During Media Literacy Week (October 21-25), there will be a call-to-action campaign to promote media literacy legislation in Congress.
The Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act (S.2240) was introduced in July by Senator Amy Klobuchar. This act would provide $20 million in federal grants to help schools develop digital citizenship and media literacy education in grades K-12. To find out more about the bill, you can check out this news release or check out the bill itself here.
This call to action is for any educator, student, parent, or supporter of media literacy education who believes it’s time for action at the federal level. While some states have had success in developing state-level policy, many states need more funding to create curriculum, develop evaluation methods, and train teachers. This bill would help. It’s more important than ever to incorporate media literacy into our schools. Below are ways you can get involved in promoting this call-to-action:
- Call, email, or tweet your representative and senators in Congress and ask what they are doing about making sure students are learning media literacy in social studies and or civics to counter the widespread misinformation problem.
- Call, email, or tweet your representative and senators and ask what they are doing about making sure students are learning media literacy to understand safe, ethical use of social media.
- Call, email, or tweet your representative and senators and ask them to support S.2240
Email Script
Subject Line: Media Literacy Education
Dear Senator/Representative (Name),
My name is ( ) and I am your constituent.
Children today are overwhelmed by media messages and need up-to-date literacy skills to understand and participate in a global media environment. I believe comprehensive media literacy education in our schools is the most effective way to help our kids by teaching them essential life skills to analyze, evaluate and responsibly use the media that surrounds them on a daily basis.
The Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act, S2240, would provide $20 million in federal grants to help schools develop digital citizenship and media literacy education in grades K-12.
Will you support this legislation to improve our children’s education? If not, why not?
Appreciatively,
(Your name)
(your address)
Call Script
My name is (your name) and I am your constituent (give your address if you are a constituent) and I’m concerned about the lack of media literacy education in the United States today.
I’d like to speak with you about how children today are overwhelmed by media messages and need up-to-date literacy skills to participate in a global media environment. I believe comprehensive media literacy education in our schools is the most effective way to help our kids by teaching them essential life skills to analyze, evaluate and responsibly use the media that surrounds them on a daily basis.
The Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act, S2240, would provide $20 million in federal grants to help schools develop digital citizenship and media literacy education in grades K-12.
Will you support this legislation to improve our children’s education? If not, why not?
Thank you for your time.
Example Tweets
Media literacy education for our students is important now more than ever! Tell your senators and representatives to pass #S2240 the Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act! #medialiteracy #digitalcitizenship #education #medialitwk #PassS2240 @MediaLitNow @MediaLiteracyEd
[Insert your senators’ and/or representative’s Twitter handles] Please support @senamyklobuchar’s #S2240 the Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act! Media literacy education for our students is important now more than ever! #medialiteracy #digitalcitizenship #education #medialitwk #PassS2240
- New York: @SenSchumer @SenGillibrand Please support @SenAmyKlobuchar’s #S2240 the Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act! Media literacy education for our students is important now more than ever! #medialiteracy #digitalcitizenship #education #medialitwk #PassS2240
Call members of Congress & ask them to support #MediaLiteracy with #S2240 the Digital Citizenship & Media Literacy Act. Finally, communities will have the resources they need to bring these fundamental competencies to American students @MediaLitNow. @reneehobbs
The #DigitalCitizenship & #MediaLiteracy Act, now under consideration in both the House & Senate, will allocate $20 million annually 2 school districts who want to help use instructional practices 2 help students critically analyze disinformation & propaganda. #PassS2240 #edchat (@reneehobbs)
To find your U.S. Representatives and Senators and their contact information, click here to go to govtrack.us.
