Analyzing the distinction between protectionism and empowerment as perspectives on media literacy education

Abstract

It has become a common practice to categorize the different perspectives on media education as following either a protectionist approach or an empowerment approach. However, the way scholars write about the distinction between these two approaches can be confusing and sometimes misleading. This article presents an examination into the ways media literacy scholars have characterized the two approaches by using an inductive method that organized those many ideas into nine categories. An analysis of those definitional ideas across the nine groupings reveals that the characteristics most often mentioned (power differential of media/audiences and reactive/proactive stance) were more oriented towards focusing on similarities and that other characteristics less often mentioned (role of instructor, nature of the instruction, and outcome assessment) were more useful in illuminating the differences.