News Literacy and Democracy

News Literacy and Democracy invites readers to go beyond surface-level fact checking and to examine the structures, institutions, practices, and routines that comprise news media systems.

This introductory text underscores the importance of news literacy to democratic life and advances an argument that critical contexts regarding news media structures and institutions should be central to news literacy education. Under the larger umbrella of media literacy, a critical approach to news literacy seeks to examine the mediated construction of the social world and the processes and influences that allow some news messages to spread while others get left out. Drawing on research from a range of disciplines, including media studies, political economy, and social psychology, this book aims to inform and empower the citizens who rely on news media so they may more fully participate in democratic and civic life.

The book is an essential read for undergraduate students of journalism and news literacy and will be of interest to scholars teaching and studying media literacy, political economy, media sociology, and political psychology.

Seth Ashley, PhD, is an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Boise State University. His research on media literacy, media sociology, and communication policy has been published in a range of scholarly outlets, including the Journal of Media Literacy Education; Communication Law and Policy; Journalism & Mass Communication Educator; Communication and the Public; Media, War & Conflict; and the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Ashley received his PhD and MA from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He has worked as a writer and as an editor for newspapers and magazines and as a designer and technician for film, theater, and music productions.