Defining & Teaching News Literacy

[Frank W. Baker]

As the production of journalism changes dramatically, educators need to think carefully about how best to prepare young people as media consumers. "News Literacy" has emerged as an organizing concept for helping young people make sense of a changing media landscape, and the McCormick Foundation has taken a leadership role in funding organizations that are thinking imaginatively about teaching kids about the news. 

My colleagues at the Berkman Center have just released a series of reports about defining news literacy, about how young people in urban contexts experience and make sense of the news, and about emerging approaches to nurturing news literacy in young people. I offer a fourth report along a slightly different line: exploring how small non-profits can consider evaluating their work.