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A Field Guide to Media Literacy Education in the United States

The State of Media Literacy: A Rejoinder

Thanks to JoBEM editor, Susan Brinson, who offered me the opportunity to write
a rejoinder to W. James Potter’s essay on the State of Media Literacy. Potter begins
his response to my essay by alleging that my identity and track record limit the
value of my perspective on the field. After justifying his own editorial choices in
terms of breadth, balance over time, balance across scholars, and description over
prescription, Potter then suggests that my critical perspective regarding his work is
an indication of my own lack of media literacy.

Young Audiences and New Authors in a Multimedia Landscape

Today’s children experience a very different set of choices, opportunities and challenges
as compared to their parents or their grandparents. Of the 50 million American children age 11
and under, nearly all are participating actively as young audiences with a variety of forms of
mass media, popular culture and digital media. They are also beginning to use technology tools
as modes of creative expression themselves, developing the capacity to be authors in a
multimedia landscape. Adults who care for children need to have a better understanding of the

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