In this second edition, award-winning educator Sue Ellen Christian offers students an accessible and informed guide to how they can consume and create media intentionally and critically.

The textbook applies media literacy principles and critical thinking to the key issues facing young adults today, from analyzing and creating media messages to verifying information and understanding online privacy. Through discussion prompts, writing exercises, key terms, and links, readers are provided with a framework from which to critically consume and create media in their everyday lives. This new edition includes updates covering privacy aspects of AI, VR and the metaverse, and a new chapter on digital audiences, gaming, and the creative and often unpaid labor of social media and influencers. Chapters examine news literacy, online activism, digital inequality, social media and identity, and global media corporations, giving readers a nuanced understanding of the key concepts at the core of media literacy. Concise, creative, and curated, this book highlights the cultural, political, and economic dynamics of media in contemporary society, and how consumers can mindfully navigate their daily media use.

This textbook is perfect for students and educators of media literacy, journalism, and education looking to build their understanding in an engaging way.

About the Author

Sue Ellen Christian is the Western Michigan University Presidential Innovation Professor in Communication (2021-2024). An author and former Chicago Tribune journalist, her past awards include Michigan Professor of the Year and WMU's Distinguished Teaching Award. She is guest curator of Wonder Media: Ask the Questions!, an interactive museum exhibition focusing on news literacy and media literacy and the author of Overcoming Bias: A Journalist's Guide to Culture and Context (2021).

Book Information
ISBN 9781032156613
Author Sue Ellen Christian
Format Paperback
Page Count 294
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 489g