Websites on Media Literacy and Advertising

By Bakari Chavan

Adbusters Media Founeadin"dation (www.adbusters.org) Produces spoof ads, uncommercials, and media critiques in an attempt to "clean up advertising and consumerism's polluting effects on the mental and physical environment."

Cable in the Classroom Online ( www.ciconline.com) A public service effort supported by 41 national cable networks and over 8,500 local cable companies. Provides a free cable connection and over 540 hours per month of commercial-free educational programming to schools.

Center for Commercial Free Education (www.commercialfree.org) Practical strategies for education activists who want to address the growing commercialism in education.

Center for Media Literacy (www.medialit.org) Provides workshops and a catalog of useful media-literacy kits, books, and resources for the classroom and community.

Children Now (www.childrennow.org/media/media.html) The latest study from this research group is "Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity." Previous studies include "A Different World: Children's Perspectives on Race and Class in the Media."

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (www.fair.org) A national media watch group that offers well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship. Publishes Extra!, a bimonthly magazine, and produces radio program CounterSpin. Excellent, searchable website.

HYPE: Monitoring the Black Image in the Media (pan.afrikan.net/hype/cover1.html) Sponsored by the Center on Blacks and the Media.

Media Awareness Network (www.media-awareness.ca/eng) One of the largest sites on this subject. Based in Canada, where media literacy is federally mandated for public schools. Also the site of the International Media Literacy Conference in May of 2000.

Media Education Foundation (www.mediaed.org) Produces award-winning, highly critical, high school and college level videos featuring media scholars like Jean Kilbourne, Noam Chomsky, bell hooks, and Naomi Wolf.

Media Literacy Clearinghouse (www.med.sc.edu:81/MEDIALIT) Developed by Frank Baker, a media literacy educator. Contains a wealth of lessons and resources on magazines, newspapers, television, tobacco and advertising, motion pictures, and the Internet, along with basic articles on media literacy.

Media Literacy Online Project, University of Oregon (interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/HomePage) Includes articles by leading media literacy educators and advocates.

Media-L listserv. An online network in which educators and activists exchange ideas and share resources. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: listproc@nmsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the message itself, put a line like the following one (do not include parentheses and be sure your message is only one line): subscribe Media-L (your name), (title), (organization)

New Mexico Media Literacy Project (www.nmmlp.org) Sponsored by the only districtwide, K-12, media literacy program in the U.S. The project has produced an excellent CD-ROM introducing the basics of critical media literacy.

The Public Broadcasting Service (www.pbs.org) provides lesson plans centered around many of its programs that focus on media's role in society.

Winter 1999