Media Literacy Framework

Media literacy encompasses critical skills for evaluating media messages. The Center for Media Literacy identifies five core questions: (1) Who created this? (2) What techniques attract attention? (3) How might different people understand this? (4) What values and viewpoints are represented or omitted? (5) Why is this message being sent? These operationalize a meta-cognitive stance treating every message as a constructed artifact with author, purpose, and perspective rather than a transparent window on reality. Stanford research found 80% of middle schoolers couldn't distinguish news from advertising—adult performance isn't much better.

When to use it

When evaluating any media message—news, advertising, social media, industry reports. When making decisions based on information from potentially biased sources. When designing communications that need to be trusted. When teaching critical thinking to teams or communities.

How it can help

Apply the five questions to every significant information input. When reading industry reports: Who funded it? What expertise does the author have? What's missing? When consuming news: Is the outlet incentivized for accuracy or engagement? Build a media diet with diverse perspectives and primary sources rather than relying on algorithmic curation. For entrepreneurs, media literacy reveals persuasion techniques for ethical marketing and the growing market for trusted information.