Media Literacy Now, an organization with financial backing from the Biden Administration and connections to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), claims to have successfully swayed educational legislation in 20 states, including several traditionally conservative ones.
This organization, whose staff members are proponents of Critical Race Theory, is at the center of a new report by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO), which sheds light on its activities and affiliations.
According to Breitbart, Media Literacy Now is a nonprofit with a mission to promote "media and digital literacy" training in K-12 schools. The curricula it advocates for are often crafted by entities like the SPLC, guiding students on which online sources to trust and which to dismiss.
The nonprofit's board includes the founder and CEO of Ad Fontes, a "media bias tracker" that has been criticized for disproportionately targeting conservative news outlets. The founder of Media Literacy Now has also contributed to Learning for Justice, the SPLC's media literacy arm, further cementing the organization's ties to progressive ideologies.
The organization's Pennsylvania researcher, R. Allen Berry, has penned an academic piece advocating for a media education program that merges critical race theory, news literacy, and the concept of fake news. This underscores the organization's inclination towards integrating progressive educational frameworks into media literacy initiatives.
Media Literacy Now's state leaders have not shied away from partisan rhetoric. Following the events of January 6th, Olga Polites, head of the New Jersey chapter, wrote an op-ed labeling it a "Trump-inspired insurrection" fueled by a "disinformation campaign regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 election."
She attributed the unrest to misinformation propagated by conservative media figures such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin, while singling out The Daily Caller for "traffic[king] in lies and conspiracy theories." Polites only acknowledged the National Review as a credible conservative publication.
The Biden Administration has directly supported Media Literacy Now, awarding it a $30,000 grant from the State Department to advance media literacy in Germany. The organization has also been recognized as an expert source by the CDC Foundation and the Biden Administration's "Information Literacy Taskforce."
Despite these affiliations, Media Literacy Now is making significant headway across the nation, boasting achievements in over 20 states, including conservative strongholds like Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, Florida, Utah, Nebraska, and Ohio. The organization's impact page highlights these victories, showcasing its expanding influence.
Allum Bokhari, managing director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, cautioned Republicans against being misled by media and digital literacy nonprofits that claim to be nonpartisan. "President Trump signed a day-one executive order ending censorship programs at the federal level," Bokhari stated. "In response, the people who want to control what online news sources are considered credible are targeting the states."
Bokhari further elaborated, "Whats being presented to legislators as harmless lessons to teach kids how to navigate the web safely is really just the political censorship industry trying to worm its way into schools and, in the case of Media Literacy Now, with some critical race theory thrown in as a bonus."
This perspective highlights the ongoing debate over the role of media literacy in education and its potential implications for conservative values and viewpoints.
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