The progress towards an 'information society' confronts media teaching with new challenges and also puts this discipline more squarely in the centre of ongoing discourse on media ethics, practical aspects of the media and media policy. Proceeding from a consideration of the social factors determining communication processes taking place via the media, the book attempts to situate reflection on media teaching and the activities this involves in a broader intellectual context. After a discussion of recent culture-critical debates and the bearing they have on the educational sphere, the author gives an outline of media teaching as a pedagogical discipline and the concepts central to it. The attempt is made to describe the media worlds inhabited by children and young people and the transformations they undergo in the course of accelerating social change; further, the answers provided by media pedagogy are related to the main topics dominating present-day debates in this field. Finally, the field of media teaching is summarized with reference to the important concept of 'media competence' and prospects for further development in this area are outlined. The volume represents what is probably the first attempt of its kind to situate media-pedagogic thinking in a broader interdisciplinary context, the emphasis throughout being on the way in which a systematic approach can be developed for resolving the practical problems involved.