Media literacy : A report of the National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy

The purpose of the National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy was to shape a national framework for media literacy so that each participating group could demonstrate its own niche and role in achieving common objectives. This report details the approaches and conclusions of the 25 representative leaders of the media literacy movement who met to agree on a definition, vision, and framework for media literacy efforts in the United States. The basic definition spelled out media literacy as the ability of a citizen to access, analyze, and produce information for specific outcomes. In the 2 days of discourse, conference participants saw common ground on a number of issues and endorsed a project in New Mexico as a test site where various groups might work to foster media literacy in the schools and beyond. Task forces were established to look at issues associated with curriculum and teacher training, foster communications among the groups interested in media literacy, and begin to write a prospectus for a Media Literacy Institute. The Institute will bring together the resources for intellectual underpinning, teacher training, and active participation in policy making and events. Appendixes contain: (1) a background paper by J. Francis Davis, "Media Literacy--From Activism to Exploration"; (2) a list of conference participants and organizations; and (3) the Aspen Institute's Communications and Society Program Statement. (SLD)