Saturday, March 14, 2009

An Update on News Literacy

NOTE: News Literacy will be a session at NCTE 2009 in Philadelphia. We have invited teachers who are in the pilot phase of two projects to come and share their experiences. Please look for it in the conference program. Frank Baker

Stony Brook University (Long Island, NY) hosted a three-day meeting comprised of journalists, educators and funders. The dean of the school of journalism brought them all together to urge for the expansion of "news literacy" initiatives in both higher education and high schools. The event was attended by some of the
biggest names in print and broadcast journalism. Of interest to readers here is the News Literacy Summer High School Teachers Institute. It's a two-week course in July: Stony Brook pays for housing and food- you just have to fund your own travel. At the close of the three-day event, the dean announced that 10-million dollars is now being sought to hire 50 laid-off journalists who would be deployed in colleges and universities to teach news literacy there and at local schools.

Related story:
With the future of print journalism looking bleak, high-school journalists increasingly are publishing podcasts and making use of social networks as they fold online components into their curriculum. School newspapers need to follow their audience, says Patrick Stoddardt, the Web site editor of his high school's journalism lab.

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