December 10, 2024

The Media and You! Critical Media Literacy Education: Roadmap for Navigating our Disinformation Media Ecosystem.

Thursday
April 18th
7:00 PM

Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library
1757 Ashland St, Ashland.

Based on the award-winning textbook The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People.

In this workshop, Prof. Mickey Huff will lead discussion and research into:

● Analyzing how various populations are represented in media, as characters and visible participants and as creators and gatekeepers of media;

● Critical thinking skills for decoding bias, identifying propaganda, and distinguishing solid arguments from manipulation;

● Understanding the business of media, who has power within it, and who profits from it;

● How (and when) to think like a journalist;

● Recognizing the importance of what is missing, including whose voices and what issues are marginalized, distorted, or omitted;

● Detecting racism, sexism, ableism, and anti-LGTBQ sentiment, even when it is subtle;

● Recognizing the role advertising plays in today’s media and how it aims to shape our behavior;

● Understanding the connection between media literacy and a robust, functioning democracy;

● The key questions to ask when engaging any media;

● Appreciating how free speech and media literacy rely on each other.

MICKEY HUFF is the director of Project Censored and president of the nonprofit Media Freedom Foundation. To date, he has co-edited fourteen editions of the Project’s yearbook, including most recently Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2022, with Andy Lee Roth.
He is also co-author with Nolan Higdon of United States of Distraction and the critical thinking textbook Let’s Agree to Disagree. Huff received the Beverly Kees Educator Award as part of the 2019 James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California. He is professor of social science, history, and journalism at Diablo Valley College, where he co-chairs the history program and is chair of the Journalism Department. Huff is executive producer and host of The Project Censored Show, a weekly syndicated public affairs program that airs on 50 stations across the U.S. on Pacifica Radio.