Critical Media Project

Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical thinking and empathy, and builds on their capacities to advocate for change around questions of identity and representation. CMP has a two-fold mission:

  • to raise critical awareness and provide the tools to decode media representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic class, religion, age, and disability, and develop an understanding as to how these identities intersect
  • to encourage and offer guidance for students to tell their own stories, create their own representations, and uphold their status as active and engaged participants in civic society

At USC Annenberg, undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines have the opportunity to work on CMP. Our research group meets biweekly and focuses on a range of ongoing projects, including:

  • organizing the I Too Am Media Festival for Los Angeles high schoolers
  • expanding site content
  • developing curriculum for use in schools
  • engaging teachers in professional development workshops
  • assessing and evaluating the site’s impact in classrooms
  • teaching CMP-based curriculum in local high schools through the Annenberg undergraduate course COMM 367, “Community Engagement and Service Learning”
  • working with local youth in classrooms or other programs at USC
  • sustaining outreach via social media and in schools
  • growing free programs such as I Too Am: Teens, Media Arts, Belonging

If you have questions or would like to join the Critical Media Project, contact the Founder and Director, Professor Alison Trope at trope@usc.edu.

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