My name is Jay Smooth and as you may have guessed from the title of this video, over the next 12 weeks I am going to teach you about Media Literacy.

First, allow me to introduce myself:

I'm the host of New York's longest running hip-hop radio show the Underground Railroad, a media commentator on TV, radio and interwebs,

and I'm best known nowadays for my video blog Ill doctrine, where I dissect the latest news and yell at people about being nicer to each other.

So what exactly is media literacy?

We're gonna talk more about this in our first episode, next week, but here in the preview I'll at least tease that definition.

For our purposes, in this course, media literacy is “the ability to Access, Analyze, Evaluate, Create and Act using all forms of communication.”

We'll break down what that means throughout this series, but for now I just want to drive home the fact that media is all around you.

And living in a saturated media environment, it's important to understand how to digest all of that content.

Like, how do I know if a piece of media is trying to manipulate me?

Spoiler Alert: It probably is.

Or, how can I be sure that a piece of news is fact based?

Don't worry, we've got some tips and tricks for you.

We're going to explore the breadth of media that surrounds you in your daily life.

We're going to look at why it's created and what its goals are.

We're gonna look at everything from popular movies to propaganda to your date night text messages.

Media literacy skills are about everything from navigating popular culture, to being a better citizen, and even being a better communicator in your everyday life.

Which may or may not include yelling at people to be nicer to each other.

There's a lot to cover and I can't wait to get started.

I'm Jay Smooth and I hope you'll join me on this journey with Crash Course Media Literacy.