What is Critical Media Literacy?

Critical Media Literacy is the knowledge and skills needed to understand the language, codes, and conventions that a wide variety of media forms and genres use to create their messages. It builds on our understanding of literacy to include forms of mass communication, popular culture, and new technology. Educators that teach critical media literacy also use a variety of key concepts, questions, and strategies to scaffold student learning as they learn to critically and analytically engage with media in a way that challenges bias, ideologies, and power. This transformative learning takes a social justice stance and looks at what is appropriate, healthy, and ethical while encouraging students to engage, challenge, and create their own responses to media’s messages.