Bianca Smith Reporting & Writing II Lawrence, Curtis ASNE News Literacy Coverage 17 September 2014 News editors from across the country Wednesday grappled with ways to maintain credibility with news consumers while embracing the rapid growth of social media. “Everyone is their own editor and everyone can be their own producer,” said Alan C. Miller, CEO of News Literacy Project and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. “News and information tends to be provisional. The first click or feed may not be accurate and isn’t the full story.” Miller was one of the speakers of a panel discussing news literacy during the final day of the three-day American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Approximately 80 editors, reporters, teachers and students’ saw first-hand how news literacy works, using the recent coverage of the racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri as an example. Panelists tied how current media issues are verbalized online and how there is a need to universally increase news literacy within communities, schools and technology-centered media outlets. The News Literacy Project has taught over 500 lessons within the last six years aligns with Common Core state standards to produce better test scores, youth development and an appreciation for quality journalism. “These need to be teaching lessons,” said Clark Bell, journalism program director for Robert R. McCormick Foundation. “They have to have the feel and construct of all voices in the community.” Industry professionals, with funding from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and a partnership with 26 major news organizations, have better refined how to navigate the digital age critically through in-class, afterschool and online lessons. “Our job as journalists more than ever is to keep the public aware of what is really going on— being able to separate truth from fiction— and then our responsibility as citizens to be more literate,” said Julie Metzger, who teaches media at Ball State University. The News Literacy project will launch News Literacy Roundtables in 2015 that aim to raise news literacy in communities across the country. Through continued funding from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and educational, community and media partners,
communal hot topics can be discussed and solved using news literacy tools in a real time setting. “This isn’t all about eating lima beans as a child, this should be fun,” said Bell. Source List Alan C. Miller CEO, News Literacy Project 765-285-6985 Clark Bell Journalism program director of Robert R. McCormick Foundation 312-445-5007 cbell@mccormickfoundation.org Julie Metzger Interim Director Unified Student Media Instructor 765-285-6985 jmetzger@bsu.edu