"Everyone needs media literacy skills with which they can thoughtfully and safely navigate the millions of media messages coming to us every day, especially the many mixed messages about health topics."

Lynda Bergsma, PhD

Lynda Bergsma, an assistant professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) has a BHSC in nutrition, a Masters Degree in health education and a PhD in higher education and sociology from the University of Arizona.

In 2008 Dr. Bergsma received a National Association for Media Literacy Education Appreciation Award, and in 2006 she received the the Andrew W. Nichols Award for distinguished rural and border health service from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health.

Projects in Media Literacy

She had utilized social marketing, but always found it to be lacking in some vital way – it just didn’t go far enough. 

The SAM tobacco prevention curriculum taught media literacy and production skills to over 200 middle-school students in rural and urban Arizona, including Navajo and Hopi youth.  While these tribal groups are traditionally at odds, during this project the students created the only counter-tobacco, video PSA ever produced using a combination of Navajo, Hopi and English languages. It won a National Foundation for Alcoholism and Addiction Communications 1994 MARKIE Award.

In 1995, Dr. Bergsma received an invitation to the Media Literacy and Prevention Meeting (1995) conducted by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and CSAP.  There she met media literacy pioneers, including a few who were exploring its efficacy for health promotion, and found a collegial home for her passion and life-work in health promoting media literacy education.    

In 1996-1998, Dr. Bergsma directed a Media Wise Training and Technical Assistance Project, which taught over 100 teachers from 25 elementary and middle schools in Tucson how to use media literacy in tobacco-use prevention.  The project developed numerous lessons plans for use in language arts, science, social studies, math, and health.

In 1999-2001, Dr. Bergsma's Blowing Smoke Project developed a curriculum to expose and oppose the increased use of tobacco in movies. This project was designed by youth for youth.  Evaluation of the data collected demonstrated statistically significant outcomes; see the project's web page to read the research report. Workshops were conducted on how to use the curriculum for over 400 teachers and prevention specialists in Arizona and across the U.S., many of whom are still using it under a contract from the Arizona Department of Health Services Tobacco Education and Prevention Program (TEPP).

While other studies besides Dr. Bergsma's have evaluated the effectiveness of promoting health in media literacy education for youth, none had included an intervention for family units. The Media Wise Families Project (2005-2007) was designed to study the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding media use and to promote those that emphasized good health.  Media messages about substance use and abuse were also addressed.  Statistically significant results from the 18-month study clearly demonstrate that health-promoting media literacy education can increase skills of family members to reduce the influence of unhealthy media messages. 

Writing, Speaking, and Consulting

To spread the word about the need for and effectiveness of health promoting media literacy education, Dr. Bergsma has written extensively, including a chapter entitled "Media Literacy and Prevention: Going Beyond 'Just Say No'" for Cable in the Classroom’s Thinking Critically About Media:  Schools and Families in Partnership.  Her works have inspired several students to pursue graduate studies in health promotion and media literacy.

Dr. Bergsma has served as a consultant for numerous U.S. and international groups including the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the Council of Europe, the ONDCP’s Media Literacy Summit, the American Medical Association, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Rutgers University meeting on “Setting Research Directions for Media and Health Education” ─  to name only a few.

Leadership

 Dr. Bergsma has provided strategic and visionary leadership to the field of media literacy education through working to develop national conferences and a grassroots membership organization and teaching and mentoring graduate students. Highlights include:

• National Media Education Conference program chair, 1999 and co-chair 2001 ─ Partnership for Media Education (PME)
• Founding Member, First Vice President 2001-2004, President 2004-2008, and Immediate Past President 2008 ─ Alliance for a Media Literate America (now the National Association for Media Literacy Education)
• Graduate student mentor ─ to Mary Carney, winner of CIC’s first Media Smart Research Award for paper on “Using Media Literacy Education for Health Promotion”

Cable In The Classroom

“For 20 years, Cable in the Classroom has encouraged educators to use technology as a tool for learning, allowing students to grow and develop as responsible and productive citizens, prepared to compete and thrive in the global economy,” said Frank Gallagher, director of education and media literacy at Cable in the Classroom. “This year’s Cable’s Leaders in Learning Award winners have implemented creative and technology-rich programs that we are proud to recognize and honor.”

Cable in the Classroom, the cable industry’s education foundation, works to expand and enhance learning for children and youth. Created in 1989 to help schools take advantage of educational cable programming and technology, CIC has become a leading national advocate for media literacy education and for the use of technology and media for learning, as well as a valuable resource of educational cable content and services for policymakers, educators and industry leaders. For more information about Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards, please visit www.ciconline.org or www.leadersinlearningawards.org.

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