Out of the three central spheres in which media literacy is regulated, implemented and practiced – politics, civil society and the market – the market has been less studied. This paper starts from the observation that in environments beyond the formal institutions such as at the market and in civil society, many of agents practicing media education are not aware of or do not connect their activities to the umbrella term media education or literacy.
In particular, this is typically the case of journalists. Journalists who do not tend to regard themselves as media educators but are more likely to see media education and literacy activities as part of the overall journalistic mission they are conducting in the public interest and for common good. Studies examining the journalistic identity and professional values show that journalists tend to avoid being understood as 'pedagogical' agents; at the same time, the attitude to educate the masses that used to be prevalent in the Nordic countries ('folkbildning') is increasingly being experienced as patronizing. However, during the latest decades of media literacy and media education, journalistic organisations have in fact to a high extent been involved in putting media education into practice – for example, by participating in theme weeks and national school campaigns as well as opening up newsrooms for school class visits and pupils' training.
The paper presents case studies of recent media education initiatives run by journalistic agents in Finland and Sweden, seeking to conceptualize the notion of media literacy applied within journalism. The initiatives taken under scrutiny include fact-checking projects, educational school tourneys, training newsrooms and theme weeks. We will systematically go through the initiatives to capture their understanding of media literacy and build up a framework for understanding journalistic media education. This framework is intended to advance our understandings on how journalists count as media educators and, thus, pedagogical agents. At the same time, it will provide us with insights into why journalists tend to avoid being classified as educators. Based on the analysis of our cases, we will conclude that journalistic media education is an important part of the media literacy landscape and should be further studied with regard to its pedagogical potential.
Keywords: journalism, journalistic media education, journalistic media literacy, non-formal media education