Susan Moeller is director of the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA) and a professor in the schools of Journalism and Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Moeller co-founded the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change in Austria. She has taught at Brandeis and Princeton, was a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a Fulbright professor in Pakistan and Thailand.

Moeller’s latest book is Packaging Terrorism: Co-opting the News for Politics and Profit. Other books include Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death. Moeller received her AM and PhD from Harvard and her BA from Yale. In 2008, she was named a Carnegie Scholar as well as a Teacher of the Year by the State of Maryland Board of Regents.

Blog Entries by Susan Moeller

Media Literacy 101: The Doritos Challenge

Posted November 9, 2009 | 01:13 AM (EST)


Today's your last chance to win a million bucks. The clock is ticking.

Don't throw your money away on a lottery ticket. Instead just write, shoot and submit a Super Bowl XLIV commercial for Doritos by midnight central time today (Monday, November 9th.)

If you make...

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Media Literacy 101: Losing Our Ability to Listen to the World (in English)

3 Comments | Posted October 30, 2009 | 06:50 PM (EST)


The online world as Americans know it is about to change. Big time.

The decision to allow Web addresses to be written completely in non-Latin alphabets, taken by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (ICANN), the international organization that oversees Internet domain names, is not just...

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Media Literacy 101: Of Mothers, Pakistan, Suicide Bombs, and Track II Diplomacy

Posted October 5, 2009 | 03:48 PM (EST)


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After sending a text message to say "I'm fine," what do you tell family, friends and colleagues back home about the place you're in that has just been struck by a suicide bomb that has made front-page news around the world?

I'm puzzled about what to say...

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Media Literacy 101: Of Toilets, UNESCO and Demand-Side News

1 Comments | Posted September 22, 2009 | 09:22 PM (EST)


PARIS - The ladies bathroom on the 13th floor of UNESCO's building in Paris has the best view of any restroom in the world. As you clean and dry your hands (the stalls are around the corner), your back is to a large picture window that looks over the rooftops...

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Media Literacy 101: Tom Stoppard and Laura, Euna and Atwar

10 Comments | Posted August 4, 2009 | 08:48 PM (EST)


"Journalists of your generation," said British playwright Tom Stoppard yesterday to a roomful of students gathered at the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change, "very often and quite rightly are considering things you'd like to change in the world -- if possible, by Tuesday. You could hardly...

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Media Literacy 101: Cloak-and-Dagger News

2 Comments | Posted June 19, 2009 | 05:00 AM (EST)


It's not just Iran. Getting news out of countries in the throes of political turmoil has always been dicey.

And getting the news out has often turned on using the most recent technology to thwart the authorities.

Recall during the Tiananmen protests in 1989 the exchanges of faxes...

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Media Literacy 101: "Allah O Akbar!" has become a cry for freedom

2 Comments | Posted June 19, 2009 | 02:02 AM (EST)


Or otherwise known as How Iran is Reframing Islam.

Last night, for the fifth straight evening, those protesting the Iranian election went to the rooftops of Tehran to shout "Allah O Akbar!" The cries of "God is great! God is great! God is great!" echoed across the city--and have been...

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Media Literacy 101: How to Detect Fear-Mongering -- Pakistani Nukes & Swine Flu

13 Comments | Posted May 4, 2009 | 06:33 AM (EST)


It's hard to know what to be more scared of these days: the Taliban gaining hold of loose nukes in Pakistan, commuting next to someone who looks a little feverish and has a persistent cough, answering a Craigslist ad posted by a med student, or losing one's job.

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Media Literacy 101: The Ethics of Photoshopping a Shirtless Obama

Posted April 21, 2009 | 01:07 PM (EST)



The web is buzzing about The Washingtonian magazine's choice to put a paparazzi photo of a buff and shirtless President Obama on the cover of its May issue.

2009-04-21-WashingtonianObamashirtless.jpg

The frenzy of comments about The Washingtonian's decision are running across the gamut, from a...

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Media Literacy 101: Of Susan Boyle, Michelle's Arms and Bo the Dog

Posted April 20, 2009 | 01:56 PM (EST)


Consider a few of the most viral stories in the US media the past several weeks: Britain's Got Talent frowsy-haired singing phenom Susan Boyle, the toned arms and zeitgeist fashion sense of Michelle Obama, and Bo, the bouncy First Puppy.

If over 19 million people on YouTube have...

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Media Literacy 101: Power to the People

Posted April 2, 2009 | 03:47 PM (EST)


with Eric Newton

The G-20 leaders are looking to save the world. What are the levers to get us out of the global financial crisis? They are not just fiscal. Reforming the US education system is critical to the long-term health of the US economy, said Obama in a policy...

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