The struggle over media literacy

Abstract

The goal of media literacy is to help people become sophisticated citizens rather than sophisticated consumers. The authors argue against a purely “text-centred” approach in which media texts can be deconstructed and analyzed so we can choose among them. Instead, media literacy should integrate a textual analysis with questions of production and reception. An analysis of the structure of media institutions is particularly important if Americans are able to appreciate and argue for alternatives to a lightly regulated commercial media system. Media literacy is, therefore, a way of extending democracy to the place where democracy is increasingly scripted and defined.