The Center for Media Literacy, Los Angeles, organized a national conference on media literacy June 28 to July 1, 1998 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Media literacy education is designed to help students develop an informed and critical understanding of the mass media.

The conference focused on the role of media literacy education in fostering a set of skills, attitudes and behaviors that promote reasoning, communication skills, and positive, healthy lifestyle choices for all people, but especially for children and young adults.

Key Results

• Media Education: A Paradigm for Public Health" focused on the role of media literacy education in fostering a set of skills, attitudes, and behaviors that promote positive, healthy lifestyle choices for all people, but especially for children and young adults.
• The conference featured keynote addresses, panel discussions, and 40 workshops focused on the impact of media on health. The conference offered demonstrations of new technology, and new resources and methodologies for teaching media education. Keynote speakers included:
  • Ray Suarez, host of National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation.
  • Erica Weintraub Austin of the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University.
  • Robert Thompson of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
• More that 450 public health and prevention specialists, educators, media specialists, clergy, youth counselors, and others attended, representing 361 organizations from 31 states and six countries.

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided partial support for the conference with a grant of $50,000 between June 1998 and September 1998.