Media Literacy in Action: Questioning the Media

by Renee Hobbs Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island

Overview

The blurring of entertainment, information, and persuasion is reshaping work, life, and citizenship. As a result, our relationship to media has never been so important nor so complex. By asking critical questions about what they watch, listen to, read, and use, students can be better prepared to be responsible communicators who can use a variety of formats and genres for self-expression and advocacy.

Covering a wide range of topics including the rise of news partisanship, algorithmic personalization and social media, stereotypes and media addiction, advertising and media economics, and media influence on personal and social identity, Renee Hobbs helps students develop the lifelong learning competencies and habits of mind needed to navigate an increasingly complex media environment.

Rooted in the best practices of media literacy pedagogy, Media Literacy in Action brings an interdisciplinary approach to media studies that engages students with the following features:

• full-color layout

• engaging questions to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and reflection

• contemporary media examples designed to cultivate intellectual curiosity

• suggested activities for advancing students’ confidence in oral, written, and multimedia expression

• access to videos and multimedia resources at www.medialiteracyaction.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538115282
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/07/2021
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	283,465
Product dimensions:	8.07(w) x 10.09(h) x 0.63(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Renee Hobbs is an internationally recognized authority on digital and media literacy education and a professor of communication studies at the University of Rhode Island’s Harrington School of Communication and Media, where she co-directs the URI Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy. She is the author of 10 books including Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age and Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning. At the Media Education Lab, she brings together educators and researchers to advance the quality of digital and media literacy education through scholarship and community service.

Table of Contents

Part I: Understanding Media Chapter 1. What Is Media Literacy? Chapter 2. Why Are Media Important? Chapter 3. How Do Search Engines Work? Chapter 4. How Do People Get the News? Chapter 5. What Is the Difference between Advertising, Public Relations, and Propaganda? Chapter 6. Why Are We Attracted to Characters and Stories? Part II: Judgments about Taste, Quality, and Trust Chapter 7. Why Do People Prefer Different Kinds of Music, Movies, and TV Shows? Chapter 8. Who Decides What Makes Media “Good”? Chapter 9. How Do People Decide Who and What to Trust? Part III: Media Economics Chapter 10. How Do Media Companies Make Money? Chapter 11. Are Social Media Free? Part IV: Understanding Media Chapter 12. Why Do People Worry about Stereotypes? Chapter 13. Is My Brother Addicted to Media? Chapter 14. How Do People Become Media Literate? Glossary References Index

Editorial Reviews

This textbook, aimed at high school students and college undergraduates, develops key concepts about media literacy and includes discussion questions to promote critical thinking related to media consumption. Each chapter begins with "Learning Outcomes." Also included are background information about particular aspects of media literacy and "Critical Questions" encouraging reader reflection. Historical material in each chapter provides highlights about an "Intellectual Grandparent" who represents groundbreaking foundational ideas on, e.g., gaming, music, digital citizenship, privacy, economics, and politics. “Create to Learn” activities, again in each chapter, ask students to apply ideas presented in the book, which comprises four parts. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates. General readers.

Choice

Hobbs’ approach not only allows students to broaden and deepen their knowledge of media literacy concepts but also to gain facility with hands-on tools and techniques for learning how to create, reflect, and act upon their own experiences with media and technology.

Colin Rhinesmith

A sorely needed book, and there is no better person to write it in terms of depth in the field.

Ralph Beliveau

Hobbs addresses a greatly underserved area within communications/media studies with a desperately needed undergraduate text combining empowerment and protectionist traditions that draws from the two main US media literacy traditions.

Natasha Casey

In this book, Renee Hobbs does an important service to the field of media literacy by providing a timely and much needed textbook with a deep overview of what it means to be media literate. The reader can practice through the chapters how to access information, analyze and evaluate media messages, create message, reflect on your own consumption of media and act thoughtfully as media producers. The exercises and examples help instructors and students to learn through an inquiry process as they form their own opinion and master the craft of conveying media messages using various techniques.

Yonty Friesem

This textbook, aimed at high school students and college undergraduates, develops key concepts about media literacy and includes discussion questions to promote critical thinking related to media consumption. Each chapter begins with "Learning Outcomes." Also included are background information about particular aspects of media literacy and "Critical Questions" encouraging reader reflection. Historical material in each chapter provides highlights about an "Intellectual Grandparent" who represents groundbreaking foundational ideas on, e.g., gaming, music, digital citizenship, privacy, economics, and politics. “Create to Learn” activities, again in each chapter, ask students to apply ideas presented in the book, which comprises four parts. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates. General readers.

Choice Reviews