CommGAP organized a brown-bag talk with Susan Moeller, Director of the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda at University of Maryland, on November 10, 2008. In this first session of the CommGAP Ideas Series*, Susan Moeller discussed linkages between media literacy and good governance, and provided suggestions for incorporating media literacy elements into the governance agenda.

Although media literacy is a relatively new field within the wider governance agenda, it is rapidly gaining popularity among policymakers and field-based practitioners. Media literacy, broadly defined, encompasses citizen familiarity with different forms of media, understanding of the media's broader role in society, and the ability to critically analyze various forms of media. It is hypothesized that higher media literacy among a population might encourage greater citizen participation and deepen the quality of governance in a country, but few studies have been undertaken to demonstrate these links.

Susan Moeller is the director of the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is an associate professor of media and international affairs in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and an affiliated faculty member at the School of Public Policy. Prior to coming to Maryland, Moeller was a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Kennedy School.  Moeller has also taught at Brandeis and Princeton, and was a Fulbright professor in Pakistan and Thailand. Moeller has a book Packaging Terrorism: Co-opting the News for Politics and Profit forthcoming in November 2008, and is the author of several other books, including Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death.

*The CommGAP Ideas Series showcases new and groundbreaking research and programs that explore issues related to the public sphere – that space where free and equal citizens discuss, debate, and share information about public affairs in order to influence the policies that affect the quality of their lives. Existing at the cross-roads of media, civil society, public opinion, and state institutions, the public sphere forms an essential element of good governance and accountability.