Publications and Research
Document Type
Book Chapter or Section
Publication Date
9-5-2024
Abstract
The news is inescapable, and simultaneously headline-laden advertising-as-news follows us on scrolling video screens through public transit, at the gym, and on billboards lining the sidewalks. As the news and its lookalikes feel more and more omnipresent, the need for news literacy skills and their implementation feels more and more urgent. At the same time, continually morphing media platforms and news formats make it seem impossible to know: which of these things actually is the news? What’s most important for me to pay attention to?
What if, instead of teaching skills for understanding the next shiny news format, we turn to news from the past? What if we use historical news sources as a sandbox for practicing news literacy skills, and then allow students to apply those skills in the spaces where they interact with news today? This chapter examines some of the needs faced by news literacy in the 21st century alongside the possibilities offered by teaching with primary source material, and suggests activities to teach transferable skills for news literacy.
Comments
This chapter was originally published in News Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum, edited by Amy M. Damico and Melissa M. Yang, available at https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/news-literacy-across-the-undergraduate-curriculum-9781440879722/#