While people's proclivity toward congenial partisan media has been well documented, methods of resistance are less researched. This study explores the congenial media effect, the phenomenon of our gravitation to and acceptance of like-minded media, and whether a media literacy intervention can mitigate people's acceptance of ideologically…

YouTube is a commercialised digital environment that provides profitable opportunities for content creators. Children's channels have proliferated in recent years on this platform. Children YouTubers become kidfluencers when they reach an important number of subscriptions and brands start to show interest in their channels. Following a qualitative…

We propose that the discipline or practice of media literacy defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms can be enriched and made more effective by incorporating two of Marshall McLuhan's insights into the nature of media. The first insight is that the effects of media that are independent of their…

Current popular media literacy programs overemphasize the verifiability, reliability, and expertise of sources over the analysis of how marginalized groups are represented. This analysis privileges traditional news sources -- and a hierarchy of "objective" news. These same institutions have been historically responsible for producing and…

In the United States, children are exposed to literally hundreds of thousands of television commercials a year and virtually every aspect of kids' lives are replete with commercial messages. The negative effects of this exposure are well documented. Yet, there remains very little regulation or limit on advertising to children beyond that which…

Media literacy has become a center of gravity for countering fake news, and a diverse array of stakeholders--from educators to legislators, philanthropists to technologists--have pushed significant resources toward media literacy programs. Media literacy, however, cannot be treated as a panacea. This paper provides a foundation for evaluating…

This study investigated adolescents' perception and attitudes towards gender representation in video game covers, and the degree to which these depictions may influence their notions on gender and identification. Seventeen participants ranging from ages 12 and 13 participated in semi-structured interviews to explore this topic. This study's…

Media Aware Parent is an interactive, web-based program designed to equip parents to communicate with their adolescent child about sexual health and media by enhancing parental communication and media mediation skills, as well as provide them with medically-accurate sexual health knowledge. In a small feasibility study, 56 parents of 7th and 8th…

In this paper, we examine how Indigenous and non-Indigenous adolescents identify media influences as health/wellness related. We conducted research over a six-week period in two alternative high school settings: a culture-based Indigenous education program at one school and an arts-based program at another school, both in the same small, Western…

Scholars and educators have long hoped that media education is positively related to pro-social goals such as political and civic engagement. With a focus on measuring news media literacy with emphasis on media knowledge, need for cognition and media locus of control, this study surveyed 537 college students and found positive relationships…

Articulation of religious guidelines in the political milieu never takes place in a disembodied form; rather politically inscribed religious discourses are embedded within and conveyed through specific institutional channels, including media organizations and education institutions. My experiences of working as a media educator in villages in…

The prevalence of obese children has tripled during the past three decades. While lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating have been the primary focus of public health efforts, media has a significant influence on food choices and food consumption. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine if a media literacy intervention would…

Recent contentions about "fake news" and misinformation online has shed light on the critical need for media literacy at a global scale. Indeed, digital stories are one of the main forms of communication in the 21st century through blogs, videos-sharing websites, forums, or social networks. However, the line between facts and fiction can…

Empathy in college-age students is decreasing at unprecedented rates. Understanding empathy in children can act as primary prevention in tackling the problem. This study considers laugh tracks' capacity to bias reality, foster empathy, and investigate differences across time and gender in 181 fifth grade students. Findings from this…