NLP News

Not only is the News Literacy Project bringing journalists to students in schools, it’s increasingly bringing students to the journalists in their newsrooms. Students participating in the project visited four newsrooms in New York and Chicago in the past two months, bringing the total number of such field trips in the two cities to 10…

Rashad Thomas-Bland, now in 7th grade at Reavis, was interviewed about his experience producing and narrating a broadcast report on the impact of video games on youth. The interview, along with an excerpt of the Reavis students’ report, can be found in the Student Voices section of the NewsHour Extra site at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/arts/july-dec11/nlp_11-14.html. Thomas-Bland and seven…

In “Bring Back Bogart,” published in the Nov. 7, 2011, issue, Ray Schroth, S.J., an associate editor of the weekly, cleverly ties the 1952 film Deadline – U.S.A. to the News Literacy Project’s mission. One of NLP’s partner schools is the Jesuit-founded Cristo Rey New York High School in East Harlem. In the film, an immigrant woman brings…

Columnists David Brooks of The New York Times and E.J. Dionne Jr. of The Washington Post will be the featured speakers at the News Literacy Project’s second annual Fall Forum, a series focusing on politics, public policy and the press. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 14, 2011 Contact: Maureen Freeman [email protected] Josh Wozman, 202-530-4608 [email protected] Columnists David…

De La Salle Academy, New York City’s only private coeducational nonsectarian middle school for academically gifted students who are economically less advantaged, is joining the News Literacy Project for the 2011-12 school year. HBO is sponsoring the school’s participation, marking the first such corporate sponsorship of a school in New York. It will be NLP’s…

The News Literacy Project’s latest video, “How to Know What to Believe,” is now available on NLP’s YouTube and Vimeo channels. The video showcases the program’s impact in partner schools in the project’s three regions.  The video is narrated by ABC News anchor and correspondent Ron Claiborne, an active NLP journalist fellow. His portion of the…

The News Literacy Project (NLP) launched its expansion into Washington, D.C., schools on Tuesday with a kickoff event at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School featuring Gwen Ifill of PBS, who urged students to question the basis for believing what that they see, hear and read. “How do you know that?” she told the students to…

Qualcomm Inc., a San Diego-based world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies, has become the lead sponsor of the News Literacy Project’s expansion into Washington, D.C. NLP will launch its partnership with E.L. Haynes Public Charter School with an event at the school on Sept. 6 featuring journalist Gwen Ifill, the moderator and managing…

Columnists David Brooks of The New York Times and E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post will discuss “Demosclerosis: The Challenge of Moving America Forward in a Hyper-Partisan Age” at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. Jessica Yellin, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, will be the moderator of…

For the 2011-12 school year, NLP is adding four high schools to its program: Bronx Academy of Letters and The Cinema School, both in the Bronx; Cristo Rey New York High School in East Harlem, and KIPP NYC College Prep in West Harlem. NLP will also continue its partnership with the Facing History School and…

The News Literacy Project’s growing program to give students the tools to know what to believe in a digital age was the subject of a seven-minute report on PBS NewsHour on Dec. 13. The report, “News Literacy Project Trains Young People to be Skeptical Media Consumers,” featured NLP’s work with 8th-grade students at E.L. Haynes Public Charter…

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps told leaders of community newspapers on July 21 that Americans need to become “a news-literate people” and praised the News Literacy Project for its efforts toward achieving that objective. “Our goal should be that every American possesses the skills to discern news from infotainment, fact from opinion, and trustworthy information…

The News Literacy Project is partnering with The Washington Post’s Young Journalists Development Program to offer two half-day workshops for high school students at the paper this summer. The sessions will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 16, and Saturday, Aug. 6. Students should register for only one session; each…

The News Literacy Project has been selected to be part of a social action campaign associated with the release of Page One, a documentary about The New York Times, which opened nationwide July 1. Work done by NLP students and interviews with students who have completed the NLP unit in New York City, Chicago and…

The News Literacy Project is cited as stepping into an “educational breach” in a much-anticipated government report released June 9 that focuses on the country’s rapidly evolving media environment. The Federal Communications Commission report, The Information Needs of Communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age, was the culmination of a project begun in…

NLP will work with eighth-grade students at the E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, one of the most highly regarded schools in the District of Columbia. Haynes will be the third NLP partner in the region; the first two, both in Bethesda, Maryland, are Walt Whitman High School and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. “NLP will provide our…

The News Literacy Project is stepping out on its own for the first time on May 1. The three-year-old project has been operating for nearly 2½ years under the fiscal sponsorship of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Though NLP has been responsible for its own fundraising and program operations, Poynter handled the project’s finances,…

The seven-minute piece captures the project’s impact in schools in New York City, Chicago and Bethesda, Maryland, through interviews with principals and students, photos and excerpts from student projects in each location. The featured student projects are a mini-documentary, “East Harlem IS,” produced in 2009 by middle school students at East Harlem’s STARS Prep Academy…

The News Literacy Project hosted its first video conference for students in two cities on April 13, 2011. The event, which was supported by Skype, brought middle school students in Chicago and high school students in New York together online to connect with NLP fellow Don Bartletti, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist with the Los Angeles…

David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, captivated students and teachers at the Facing History School in New York City on March 30 with a presentation on the seven months he was held by the Taliban and why journalists such as himself risk their lives to report from…

Alan C. Miller, the president of the News Literacy Project, delivered the keynote address at the Student Scholarship & Creative Achievement Conference at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, on April 6. His topic was “Teaching the Next Generation How to Know What to Believe in a Digital World.” While at Bemidji, Miller, a Pulitzer…

On April 11, the News Literacy Project will be featured on AOL’s homepage as part of its “cause module” program. AOL sets aside space on its homepage daily for a vetted charity or nonprofit that offers a message with national appeal. The NLP cause module will expose the project’s mission to a large number of…

Univision Communications Inc., the country’s leading media company serving the Hispanic community, has joined the News Literacy Project as a participating organization. “We are honored to partner with the News Literacy Project and leverage our world-class Univision News organization to help students across the country understand the importance and value of news consumption in their…

WTOP, an all-news radio station in Washington, D.C., has joined the News Literacy Project, making it the first radio station and the 19th news organization to participate. “In this new media age, the old, basic tenets of journalism are as important as ever,” said Mike McMearty, news director of WTOP. “If the News Literacy Project…

Twenty-five journalism students from Northside College Prep High School in Chicago attended a day-long news literacy seminar at the Chicago bureau of The Associated Press on March 2. The series of lectures, workshops and discussions was organized by the News Literacy Project and two of its volunteer journalists on the AP staff, assistant central editor Anna…

A report in the January/February issue of Bethesda Magazine praises the role of the News Literacy Project at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda. Whitman was the site of one of NLP’s first three pilot programs, and the project is now in its third year at the school. It will reach more than 350 students…

The News Literacy Project has hired two staff members to build its capacity, strengthen its educational and digital programs, and expand in New York City. Whitney Allgood will be NLP’s first chief of staff. She will oversee day-to-day operations and help to enhance NLP’s curriculum materials, assessment processes and educational model. Darragh Worland, a journalist…

Jay McTighe, an internationally renowned educational consultant and co-author of a text that is widely used to design curriculum, has joined the News Literacy Project’s education committee. McTighe and his colleague Grant Wiggins are the authors of the best-selling Understanding by Design, which seeks to improve student achievement by first planning a curriculum based on…

The Chicago Tribune published a report on the News Literacy Project’s impact in Chicago in its Jan. 19 editions. In the article, students, a teacher and a parent discuss how NLP has sparked their interest in the news and connections to the wider world. “I used to only watch the news when I would see…