Media Literacy: An Alternative to Censorship

Revised and updated in fall, 2003, this document is a selected survey of the growth of the media literacy movement in the United States and why media literacy education should be seen as preferable to TV ratings, Internet filters, "indecency" laws, and other efforts to censor the ideas and information available to the young. The Free Expression Policy Project is a division of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary
Introduction: Why Media Literacy Education is Preferable to Censorship
I. What is Media Literacy Education?
II. Media Literacy in the U.S.: A Brief History
The Beginnings
The Government Gets Involved
The 1980s
Expansion in the 1990s
Media Literacy Comes of Age
III. Media Literacy Today
Advocacy and Information Groups
State Initiatives
The International Scene
Conclusion
Policy Recommendations
Endnotes
Bibliography

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