
What is the role of media literacy in the age of digital capitalism? How can media education be combined with media reform? A kind of manifesto.

What is the role of media literacy in the age of digital capitalism? How can media education be combined with media reform? A kind of manifesto.

Growing concerns about ‘fake news’ have led to calls for young people to be taught critical media literacy skills. Yet while media literacy would obviously be useful, it isn’t enough to address the problem. Media educators need to frame the issue more broadly, and join forces with those calling for media reform.

Media literacy policy seems to have become one of the living dead. It is still contained in statute, but no longer displays any discernible signs of life. So how can we account for the disappearance of media literacy from the world of communications policy?
Policy-makers seem unduly preoccupied with measuring ‘levels’ of media literacy right now. Here’s a more constructive approach to defining and assessing media literacy, based on some in-depth research.
The government is apparently ‘rationalising’ qualifications in secondary schools. What are the dangers and opportunities here for media teachers?