The media and me : a guide to critical media literacy for young people / Project Censored and the Media Revolution Collective ; illustrations by Peter Glanting.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction. Looking Beneath the Surface. Critical media literacy ; Meaning, access and representation, and validity ; How media literate are you? ; Inside 'The Media and Me' ; Who we are and how we wrote this book ; Freedom of opinion and expression as human rights -- Chapter 1. What Are Media? Mobile screens and "looking glass" selves ; What are media? ; How much time do you spend with media? How much time can you go without it? ; Media and storytelling ; Write a summary lede for a news story of your own choosing ; Media ownership ; Encoding and decoding media messages ; Powerful solidarities and fateful divisions : Making sense of interpretive communities ; Interpretive communities -- Chapter 2. Critical Thinking. What is critical thinking? ; Making a good argument ; Avoiding common fallacies ; What are inferences? ; Objectivity and recognizing cognitive biases and their effects ; Applying critical-thinking skills to media -- Chapter 3. Critical Media Literacy. Defining critical media literacy ; Critical media literacy ; Behind the context ; Who manages whom? ; Representation ; Stereotypes ; To be critical does not mean to be negative ; Not just one thing -- Chapter 4. Representation. What is representation? ; Why we are influenced by media representations ; How media construct representations : Visibility, framing, and stereotypes ; The man behind the curtain ; Representations of race and inequality ; Constructions of gender and sexuality ; Linguistic representation, profiling, and stereotyping in film and TV ; Considering language and movies ; Representations of family and class ; Assessing ability ; Who tells your story? ; Representations reveal literacies -- Chapter 5. Multiple Literacies. Expanding the idea of "literacy" ; Ways of communicating ; Thinking about texts and metamessaging ; Visual literacy ; Photographs are persuasive communication tools ; Aural literacy ; Songs are an influential instrument of communication ; Digital and algorithmic literacy ; The user is the product ; From prediction to direction : The "action" economy ; Filter bubbles and content moderation ; Looking to the future of "Metaverse literacy" ; Thinking about the future of Metaverse literacy ; Putting the pieces together : Understanding how technology "knows" us ; Seeing multiple literacies in advertising -- Chapter 6. Advertising and Consumerism. Ads are everywhere ; Seeing behind the ads ; Cracking consumer culture ; Stealing our attention, stealing our minds ; What can I do? What can we do? ; Culture jamming is political and social expression that disrupts ; Advertising's influence on journalism -- Chapter 7. News and Journalism. The role of the press ; Journalists and journalism ; Filtered news and the propaganda model ; Sources as a news filter ; Fighting media manipulation ; Pointers for evaluating news validity. Is the content journalism? ; Who is the publisher of this content? ; Who is the author of this content? ; Do I understand the content? ; What is the evidence? ; What is missing from the content? ; What is bias? ; What can you do? -- Chapter 8. What Do You Want to Do? A Resource Guide. The gears in the clock : What's next? ; 1. Maneuver like a media citizen ; 2. Engage with media at a slower pace ; 3. Defend freedom of expression as a human right ; 4. Increase the amount of valuable content ; 5. Acknowledge the context ; 6. Analyze representation ; 7. Never forget the means of production ; 8. Draw on independent media sources ; 9. Make solutions-based journalism a priority ; 10. Engage in activism, not slacktivism ; What else can you do? Engaging in constructive dialogue ; Time to practice what we teach -- Glossary -- Deeper reading -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Notes -- Index.

"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."--

"Media shape our sense of who we are, what we value, and our place in the world. Against the backdrop of pundits and politicians promoting fearful understandings of "fake news" and the negative impacts of social media, 'The Media and Me' empowers readers to become savvy media users who can analyze claims, see through manipulation, and recognize when political or economic interests drive the media we use. With clear language, contemporary examples, and do-it-your-self exercises, 'The Media and Me' helps young readers develop skills to question, critique, and talk back to the daily messages -- both subtle and overt -- that the media feed them. Drawing on their diversity and teaching experience, the ten authors included in the Media Revolution Collective introduce critical media literacy as a call to action urging readers to look beneath the surface and beyond their screens to create a brighter, more inclusive future."--taken from back cover.

Ages 13UP Seven Stories Press.

Grades 10-12 Seven Stories Press.