Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines the potential of critical media literacy as democratic media activism in the age of information. Based on critical pedagogy of culture and cultural politics of the media, critical media literacy can empower individuals to critically inquire into the contents of mass media. Critical media literacy can also help individuals to participate in media production thanks to technological advancement of mass media. Not only through negotiated/ opposite reading of mass media representation but also through hand-on production of alternative media representation, individuals can practice counterhegemonic cultural politics in the public sphere of multimedia society. Considering ‘freedom of speech’ as cornerstone of democracy, critical media literacy can serve to revitalize the essence of democracy that has been being suffocated by corporation media and consumerism.