Conceptualizing News Literacy

Abstract

The nascent field of news literacy is often described as a subset of media literacy. A review of international scholarship with regard to news literacy conceptualizations confirms that there are diverse and competing notions of its definition and purpose: while the civic component of news literacy clearly distinguishes it from media literacy and other new literacies, there is a noticeable divide between journalism-driven and media literacy-derived approaches. Qualitative data analysis was used to identify patterns in a subset of approximately 120 examples of current English-language international scholarship. By proposing three preliminary taxonomic classifications of news literacy – protectionist versus empowerment; skills versus knowledge; and levels of abstraction – this conceptual paper provides orientation in the field.