The Media Awareness Network is a Canadian non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 based in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 that focuses on media literacy programs. In particular, the organization promotes critical thinking

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...

 via education resources and analyzes the content of various types of mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

. Surveys and studies performed by the Media Awareness Network have explored youth media consumption, such as television and internet use, as well as media issues, not unlike the Parents Television Council

Parents Television Council

The Parents Television Council is a U.S. based advocacy group founded by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995 using the National Legion of Decency as a model...

 in the United States, though Media Awareness Network has a greater emphasis on stereotypes and is more left-leaning. In addition, Media Awareness Network focuses less on censorship and more on advocacy.

The funding for The Media Awareness Network is primarily derived from private sector sponsors and Canadian Government grants. The group partnered with Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 and Bell Canada

Bell Canada

Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...

 to produce web resources for teachers and parents to protect kids online. The Media Awareness Network has received a number of awards for its work, including an award from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation

Canadian Race Relations Foundation

Canadian Race Relations Foundation is a Canadian government agency responsible to foster racial harmony and cross-cultural understanding and help to eliminate racism. The foundation was opened in November 1997, after receiving royal assent on February 1, 1991. The Foundation operates at "arms...

 and several online awards for web-based content.
Research=
One of the large studies undertaken by the Media Awareness Network is Young Canadians in a Wired World, a research study to investigate and track and the "behaviours, attitudes, and opinions" of Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 use in Canadian children and youth. Results from this study, which indicate high levels of personal information collection by websites popular with children, have been cited to argue that parental supervision of child internet use alone "cannot adequately protect children" that have the highest levels of social internet use.
See also

• Parents Television Council
  Parents Television Council
  The Parents Television Council is a U.S. based advocacy group founded by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995 using the National Legion of Decency as a model...
  
  , a rough equivalent to Media Awareness Network in the United States

External links

• Media Awareness Network website