NLP News

The News Literacy Project has produced a new video showcasing the work of students at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. “Students As Teachers” is now available on its YouTube channel. The video focuses on seven exemplary projects that ninth- and 10th-grade students completed in the spring of 2009 as part of the News…

Alison R. Bernstein, a vice president at the Ford Foundation, and Leslie Hill, a former member of the Dow Jones & Co. board of directors, are the newest members of the board of the News Literacy Project. Both women will serve three-year terms. “We are honored to have two such distinguished leaders in the fields…

Bloomberg has joined the News Literacy Project as a participant, becoming the 15th news organization to enlist in the growing national effort to help middle school and high school students sort fact from fiction in a digital world. “We believe in the future of fact-driven news in a world where people are bombarded with information,”…

The News Literacy Project’s program at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, is featured in two articles in the summer issue of Nieman Reports, published by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. In “News Literacy Project: Students Figure Out What News and Information to Trust,” NLP founder and executive director Alan C.…

The News Literacy Project has been awarded a $150,000 challenge grant from the Ford Foundation in recognition of NLP’s pioneering work to give students the ability to discern credible information in the digital age. “The Ford Foundation is pleased to support the work of the News Literacy Project to equip students with the critical skills…

News literacy is crucial to sustaining a healthy democracy, according to an op-ed column co-authored by News Literacy Project executive director Alan C. Miller and published April 13, 2010, in USA Today, the nation’s largest general-circulation newspaper. “With actual news, and items that look suspiciously like news, coming at us all day from a variety…

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has joined the News Literacy Project as the 14th news organization to enroll in the national effort to help middle school and high school students become more frequent consumers and creators of credible information. The Pulitzer Center is an innovative nonprofit leader in supporting the independent international journalism that…

Building on a successful pilot program in late 2009, the News Literacy Project is growing in Chicago this year, expanding its presence in the pilot school and adding two new middle schools. It is now active in extended-day programs as well as in the classroom. After completing a sixth-grade pilot at Marquette Elementary School in…

We are pleased to present the following report on the News Literacy Project’s first year of operations in the classroom. Eleven months after launching our inaugural pilot, we look back upon a year of extraordinary progress. We now have programs under way in New York City, Bethesda, Maryland, and Chicago and plans for expansion in…

Slate has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization, becoming the first online news provider to join the effort to help middle school and high school students become smarter and more frequent consumers and creators of credible information. “The News Literacy Project has a mission that Slate is very pleased to support,” said…

The News Literacy Project showcased its work in New York City schools at an Oct. 26 reception sponsored by Time Warner and attended by news media leaders and other well-known guests. CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., NPR President Vivian Schiller and ABC News President David Westin co-hosted the event. Schiller…

In a world saturated with media messages, students need to learn to be literate, critical consumers of what they see and hear. In an innovative effort to help them sort fact from fiction in the digital age, the News Literacy Project is teaming with one of LISC/Chicago’s five Elev8 schools to launch its Chicago pilot…

Edutopia.org, a website that highlights “what works in public education,” has posted an article showcasing the News Literacy Project and a primer for teachers. “A Program Teaches Teens What to Believe in the Digital World” focuses on projects done by students in News Literacy Project classes at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. It…

ProPublica has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization, becoming the first nonprofit news provider to enroll in the effort to give middle school and high school students the critical-thinking skills to sort faction from fiction in the digital age. “News literacy is vital to our democracy,” said Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief of ProPublica.…

The Chicago Tribune has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization, becoming the first Midwestern news organization to enlist in the effort to help middle school and high school students become smarter and more frequent consumers and creators of credible information. It does so as the national program plans to launch a…

President Barack Obama is calling upon Americans to “dedicate ourselves to increasing information literacy awareness so that all citizens understand its vital importance.” In doing so, he signed a proclamation that extols the fundamental objectives shared by the News Literacy Project and other news literacy efforts nationwide. “An informed and educated citizenry is essential to the functioning…

NBC News has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization, becoming the third major television network to enroll in the national effort to help middle school and high school students discern fact from fiction in the digital age. “The mission of the News Literacy Project is admirable and incredibly timely,” said NBC…

