Media Literacy Week in the United States is hosted by our friends at the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). The mission: “to highlight the power of media literacy education and its essential role in education all across the country.” This year has a 5-day theme. Access, Analyze, Evaluate, Create, and Act. 

Media literacy is the ability to critically assess the messages delivered by media. Media literacy empowers people to be critical thinkers and makers, effective communicators, and active citizens.

Anyone can get involved in Media Literacy Week, whether they are an individual, educator, researcher or organization. From sharing posts on social media to organizing a webinar, there is a way for everyone to participate. 

Stay tuned! Throughout the week, we will be sharing media literacy resources and tools from AllSides and our partners.  

Educators: Check out our Media Literacy Kit for ideas on incorporating Media Literacy Education in your classroom. Interested in having your students access AllSides directly? Ask about our COPPA/FERPA compliant membership.

Day 5: Act

ACT(ION) is the culmination of accessing, analyzing and evaluating media messages. This could be anything from engaging civically to critiquing our own core beliefs that influence our ideas and decisions. 

Take action:

• Share reliable content online, and challenge misinformation/disinformation
• Engage civically: prepare for the 2024 election with our friends at The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Engage in transformative conversation in the classroom or at home with our partner, Living Room Conversations.
• Donate an AllSides for Schools membership to a teacher for $29/year, or request a quote for an entire classroom, school or district. (Scaled pricing, $0.30 - $6.67 per student)

Day 4: Create

Media CREATION is a form of expression. Once individuals can access, analyze, and evaluate media, they can understand themselves and their own bias when creating media.

Whether writing, speaking, making art, posting on social media or chatting with friends – creators must ask themselves some key questions. 

• Is this fact, my opinion or something else?
• What are my sources of information?
• How might different people understand this message differently? 
• Who might benefit from this message?
• Who might be harmed by it?
• What actions do I want people to take in response to this message?
• What ideas, values, information or points of view are overt? Implied?
• What is left out that might be important to know?

Try it yourself and create something with your class! Today only get our Media Bias Research Report Lesson Plan FREE.
 

Day 3: Evaluate

In media literacy, EVALUATING media content involves exploring multiple perspectives and drawing one’s own meaning, judgment and conclusion. Conscientious consumers of media should ask some key questions: 

• Is this source credible & trustworthy?
• What is the bias of this source?
• Is this fact, opinion or something else?
• What are the other perspectives on this issue?
• How does this make me feel and how do my emotions influence my interpretation of this?

Use these AllSides tools to evaluate the news you read:

1. Media Bias Resources
2. Fact Checks
3. AllStances
4. Topics & Issues
5. Common Ground
6. Project Look Sharp

Day 2: Analyze 

In media literacy, ANALYZING is the process of asking questions to identify authorship, credibility, purpose, technique, context and economics to: 

• Examine the author and their biases
• Understand how the media chooses what to publish
• Fact check the information across multiple sources

These AllSides tools can help: 

1. Media Bias Rating
2. Media Bias Chart
3. Types of Media Bias
4. Fact Check Bias Chart
5. Misinformation

Day 1: Access

In media literacy, ACCESS is how, when, where and how often people have access to the tools and skills they need. Limited access can impact an individual's ability to learn the skills they need for employment, education and civic engagement. Part of the AllSides mission is providing information so that anyone anywhere in the world ideally, has the opportunity to:

• Understand how media, technology and the internet work
• Access information and ideas without censorship and draw their own conclusions
• Participate and communicate important information within society

Check out these resources – free for all, all the time!

1. AllSides Free Tools
2. Checkology: Your media literacy solution. Learn how to think about news and information - not what to think. 
3. Very Verified: Online course on media literacy. 
4. Agents of Influence: A spy-themed video game that teaches middle and high school students to neutralize digital disinformation.