NEW YORK—CNN’s Soledad O’Brien announced the kick-off of the News Literacy Project at the Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School (WCCS) in Brooklyn on Monday. The program promises to help teach high-school students how to discern fact from fiction on the web.
“Part of the job is to be a truthful witness to the things you see around you,” said O'Brien. She said she seeks “to tell the stories to the best of my ability as fairly as possible.”
The Internet is a valuable and convenient source of information for many people. World and local news has never been more accessible but readers must be careful that the source of news is trustworthy. Many news bloggers and Web sites contain unfiltered messages, opinion, advertising, and propaganda that can easily be mistaken for honest news.
Certain tools are necessary to be able to find sources of verifiable news on the internet and now the students of WCCS have a chance to receive valuable training in that area.
The New York Times, ABC News, USA Today and the CBS News program “60 Minutes” are participating in a new program tailored to educate high school students in this art. More than 75 well-known journalists, some of whom have won the most prestigious awards in the industry, have volunteered to take part in the program.
The journalists will discuss things like why news should matter to young people and what the First Amendment and free media mean in a democracy. The curriculum also addresses such new media tools as Google, blogs and Wikipedia. Students are learning how to discern among media messages and how to produce accurate information themselves—whether they’re texting, blogging, or telling stories.
“This program will systematically address a significant gap in the educational community and is being conceived in a way that is both smart and strategic,’’ said Diana Mitsu Klos, senior project director for the American Society of Newspaper Editors in a press release. “Many baby boomers are in career transition. The news industry is in turmoil. This work has the strong potential to strengthen the ranks of the next generation of Americans who can recognize and demand quality journalism.”
Four major national journalism organizations have endorsed the News Literacy Project: the American Society of Newspaper Editors; the National Association of Black Journalists; the Asian American Journalists Association, and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School enrolls about 250 students who are accepted by lottery and drawn from throughout New York City. All of the students are from minority groups.
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