The Los Angeles Times has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization, becoming the first West Coast outlet to enroll in the effort to give middle school and high school students the critical thinking skills to sort faction from fiction in the digital age. The project aspires to expand to schools in…

The News Literacy Project is the focus of a 4,300-word cover story on news literacy published in the July/August issue of the Columbia Journalism Review. The report, “Leap of Faith,” opens with the initial visit of an NLP journalist fellow, David Gonzalez of The New York Times, to a classroom at Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn,…

The publisher of The New York Times, Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., praised the News Literacy Project last week for teaching “an invaluable lesson” by steering students to journalism that provides context and reassurance amid the country’s current economic turmoil. Sulzberger’s comments came during his keynote address at the nation’s first conference on news literacy, held March 11-13…

The Associated Press has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization, becoming the first wire service to enlist in the effort to help middle school and high school students become smarter and more frequent consumers and creators of credible information. “It is vital for journalism, and for democracy, that young people acquire…

The News Literacy Project listed its 100th volunteer journalist in its online directory this week. The latest addition to the roster is Deborah Amos of NPR, who joins other prominent current or former reporters, editors, correspondents, photographers, producers and graphic artists who have agreed to participate with NLP. The directory includes biographical information and a…

The News Literacy Project is the focus of a lengthy report in Teacher Magazine, an online publication that is part of the Education Week group. The article, titled “News You Can Use,” focuses on NLP’s kickoff and the first two weeks of its pilot at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. It extensively quotes Mark Halperin,…

National Public Radio has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization — expanding the journalistic reach of the program that is helping students in middle schools and high schools learn how to separate fact from fiction in the digital age. “We at NPR believe it is vital to help young people become…

Five New York Times journalists and former CNN financial editor Myron Kandel are the News Literacy Project’s first participants in an after-school apprenticeship program in partnership with Citizen Schools. The journalists are working with a dozen middle school students at STARS Prep Academy MS 45 in East Harlem during the 11-week program. The students are…

CNN has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization — the sixth print or broadcast outlet to endorse the program that helps students in middle schools and high schools appreciate quality journalism and learn how to consume and create credible information. The network is giving its journalists the opportunity to volunteer in…

The News Literacy Project, an innovative national program that is bringing journalists into classrooms to help students learn to sort fact from fiction in the digital age, launches its pilot project at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, today with an event featuring Mark Halperin of Time magazine and Pierre Thomas of ABC News.…

The Washington Post has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating news organization — the fifth print or broadcast outlet to endorse the program that helps students in middle schools and high schools separate fact from fiction in the digital age. The Post is giving its journalists the opportunity to volunteer in the classroom…

The News Literacy Project, an innovative national program that is bringing journalists into middle schools and high schools to help students learn to sort fact from fiction in the digital age, kicked o ff its New York City pilots today with an event featuring CNN’s Soledad O’Brien at the Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn.…

James Rainey, the Los Angeles Times media columnist, has applauded the News Literacy Project. In his column on Jan. 11,“Write away, student journalists,”Rainey wrote: “The founder of the News Literacy Project thinks the explosion of news on the Internet makes this a time when students need more, not less, understanding of how to find the…

ABC News and the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes are the News Literacy Project’s first two participating broadcast news organizations. Each has endorsed NLP and given its journalists the opportunity to volunteer in the classroom. They join The New York Times and USA Today in supporting NLP. Veteran ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore and senior Justice…

After completing a semester-long unit using the News Literacy Project curriculum, journalism students at Social Justice High School in Chicago gathered on June 9 for a round-table discussion with a public radio producer about current events, the role of journalism and the challenges and opportunities in their digital worlds. The discussion, which lasted more than…

The News Literacy Project is pleased to announce that the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a leader in providing training that promotes excellence and integrity in journalism, has become its new partner and administrative home. Poynter will help NLP achieve its goal of building a national program that brings journalists into middle schools and high…

The News Literacy Project is pleased to welcome Melissa Nicolardi, a former New York City public school teacher and a documentary filmmaker, as New York program coordinator. Melissa was a founding member of the School for Human Rights in Brooklyn, New York. She received a master of science in teaching degree from Pace University as…