In today's culture, some of the most commonly shared experiences involve the mass media. The media--film, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, advertising, and software industries--have become primary avenues through which most come to know about the world, both near and far. They help frame the world, elevating certain issues, and the ways in which to engage issues to the forefront, while designating others to the margins. As such, media texts act as social texts; they construct social reality and invite people to experience that reality from preferred social positions. In this article, the authors argue that exploring the media in this manner should be the focus of analysis when media texts are used in the social studies classroom. They discuss the use of newspapers in the social studies classroom as a means to engage in teaching through the newspaper rather than teaching about it. The authors explore how to teach about the newspaper and then how to use that knowledge to learn from it. They argue that using newspapers as an environment for learning rather than as unquestioned tools in learning allows students to question structures that produce and authorize knowledge, as they debate institutionalized meanings, accept or reject them, and begin to make their own. Developing these skills might encourage students to evaluate news stories rather than simply accept the information provided, which is an important step toward creating the type of citizen that participates knowingly in determining its future.