By Serin Sarsour
As media seeps into all corners of the globe, so have conspiracy theories, mistrust in different outlets, and buzzing conversations of “fake news.” But the key to unpacking it all can be found through a growingly important skill: media literacy. At Brooklyn College, Professor Michelle Lipkin, who serves as the Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education, helps students hone their media literate lense to better understand the world around them.
“We [NAMLE] are the largest membership organization for media literacy educators and activists around the world, and so a lot of our work is about connecting and building community and networks for those interested in media literacy and those practicing media literacy,” said Lipkin.
Lipkin, who teaches in the Television, Radio, and Emerging Media department, defines media literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and use all forms of communication. She highlights that becoming more media literate is a vital skill to have as we live in a “media-saturated world” and are constantly consuming media with the use of complex technologies that have a significant part in our lives.
As a media literacy educator, Lipkin shares her knowledge of the skills that she’s developed over time. Her organization, NAMLE, offers free membership to anyone interested in developing their critical thinking of media. While at BC, she works with students directly in courses like TREM 4160: Media Literacy to strengthen their analysis of what they consume day-to-day.
“I really love when there’s this moment where people are thinking and all of a sudden their eyes light up and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, now I get what media literacy is. I get what you’re trying to teach us,’” Lipkin said, sharing what she enjoys most about her work. “Seeing my students and seeing people around me learn about media literacy and kind of wake up to the importance is really exciting. I feel very grateful for the role that I play.”
Although Lipkin has been doing adjunct lecturing at BC since 2016, she has been NAMLE’s executive director for about 11 years now. However, her interest in media literacy began far before that. After going to film school and eventually working in children’s television, Lipkin realized after sitting through many marketing and product meetings that the media being created for children was heavily impacting them, specifically with regards to consumerism. Little did she know that years later she would be a strong advocate for media literacy herself.
“We [NAMLE] run conferences, we host the U.S. Media Literacy Week that happens every year. We lead the National Media Literacy Alliance, which is an alliance of teacher organizations that are bringing media literacy training to their constituents,” said Lipkin.
NAMLE also works with social media companies to bring media literacy concepts to their platforms, and has corporate partners like YouTube, Thomson Reuters, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and others.
“Recently, we just finished a project with the National Association for State Election Directors, and to be able to play some role in how election officials think about disinformation about elections […] it’s just so empowering to be able to have a role in that conversation because it’s so important to our society and country,” Lipkin said.
When she’s not working, Lipkin likes to either cozy up and relax with a good book, or kick back and watch a TV series, film, or the latest New York Yankees game with her family. Even though she did not grow up with a lot of media surrounding her, she describes her family as a “media family” in which both of her children are in the music industry, while her husband works in radio.
Throughout Lipkin’s time within the media literacy field, she notes that the education space is very crowded and teachers are asked to do a lot with very little. Although it is important for people to understand what media literacy is, there are very few mandates in place to encourage it on curricula. As the challenge to get media literacy into more classrooms continues, Lipkin and NAMLE are on standby to aid educators with stepping into media literacy education.
“I, not surprisingly, recommend becoming a member of my organization. And, you know, reading our newsletters and following us on social media just to learn a little bit about the topic,” said Lipkin.