Avoid teaching young people cynicism about media

The study of 239 University of Maryland undergraduates to evaluate the effectiveness of media literacy education, the largest study of its kind according to the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), found that such courses increase their ability to understand, evaluate and analyse media messages. But the courses often turn out cynics who lack an understanding of the media's essential role in democracy.

“They displayed little active understanding or awareness of media's roles and responsibilities in a democratic society, nor of media's essential role for informed citizenship,” said Dr Paul Mihailidis, who conducted the study and presented its findings at a recent WAN Young Reader seminar.

Develop curricula

Dr Mihailidis, director of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change in Austria and an assistant professor of journalism, media studies and public relations at Hofstra University in New York, is helping to develop curricula that combine media literacy skills with promotion of active citizenship.

Media literacy course shouldn't just help students look more critically as news, he said. “It means understanding that every individual in Western society is dependent on media for local and global information. It means adopting and adapting such information to become an aware media citizen. Only then will the true benefits of media literacy become apparent.”

The recent Young Reader workshop, held in Paris, is part of the World Association of Newspaper's efforts to encourage a greater understanding of the independent media's essential role in democratic society and the potential for using newspapers in education to build citizenship.

"Research in several countries has shown repeatedly ­ and very recently -- that Newspapers in Education (NIE) programmes effectively help teach children both to think critically and to embrace civic values, including the crucial role of the newspaper and other news media in a democratic community,” said Dr. Aralynn McMane, director of WAN Young Reader Programmes. “We want to help those who work in media literacy teach the crucial importance of press freedom - its benefits, its heroes, its price and its fragility."

Other projects

Among other projects, WAN is contributing to a media literacy curriculum being developed by the Division of Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The project seeks to teach the importance of press freedom while encouraging students to engage in their societies. The developing curriculum, which was presented at the workshop, can be found at www.icmpa.umd.edu/salzburg/new/index.php?q=unesco.

WAN's Young Readership Development Programme is also planning a new edition of its “Express Yourself” workbook, which provides exercises for students to explore freedom of the press. The format will allow newspapers to print it within an edition, as many have done for WAN's World Newspaper Reading Passport.

The Young Readership Development Programme is supported by the Norway-based paper manufacturer Norske Skog.

WAN Young Reader Initiatives

Other recent WAN Young Reader initiatives include:

• A series of Newspapers in Education seminars in Asia to promote the use of newspapers in education (NIE). The most recent seminar, held in Bangkok in September, brought together newspaper executives from Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Australia, which developed a series of recommendations for using newspapers as a tool for education, to promote citizenship and to build democracy in the region. The recommendations can be found at www.wan-press.org/nie/articles.php?id=1557. The seminar was organised in cooperation with the Thai Press Development Council with support from Norske Skog.

• Advising the first African Media Literacy conference, held in Nigeria in July, which focused on how the newspaper can be an ally in providing a better understanding of media messages on all platforms and how long-proven Newspapers in Education strategies offer ready-made models for this work. A report for the conference on “Media Literacy and the Democratic Dividend,” by David Sseppuuya, Communications Manager for World Vision in Uganda, can be found at www.wan-press.org/nie/articles.php?id=1499.

• Informing a Luxembourg Press Council conference for political leaders, teachers, professors and representatives of the University of Luxembourg about recent research in Canada, the United States, Finland and The Netherlands that links newspaper readership among the young with higher levels of both an understanding of democratic values and civic engagement. More about that research can be found at www.wan-press.org/nie/articles.php?id=681.

  More details about the WAN Young Reader Programme, supported by Norske Skog, can be found at www.wan-press.org/nie.