ABSTRACT
This chapter will use the results of the international survey of 64 media educators, media critics, and researchers in the field of media education and media culture from 18 countries. Overall analysis of the data shows that the international expert community overall shares the view that the synthesis of media education and media criticism is not only possible, but also necessary, especially in terms of the development of critical thinking and happiness of the audience. However, only 9.4 percent of the experts generally believe that media critics’ texts are used in media literacy education classes in their countries to a large extent. Approximately one-third (34.4 percent of the polled experts) believe that this is happening at the moderate level, and about the same (32.8 percent of the vote) believe that this is happening to a small extent. Consequently, media education and media criticism have a lot to work on to make their synthesis effective in the modern world as a tool to promote personal and collective happiness.
Concerning on these data about the importance of media literacy in audience, we were working in Central America in several media and audiovisual literacy projects. The research aims to present the results of a case study on the MLSC project (Media Literacy for Social Change) applied in some of the poorest communities in Nicaraguan, Honduras, and El Salvador. Study results show how young people improve their employability, getting jobs commensurate with their training, and driving social change in their communities thanks to training on media literacy and media criticism proficiency. This case study focuses on collecting the voices of both participants and related institutions. The results obtained confirm that this case study promote a significant increase the perception of happiness on the part of the participants, and observes also the main bases of building a model of media literacy—media education, focused on social change to promote empowerment and employability in poor communities.
