TL;DR

Don’t let the country-specific title put you off. This is a very useful (and readable) book.

Review

Please note: I was sent a complimentary review copy of this book. That has not influenced my opinion.

If there was ever a time that reliable news, and knowing how to evaluate the veracity of an information source, were crucial, it is surely now. I’m writing this at a time when Covid-19 is spreading like wildfire, accompanied by a spread of information from unverifiable sources.

It’s easy to get hoodwinked, or at least misled, even if you’re a seasoned cynic and fairly media literate person such as myself. I think it must be to do with panic. For example, a few weeks ago I was sent an email by someone I know and trust, in which they had copied and pasted prevention advice from someone who signed himself as an immunologist. It all looked very sensible, and very doable. Then the following day I received another email saying that everything in the original email was wrong. Fortunately, I had neither acted on the first email nor forwarded it on to others. My approach has been to follow the official advice for my country, and to check that daily in case it’s been updated.

There are companies and individuals selling coronavirus test kits that have not been officially verified as being effective, and face masks that don’t work. Therefore, although Critical Media Literacy (CML) doesn’t deal with fake news it is highly relevant to the situation in which we find ourselves. Indeed, despite the statement in the authors’ Introduction that media literacy is not necessarily a life-saving tool, it clearly potentially is.

CML is an academic book, yet manages to be both readable and full of ideas which could be applied in the classroom. For example, there is a section about analysing emotional language. This is extremely important, because quite often phrases creep in which might easily be overlooked by the unwary. A recent newspaper headline, for example, stated that Johnson, the British Prime Minister, had taken action “at last”: not perhaps the most objective reporting.

There are also chapters dealing with “narrative” and exercising responsibility (“mindful media literacy”) before sharing online.

My only quibbles with the book are as follows.

First, as an academic book it is priced accordingly. This is likely to result in a much smaller readership than it deserves.

Secondly, the title further limits its appeal in my opinion. Yes, the examples and analysis all pertain directly to the USA, but the principles can be applied anywhere.

Finally, why no index?

I thoroughly recommend this book to teachers of media literacy, especially digital media literacy — wherever you happen to reside.

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