Local Journalism and the Citizens’ Agenda

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist

There are a plethora of resources for #CivicsInTheMIddle classrooms to teach about the upcoming presidential election. However, when it comes to local and state races, curating information for students to analyze can be more of a challenge. This is ironic because many of the issues young people and their communities at large care about are decided closer to home and not in the White House (see image below).

IllinoisCivics.org hosted reporters from WBEZ in Chicago to explore the role of local journalism in preparing voters for #Election2020. Political editor Alex Keefe, state politics reporter Dave McKinney, and investigative reporter Dan Mihalopoulos provided unique insights to educators on:

• What races and issues WBEZ is covering this election cycle, and why
• “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
• WBEZ’s Citizens’ Agenda & audience engagement journalism

If you missed the webinar, you can access a recording to view and share with your students to understand how journalists prioritize what races to watch, what journalists talk about when they discuss “fake news,” and WBEZ’s Citizens’ Agenda that engages community voices to discern what issues to cover in the 2020 election and beyond. WBEZ also published an Elections 2020 page that includes:

• Featured Stories for Elections 2020 and Citizen’s Agenda
• Field Guides and Explainers
• Latest Election Updates from WBEZ and NPR
• Voter Resources
• Live results on election night and beyond

We asked one of our Civics Instructional Coaches, Heather Monson, from East Moline to share resources she uses to engage students with local journalism and politics during the election season. Here are her suggestions featured in our Election 2020 Toolkit:

• Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Projects from the Library of Congress provide young people with engaging and meaningful opportunities to learn about Congress and civic participation using primary sources from the Library’s online collections.
• Who Are My Representatives? from Teacher Vision equips students with the necessary tools to craft a letter or email to their local, state, and federal officials.
• Environment Illinois is a great resource for students who are interested in environmental issues.
• Why do American Newspapers Endorse Candidates? from VOA enables students to choose regions within the state and then do online research to see which candidate the local newspaper is endorsing. Students can create a map of the state and shade in the party that the paper is endorsing in the election.
• It’s time for newspapers to stop endorsing presidential candidates is an editorial from The Hill that is ready to be used for a current and societal issue discussion around issues of bias and journalism.
• iCivics.org has some great resources for teaching about local and state government. They have lesson plans, games, and great resources by grade level. To prepare for local elections, check out The Capable County game, Who Represents Me Webquest, and The County Solution Action Plan.

What are you doing to engage your students in local journalism to prepare for the 2020 elections and beyond? Please comment below. Together, we can prepare ALL students for college, career, and civic life in traditions, hybrid and remote classrooms.