Media Is Us: Understanding Communication and Moving Beyond Blame
Elizaveta Friesem argues that instead of being worried about media or blaming it for what's going wrong in society, we should become curious about uniquely human ways we communicate with each other. Media Is Us proposes five key principles of communication that are relevant both for the modern media and for people's age-old ways of making sense of the world.
In order to understand problems of the contemporary society revealed and amplified by the latest technologies, we will have to ask difficult questions about ourselves, and to rethink not only the term "media" but also the concept of power. Concluding with practical steps to build media literacy through the ACE model--from Awareness to Collaboration through Empathy--this timely book is essential for anyone who would use the new understanding of media to decrease the current levels of polarization.
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Elizaveta Friesem is an interdisciplinary scholar with an international background who works on problematizing common understandings of media, including its relationship to self, meaning, and power. She is an editor of the Journal of Media Literacy Education andan affiliated faculty of the Media Education Lab.
While searching for the truth, media resembles and competes with criminal trials, especially in cases of public interest. Elizaveta Friesem's book can help diverse scholars and criminal law practitioners like myself understand the semantic aspect of mediated communication as it relates to the construction of meaning. Analyzing media without falling back on blame is the book's best suggestion.
--Gabriel Pérez Barberá, professor, University Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires and University of Córdoba; and federal prosecutor, ArgentinaWe target modern media for many of the issues of society, often blaming the contemporary communication landscape for much of humans' woes. In Media Is Us, Elizaveta Friesem expertly argues that this simplifies very complex problems. Friesem brings to light insightful connections between the meanings we make about media, the way humans communicate, and the power imbalances throughout culture. Friesem skillfully presents an excellent and essential idea in our polarized world; we must replace blame with empathy.
--Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, executive director, National Association for Media Literacy EducationYou'll understand why media literacy has been called "the new humanities" after reading Elizaveta Friesem's marvelous new book. Through a close look at the nature of human communication, the critical analysis of media, the practice of collaboration, and the power of empathy, Friesem models the kind of self-reflexive stance that is needed to make sense of our social relationships in the complex digital world we inhabit. There's so much depth and wisdom in this book--and it's presented in an accessible and engaging way that will resonate with every reader and every aspect of daily life. What a great contribution this book makes to the field!
--Renee Hobbs, Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island
