I was pleased to be
among those participating in "Rebooting The News," a three day event at
Temple
University in Philadelphia. (read School Library Journal's
preview) Attendees came from journalism,
news, education and activism, just to name a few. Among the
highlights (to me) was hearing
details of the newly developed News Literacy college course at Stony
Brook University, New York.
The developer of that course,
Howard Schneider,
spoke at the event on Friday morning, and according
to what I saw/heard, what
his students are going
through is rigorous. This is not about journalism education,
but rather education for all. Working groups
had lengthy discussions about what this might look like in
American schools and
why all of this is critical.
Details are available at the event's
wiki.
Another related initiative,
dubbed The News Literacy Project, aimed at middle and high school students,
is the brainchild of former
Los Angeles Times reporter Alan Miller, and has just gotten started: details
here.
TNLP has posted its promotional video on YouTube and you can watch it
here.
As part of the continuing project to spread the word about "news literacy" and
its importance in K-12 education,
I have volunteered to assist the RTN project's co-directors, Renee Hobbs (Temple
University) and Bill Densmore
(University of Massachusetts), correlate the program's goals and objectives to
current K-12 teaching standards.
In addition, I will use this space to provide links to news stories, previous research
and surveys regarding young people,
civic engagement and news.
Frank Baker, (Media
Literacy Clearinghouse) October 26, 2008
NOTE: Read the
Connected Classroom Wiki blog post about this project; or
Inkworthy's
post
NOTE: In March 2009, Stony Brook hosted a three day news literacy conference and
has created this website. In
2011,
it held a follow-up conference: read more about it
here.
What is news literacy?
A definition offered by
Howard Schneider (Dean of Journalism, Stony Brook University):
“the ability to
use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news
reports, whether they come
via print, TV, on the Internet” (we don’t use the word truth) “reliable information
is actionable information-- it allows news
consumers to make a judgment, reach a conclusion, or take an action”
Rebooting The News
conference participants' definition:
"News surrounds us and as such news literacy is an essential life skill for
everyone. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson:
Knowledge of current issues is essential to informed citizenship in a democracy.
We are concerned about the effects
of media messages on children and others. Modern participatory culture makes
every citizen a potential creator of
news in social media, blogs, email and the web. We believe a literate citizen
understands the purposes, processes
and economics of news. Therefore, it is time for American education to include
the acquisition of 21st-century,
critical-thinking skills for analyzing and judging the reliability of news,
differentiating among facts, opinions and assertions
in the media we create and distribute. News literacy standards can be research
based in multiple content areas.
It can be taught most effectively in cross-curricular, inquiry-based format
at all grade levels. It is a necessary
component for literacy in contemporary society. "
News Literacy & Media Literacy: What's the difference?
Not much really. If you take the time to read NAMLE's media literacy
core principles and critical
thinking questions,
you might agree that news literacy does not have to be invented: much of the
work exists already.
K-12 Teaching Standards
When we think about the news and how young people are exposed to and think
about news, a number of topics
arise, all of which can be used as teachable moments for educators. News comes in
all forms (TV, newspapers,
magazines, Internet, cable TV and more). How do students use "critical thinking
skills" (if at all) when they are
exposed to news/information? Why do they seemingly believe everything they, see, read
and hear? What are the pressures
on news organizations today; how is news made and who makes it; what is the
function of a gatekeeper of news;
how is news received and understood? Why do Comedy Central and cell phones get
more attention than traditional
news sources? Who sets the news agenda; and who owns the media and why does it
matter?
All of these topics are perfect opportunities for educators to meet state
standards requirements- for example:
- critical thinking; critical viewing
- media codes & conventions;
- distinguishing fact vs. fiction;
- understanding techniques of persuasion;
- word choice;
- point-of-view (perspective); author bias;
- understanding informational texts and
text features;
-
information/media/visual literacy;
- economics and more.
See the
many
references to news in the NCSS Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
Update-Draft (2008)
|
|
- ELA:
Information, Media and Technology Skills
(page 1)
- Socal Studies:
(Media
Literacy: 12th Grade page 10)
"identify and analyze different ways that electronic news sources define
and present an issue and raise significant questions about how the
different points of view in the news source might affect how
people define and act upon the issue" |
Read what the National Council of Teachers of English/International Reading
Assn. say about
media and media techniques
Recent news:
News-literacy lessons teach students how to find fact amid fiction
(April
2013)
News literacy aims to
teach teens to sort fact from fiction
How to be a skeptical news consumer,
Skeptic
(Summer 2012)
How to get smart: News literacy programs train readers to
look beyond infotainment (July 2012)
News Literacy Expands to DC
Copps Calls for News Literacy Push
2011 News Literacy Conference Website
Game-based Civics and News Literacy Curriculum
Expanded
Understanding News Literacy: A Youth Media Perspective
Fuzzy Logic: Why Students Need News and
Information Literacy Skills
Can a Democracy Survive without Reliable Information?
News Literacy: A News Lens for Youth Media
News
Literacy: How to teach students to search smart
Want Better Journalism: Boost News Literacy
A Program Teaches Teens What to Believe in the Digital
World
The News Literacy Project: Bringing Accountability Into
the Classroom
McCormick Foundation grants $5
million to news literacy
McCormick Foundation Invests More
Than $5 Million to Promote News Literacy
News Literacy Project Unveils New Video
Former Idaho Falls editor Miller joins Stony Brook
U.
Study reveals teens don’t like dumbed-down news
The News: What's True?
