Media Literacy Week Highlights Importance of Healthy News Diets

by Shawn P. Healy, PhD, Democracy Program Director

A modern definition of informed and engaged citizenship includes media and news literacy. I write today in honor of Media Literacy Week, sponsored by our partners at the National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). NAMLE hosted its conference in Chicago last summer, and the McCormick Foundation is proud to support and collaborate with a number of its members, including the News Literacy Project and the Center for News Literacy.

Like civic learning, media literacy must live across the curriculum. When I began my teaching career two decades ago, the daily newspaper served as my textbook. Media diets have since evolved, but the currency of news for democratic discourse and participation has only appreciated. While our students are indeed digital natives and often more adept than us with their devices, it is wrong to asssume that they possess the skills and dispositions to be media literate.

Media literacy is fostered by inculcating daily news habits. In the company of many of you, I mourn the pending extinction of print newspapers delivered to my doorstep, but we must not allow this technological transition to stand as the death knell for news consumption more broadly. The reality is that the digital revolution has placed more news and information at our finger tips than ever before, some of it very high quality, and our role as educators is to develop the news attentiveness of our students as they navigate emerging information flows.

Identifying reputable sources for news is a gateway skill. Encourage students to follow both news outlets and individual reporters on Facebook and Twitter, sign up for daily news digests like Politco’s Illinois Playbook or the Chicago Tribune’s Morning Spin, and subscribe to podcasts like NPR’s “1A” or CNN’s “The Axe Files.”


The modern era has also lowered the barriers of entry to journalism. One no longer needs to own a printing press to produce media and journalism. School-based publications are age-old incubators of media literacy regardless of whether student journalists later parlay these experiences into a paycheck. And Chicago has a healthy local youth media ecosystem of its own, working both within and outside of schools to amplify youth voice and teach transferable media literacy skills.

But teachers themselves can integrate news production into civics classrooms as students examine public issues. Encourage students to start their own blog, use an existing or invent a new hash tag, or submit traditional letters to the editor or opinion-editorial pieces. Because of virtually infinite digital capacity, the former often run online with greater frequency nowadays than the space-starved print editions permitted.

I’ve avoided the topic of “fake news” thus far and promise to tackle it in future posts, but buried the proverbial lead because I contend that the phenomenon is a second-level problem. First, we must build healthy news habits and diets. Then, and only then, do we have the luxury of teaching students (and adults) how to better discern good from bad. Indeed, “fake news” is often used as a moniker to disparage news coverage of facts that conflict with our personal political beliefs. My hope is that Media Literacy Week, alongside daily integration of these practices into our classrooms, will help to rebuild trust in and consumption of the high-quality journalism that is arguably more abundant than ever before. If successful, we will better inoculate ourselves and our students against the competing misinformation campaigns that are truly fake.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's Talk About the "Required" Constitution Test

Image
by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor As I have traveled around the state of Illinois to support implementation of the high school civics requirement and pending middle school civics legislation , one of the biggest concerns I have heard is, “How will we have time to prepare students for the required Constitution test? I will never have time to cover all 200 questions on the test if I have to make time for student-centered inquiry, discussions, simulations, and service learning!” The Illinois State Board of Education states: American patriotism and the principles of representative government, as enunciated in the American Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the proper use and display of the American flag, shall be taught in all public schools and other educational institutions supported or maintained in whole or in part by public funds. No student shall receive a certificate...
Read more

Resources to Respond to Tragedy and Violence

Image
by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist All educators are civics teachers. Teachers send messages to students about power, justice, and representation by the content we select, the way we engage student voice, the norms we employ, and the stories included in our classroom. We have a responsibility to prioritize our students’ lived experiences, putting Maslow before Bloom , to inform the essential questions we address in our curriculum. When violence or tragedy occurs, classrooms provide a safe venue for students to process, ask questions and be given context to understand current events as they happen. While current events unfold, it is not the time to debate policy. Educators will not have all of the answers to the questions students pose. Teachers can create a classroom space where we can be present, listen, and create a safe environment for our students to do the same. Start with Reflection Your students may be wrestling with a range of emotions. We cannot assum...
Read more

Where Do We Go from Here? Resources to Help Classrooms Process the 2020 Election

Image
by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist While the 2020 election season draws to a close, IllinoisCivics.org is committed to helping classrooms prepare for what comes next after a contentious and polarized election season. Students will need help processing the election results and their impact on current and societal issues their communities face around justice, power, equity, and safety. As all educators are civics teachers, we have a responsibility to prioritize our students’ lived experiences, putting Maslow before Bloom , to inform the essential questions we address in our curriculum. Educators will not have all of the answers to the questions students pose, but we can create a classroom space where we can be present, listen, and create a safe environment for our students to do the same. Here are a number of ideas and resources to support this work beyond the 2020 election. Start with Reflection Your students may be wrestling with a range of emotions post-electio...
Read more