Action Coalition for Media Education and Project Censored Present G C M L P The Global Critical Media Literacy Project EDUCATORS’ RESOURCE GUIDE Edited and compiled by Lori Bindig, Julie Frechette, Nolan Higdon, Mickey Huff, Andy Lee Roth, Peter Phillips, Rob Williams, and Bill Yousman Global Critical Media Literacy Project | 1 EDUCATORS’ RESOURCE GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................... 3 About the GCMLP ....................................................................................... 5 Contacts for GCMLP Publication ..................................................................... 17 Methods of Media Manipulation ...................................................................... 18 Breaking the Corporate News Frame: Project Censored’s Networked News Commons ........ 21 Validated Independent News Story Assignment ..................................................... 31 How to Find, Evaluate, and Summarize Validated Independent News Stories ................... 33 Validated Independent News Story Grading Rubric ................................................. 36 Validated Independent News Story Grading Criteria ............................................... 37 Student Guide For Evaluating Web Sources .......................................................... 38 ‘Becoming the Media:’ Experiential Learning through Media Criticism and Political Activism During National Presidential Elections ............................................................... 42 ACME Classroom Activities: Challenging Big Media and News Censorship .................... 46 Digging Deeper: Politico-Corporate Media Manipulation, Critical Thinking, and Democracy .................................................................... 48 Service Learning: The SUNY Buffalo State and Project Censored Partnership .................. 59 Commodifying the Public Sphere Through Advertising and Commercial Media ............... 63 Group Advertisement Assignment ..................................................................... 68 Junk Food News Assignment ........................................................................... 69 News Abuse Assignment ................................................................................ 71 Meme Assignment ....................................................................................... 73 Solutions Video Project ................................................................................. 74 Video Summary Assignment ............................................................................ 76 2 | Global Critical Media Literacy Project Ethics Alerts: Applied Learning Opportunity in Higher Education ......................................................... 77 Ethics Alert Assignment ........................................................................................................... 79 Critical Analysis of Gender Stereotypes on Television Assignment .......................................................... 82 Critical Analysis of Race, Ethnicity, and Class Stereotypes in Entertainment .............................................. 86 18 Fun and Easy Classroom Activities for Media Education ................................................................. 90 Five Ways to Flex Your Media Literacy Muscles ................................................................................ 93 List of Independent and Corporate News and News Criticism Outlets ..................................................... 94 GCMLP Biographies and Participating Institutions ........................................................................... 96 GCMLP Event on Your Campus Instructions ................................................................................ 100 Sacred Heart University Graduate Program ................................................................................... 101 Media Education for a Digital Generation Book Flyer ...................................................................... 102 MISSION STATEMENT Global Critical Media Literacy Project | 3 INTRODUCTION Bill Yousman and Lori Bindig Media Literacy and Digital Culture Graduate Program Communication and Media Studies Department Sacred Heart University n our media saturated 21st century, essentially optimistic project, one premised Ias citizens of nations around the on the belief that education is the first globe find themselves awash in a tidal step in empowering individuals to think wave of information, misinformation, critically and then to turn that critical disinformation, and distraction, media thought into action that seeks to remake literacy education is more crucial than the world. ever. Digital media, including mobile As Kellner and Share (2007) frame it: technologies, the vast and growing Internet, and the explosion of social Critical media literacy expands the networks, have transformed how publics notion of literacy to include different receive, interact with, and create media. forms of mass communication and Yet economic and political power still popular culture as well as deepens the resides with many of the same forces and potential of education to critically institutions that have been flexing their analyze relationships between muscles since the industrial revolution and media and audiences, information the ascendancy of corporate capitalism. and power. It involves cultivating skills in analyzing media codes and A tiny handful of multinational conventions, abilities to criticize conglomerates control most of the stereotypes, dominant values, and world’s media consumption, and their ideologies, and competencies to stated goals are hyper-commercial, with interpret the multiple meanings profit serving as their first and only and messages generated by media imperative. Meanwhile, bloggers, citizen texts. Media literacy helps people journalists, podcasters, artists, independent to discriminate and evaluate media filmmakers, and ordinary citizens armed content, to critically dissect media with smart phone cameras seek to disrupt, forms, to investigate media effects and even if momentarily, the hegemony exerted uses, to use media intelligently, and to by the likes of Disney, Viacom, Time construct alternative media.2 Warner, Comcast, The News Corporation, CBS, and Google. Many critical media literacy organizations and projects have emerged in the last In an environment marked by this few decades to challenge the ideological ongoing struggle between David and and economic control of the corporate Goliath, media education—specifically, media giants. Grassroots organizations critical media literacy—is essential. Media like the Media Education Foundation literacy, defined as the ability to access, (MEF), California Newsreel, Paper Tiger analyze, evaluate, and create media,1 is an Television, Fairness and Accuracy in 1 Aspen Institute Report of the National Leadership 2 Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2007). Critical media literacy, Conference on Media Literacy (1992). Available at: http://medialit. democracy, and the reconstruction of education. In D. Macedo & net/reading-room/aspen-institute-report-national-leadership-con- S.R. Steinberg (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 3-23). New York: ference-media-literacy Peter Lang Publishing. 4 | Global Critical Media Literacy Project Reporting (FAIR), and the many local Independent coalition of educators, students, researchers, artists, Media Centers, alongside many others, have inspired authors, filmmakers, and activists, all committed thousands of committed citizens to question to resisting the hyper-commercialism of corporate the distorted ways of thinking encouraged by media while advancing the cause of critically consumerism, corporatism, and neoliberalism. Since informed media education. 1976, Project In this packet Censored has of activities, been at the exercises, and forefront of thought-pieces, this struggle educators will and with their find a wealth new Global of ideas for Critical Media integrating the Literacy 2016 Project Project Censored (GCMLP), yearbook they are and a critical intensifying media literacy their focus approach on media across the education. The liberal arts GCMLP is a curriculum in co-creation high schools, of Project colleges, Censored and the Action Coalition for Media and universities. We welcome your feedback and Education (ACME), the nation’s leading additional suggestions/submissions for future independent media literacy organization. Through editions of this packet. In the future, we will this alliance, along with a partnership with the be accepting submissions of new exercises and Media Literacy and Digital Culture (MLDC) assignments for possible publication on the GCMLP graduate program at Sacred Heart University, the website. G C M L P Global Critical Media Literacy Project is creating a Global Critical Media Literacy Project | 5 ABOUT THE GLOBAL CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY PROJECT Julie Frechette, Nolan Higdon, Mickey Huff, Peter Phillips, Andy Lee Roth, and Rob Williams he Global Critical Media Literacy and problems in media. The GCMLP TProject was launched by Project webpage will provide a steady stream Censored and Action Coalition for Media of news and news analysis. Lastly, the Education (ACME) during autumn 2015. annual, GCMLP conference will provide The project is the first of its kind in its use students, faculty, and contributors with of a service-learning-based media literacy an opportunity to share their work and education model