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Although most
media literacy focus has been in the school curriculum, concern about
youth violence has prompted interest by the Department of Justice,
which was involved with a task force report, Safeguarding Our Youth.
At a more local level, Kevin Burke, District Attorney in Salem,
Massachusetts, has spearheaded an innovative project called
FLASHPOINT.
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The audience for the program is juvenile offenders. The resulting product and process is a curriculum call Flashpoint: Lifeskills Through the Lens of Media Literacy. The program is particularly concerned with addressing violence, substance abuse, and racism in the adolescent community. Independent evaluators from Salem State College employed both qualitative and quantitative methods, which suggest the program may be deterring some of the participants. "It gave me time to think about the consequences," one student told evaluators. Results from the first year of the study were reported to the Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation in Washington, DC, in summer 1998.
With its emphasis on critical thinking and its capacity to engage young people, media literacy has emerged as a powerful tool for helping youth understand the world of media. The FLASHPOINT Program (two media literacy/life skills curricula) developed by District Attorney Kevin M. Burke's Office takes media literacy one step further, using it in a unique way -- not only teaching youth how to deconstruct media messages, but how to transfer these skills toward better decision-making in their own lives.
Through viewing and discussing actual commercial and educational film segments, the first curriculum in the FLASHPOINT series teaches youth how to make more responsible choices on issues of violence, substance abuse and prejudice. Far from being just a series of reflective exercises, both curricula provide young people with hands-on skills for cooling down and making wiser choices during stressful moments or "flashpoints" as they occur in real life. Both also emphasize the legal consequences and the ethical and social repercussions of engaging in criminal behaviors.
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Media Literacy: An Introduction to Media Literacy by Dr. David Considine |
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Media Literacy: First National Media Literacy Conference at ASU |
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Media Literacy: Summit 2000: Reflections on Toronto Conference |
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