The Media and Social Justice in Your Community

Critical thinking and social justice are central themes for this resource on bias and crime in media. The class views and discusses an incisive PSA that highlights assumptions based on race. Small groups read newspaper opinion pieces...

What media literacy skills do people need to evaluate a news source? Scholars listen to and discuss an NPR story about how fake headlines often dupe young people and adults alike. Next, they study news stories, using a fact-checking...

Characters play a significant role in why we like certain shows and movies but are the characters we watch representing the diverse society in which we live? Scholars examine this question through thoughtful discussion about popular...

A short, informative video discusses the various ways the media impacts the thought processes of citizens in the United States. Scholars analyze what bias exists in the media and how to know who to trust in reporting the news. Open...

Scholars investigate the legality of reporting the news or providing entertainment over the airwaves. Scholars discuss the limits of the Internet, television, and print media under the Constitution. 

What is a media baby? Discuss at what age children should be exposed to electronic media. After reading an article, they identify the types of media products for infants and toddlers. Learners will predict the effects of media on the...

How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read...

What is poetry? Does hip-hop qualify as poetry? Do Shakespeare's monologues qualify as poetry? Class members grapple with these questions as they examine the poetic elements and themes presented in different texts. Groups of four study...

So what about those Beastie Boys? Kids read a New York Times article relating the history of hip-hop and rap icons the Beastie Boys. They then answer eleven who, what, when, where, and why questions about the text they read.

From Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 to Facebook, Twitter, and TXT. Here’s a must-see video for anyone interested in the transformation of the media landscape and message distribution. The narrator traces four...