A Change in the Looking Glass: Discussions on Media Literacy & Meaning Making

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Media? The Big Bad Media, the Big Bad Media. Who's afraid of the Big Bad Media? Tra la la la laaa...We live in an age of fear: fear of Disney princesses ruling the world, of cell phones stealing our souls, and social media selling us out to the highest bidder. We are afraid of being deceived by fake news and manipulated by advertising. Listen to the angry voices of media critics and whistle-blowers. We know these villains.Or do we?Like a desperate prince disguised as a beast, or a yellow journalist disguised as a documentarian, sometimes things are not as they seem. A stigmatized media is born from many roots: some deserving criticism and repentance, and others deserving due process. This book challenges its readers to hold their assumptions and approach media through a new, more objective, looking glass -- one that considers historical context, target audiences, industry practices, and semiotics. Through discussions on these subjects and more, let this book guide you toward a more holistic approach to media literacy.This resource provides college students and communications and media educators a quick study on practicing a more holistic approach to media literacy. The author starts with defining media literacy and breaking it into a process. The author continues with discussions on foundations of bias and media stigma, then moves to change the lens, or looking glass, of the reader with a widened scope of context to scaffold the pursuit of more complex meaning in today's media-saturated world. The discussions weave a story of how the interconnectivity of mass media history, industry practices, and communication theory may be used to support higher level media analysis. The book ends with a 5-step investigation process that encourages the reader to synergize the earlier discussions in responding to and evaluating media.