are crucial in a world that is awash in messages that we are left to navigate without so much as a lifejacket." -Michael A. Spikes, lecturer & curriculum specialist at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications "The Media and Me is an engaging read, a must-have reference, and a prep course for citizen media literacy in the 21st century. With Big Tech and e-textbooks the new classroom norm, The Media and Me may be the single most important book for young students in becoming media literate citizens. It should be required reading for the i-Gen." -Heidi Boghosian, author of "I Have Nothing to Hide" and 20 Other Myths about Privacy and Surveillance "This book is a valuable resource that all teens should read. The text provides an expansive overview of issues, terms, concepts, and examples to think about when engaging with media. Since this is a topic in which so few texts are written for teens, this book is essential to help them think more critically and question the very media they are using every day." -Jeff Share, PhD, co-author of The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education. "The Media and Me offers young people the knowledge, ideas, and skills to become media literate, expanding their vision, intellect, and identity. It's an invaluable resource for writing young people back into the script of empowerment and democracy." -Henry Giroux, author of Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance "Timely and accessible ... The Media and Me provides an up-to-date survey of how to make sense of contemporary media in language young adults will understand and appreciate." -Steve Macek, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication and Media Studies, North Central College "We have needed a book like this for a long time, and here it is at last! The Media and Me isn't a boring school textbook, but an exciting invitation to think critically about the media that surround us. It deals with complicated issues in very clear language, without being patronizing or simplistic. It explains the connections between our everyday experiences and the bigger social, economic, and political forces that shape our lives. And it makes a powerful call for action, to change our media system. This is a book that everybody should read." -David Buckingham, Professor, Loughborough University and King's College London, UK