The Media and Me

Introduction

Looking Beneath the Surface

We use clocks to know what time it is. Between the invention of hourglasses and digital clocks, there were analog watches watches with hands and faces which were the main devices we used to measure time.

Along with learning the ABCs and how to ride a bike, you probably learned to tell time using an old-fashioned clock. You might not have thought much about learning to tell time since then. It s easy to take a skill for granted once you ve mastered it. It becomes second nature, which is good because that allows you to focus attention on other things. Instead of thinking, I can tell time!, you look at a clock and think, Only fifteen minutes until I am out of this class!

Back then, you had to learn how to interpret the clock s two arms the little arm that measures hours, the big arm that measures minutes in relation to the numbers, from one to twelve, on the clock s circular background. You had to learn, for example, that when the big hand was on the twelve and the little hand was on the three, it was three o clock. Learning to tell time was all about understanding the relationship between the clock s hands and numbers. Once you understood that, you knew how to tell time.

In your lifetime, you ve probably seen these types of clockfaces on wall clocks and on wristwatches. You ve also witnessed how digital technologies have made it easier to tell time. Instead of having to make sense of the hands on the clock, we just read the numbers from digital displays on our smartphones, or on our computers, or in our cars. You may even be able to call on digital assistants such as Alexa or Siri to tell you what time it is.

But what if the clock breaks and you want to fix it?

Or what if you are just curious to know more about why the clock works the way it does? Then you need to know more than how to tell time; you need to learn how to look beneath the surface of the clock s face, to observe and understand the

Introduction: Looking Beneath the Surface
Chapter 1: What Are Media?
Chapter 2: Critical Thinking
Chapter 3: Critical Media Literacy
Chapter 4: Representation
Chapter 5: Multiple Literacies
Chapter 6: Advertising and Consumerism
Chapter 7: News and Journalism
Chapter 8: What Do You Want to Do? A Resource Guide
Glossary
Deeper Reading
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
Notes
Index

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