Digital inclusion and exclusion in media education

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the relationship between media education and digital democracy by focusing on the current processes of digital inclusion and exclusion. It is undeniable that social inequalities reproduce themselves as digital inequalities. An in-depth analysis of the digital divide, as well as media literacy in general, requires a discussion of the structural matrix of the digital economy. Digital inclusion is a political problem of social justice that involves bridging the gap between active and passive actors in the information society, between the leaders of technological change and its passive recipients. In a global perspective, this means bridging the gap between developed and developing countries. Legislators should propose a democratically advanced definition of the rights associated with digital inclusion, as an indispensable prerequisite for the correct definition of media education as a democratic educational tool in modern society.