Standards of news literacy: "What's at stake here, isn't
the newspaper-it's the nation". (syllabus)
Leap of Faith: inside the movement to build an
audience of citizens (CJR, July/Aug 09)
Crap Detection 101
Media Literacy:
What is News?
It's important to teach kids how to navigate the information highway
News You Can Use: media literacy initiative aims to connect students/journalists
'News literacy critical to democracy'
Journalism Giants Push For News Literacy
News Literacy in the Digital Age
Preparing for The New Media Literacies (Multimedia & Internet @ Schools)
Poynter Receives $125,000 Grant for Sense-Making
Project
Proposal unveiled to hire 50
laid-off journalists to teach "news literacy"
LSU Creates First 'News Literacy'
Endowed Chair
March 11-13 Stony Brook Hosts
News Literacy: Setting A National Agenda;
Highlights;
photos
TV news outlets seeking out youthful eyes and ears
WPIX gives cameras to students, tells them to
submit stories
What Young People Don’t Like About the Web—And
News On It
Apply for Stony Brook Univ. Summer News Literacy HS Teacher Institute
New Program Teaches Students to Evaluate News
The News Literacy Project Kicks Off in NYC (Feb
2009)
Enhancing
News Literacy (School Library Journal, Jan. 2009)
Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Source
(Pew Study, Dec. 2008)
What makes news?
Online news
more trusted than television, blogs
A Scenario
for news (blog post)
Overload: too much
information? (Nov/Dec 08 Columbia Journalism Review)
VCR/TIVO/DVR Alert: The IFC Media
Project (Premieres Nov. 18)
The Future of Journalism (National Press Club Forum)
Where Do The Youth Get Their News?
(November 2008)
Are Media Students Ignorant and cynical about Free Press ?
(November 2008)
Iowa State U Study
Finds New Media Not Replacing Traditional Media; Newspapers, Magazines,
Radio, TV See Slight Increase In Use
News Blues (Vanity Fair)
The rumor mill that won't stop running
(October 2008)
NewsTrust.net Helps Americans Separate Fact from Fiction
(October
2008)
Encouraging Kids to Dig Deeper in the Digital Age
(October 2008)
The Responsibilities of Citizenship: A Bundle of
Literacies
(October 2008)
Link TV:
News literacy tools available/Link
TV Lets Students Edit TV News Online
knowthenews.tv: A Media Literacy Teaching Tool
Turning
Pages: High School Journalism in Transition
Journalism And That Whole ‘Citizenship’ Thing
(Sept. 2008)
The News Literacy
Project Launches Website and Plans Pilot (Sept.
2008)
Key News Audiences Now Blend Online and Traditional Sources
Pew Study (August 2008)
Global
News Literacy
(CSpan Video, May 2008)
Newspapers Have Lost Their Future To Internet Media (March 2008)
Supply and
Demand: Journalism Must Invest In Educated Consumers (Jan/Feb 2008)
State of the News Media-
2008
Stony Brook University Announces Nation’s First Center For News Literacy
(Sept. 2007)
Teaching Journalism In The Digital Age:
Nieman Reports
(Fall 2007)
Young People and News (July 2007)
Telling
Bogus From True: A Class in Reading News (May 2007)
Mandatory Testing and News in the Schools.(January 2007)
Kids get news from weird places. Not. (August 2006)
Survey: Slowing growth of online
news users (July 2006)
What's News? (Educational Leadership, 2005)
NCTE Resolution on
Teaching of Journalism In English (2004)
Reading Between The Lines
(American Journalism Review, March 2003)
Media Use Among Young People (2003)
News Literacy Classes Graduate Media-Savvy Students
(2000)
Teaching resources:
NEW:
Check Out The News (LAMP)
NAA Foundations
HIGH FIVE curriculum
Newstrust's News Literacy Guide
links to middle-high school news lesson plans
Lesson Plan
Voter Fraud: Spot
the Point Of View
Lesson Plans
Global Media Literacy: A New Curriculum (registration required)
Curriculum/lesson plans:
Media Moments (media
literacy & news curriculum)
Newseum:
Lesson Plans/
Learning Center/Test
Your News IQ
Research:
Lifelong Readers: Driving Civic Engagement
What is News ?
(YouTube)
Teens Blog
The News (ppt)
Decoding Visual News Content
News War (PBS 4 part series)
teacher guide
Newspapers In The
Classroom (NCTE recommended resources)
Using Newspapers in the Classroom
Using The
Newspaper In Your Classroom (USA Today)
Using the Newspaper to Teach Curriculum Standards for the Social Studies (NIE)
Journalism Kids Still Do Better
(Updated research)
A Teacher's Guide to Using
Newspapers to Enhance Language Arts Skills
Is Seeing Believing? (Visual literacy: Media Literacy Clearinghouse)
News/Journalism
teaching resources (Media Literacy Clearinghouse)
Social
studies/media literacy resources (Media Literacy Clearinghouse)
Big Media/Media Ownership
(Media Literacy Clearinghouse)
Teaching
The News/Current Events (Education World)
How to Use Newspapers to Promote Standards
News bias explored: the art of reading the news
Recommended Texts:
The Future of the First Amendment: The Digital Media, Civic Education, and Free
Expression Rights in America's High Schools
Young Citizens In A Digital Age: Political Engagement, Young People and New
Media
Applying NCTE/IRA
Standards In Classroom Journalism Projects Activities & Scenarios
How to Watch TV News (revised edition)
Using Newspapers in The Classroom
Tuned Out: Why
Americans Under 40 Don’t Follow the News
A
History of News
The Sociology of
News/ The Power of
News |
