Last Updated on September 27, 2023 by BVN
Asante-Ra
California is considering two media literacy bills, signaling a crucial step forward in addressing the challenges of misinformation and disinformation.
Assembly Bills 873 and 787 aim to introduce media literacy education in K-12 schools. However, concerns loom over corporate influence in shaping this education.
While these bills represent progress, they must ensure that nonprofit educational institutions and scholarly experts, rather than industry insiders, have a central role in crafting the curriculum. Historically, corporate media has sought to infiltrate classrooms for profit and data collection. We must be cautious not to let history repeat itself.
Critical news literacy education, as advocated by scholars, empowers students to think critically, evaluate sources, and understand the politics of representation. It focuses on gender, race, class, and sexuality dimensions and teaches students to investigate power dynamics within media content.
To ensure the success of these bills, educators must offer students critical news literacy education, free from corporate influence. It’s vital that non-profit and scholarly critical media literacy groups have a significant voice in shaping media literacy education.
Education remains our most promising solution to build a media-literate society. These bills have the potential to drive positive change, but they must prioritize education above all other interests.