Journalism Giants Push For News Literacy

By Erin McKinley

Koppel. Wallace. Budde. Schiller. These names, all news industry elites, united at Stony Brook University for one purpose: to grapple with the future and direction of the media.

The first ever News Literacy Conference last week at Stony Brook University drew together journalists from all mediums - print, broadcast, and online - at a time when newspapers all over the country are laying off and closing down, and media outlets are struggling to devise ways to stay afloat in the Internet age.

A news literacy panel on March 12 was composed of Alexandra Wallace, the senior vice president of NBC News, Neil Budde, the president and chief product officer of DailyMe.com, Vivian Schiller, president and CEO of National Public Radio, and Ted Koppel, former anchor of ABC News and the Discovery Channel's managing editor.

"I thought the conference was a huge success," said James Klurfeld, a Stony Brook University journalism professor. "I was excited because others were excited. People got it. They got the values of news literacy."

As they addressed a crowd of colleagues and students, all scribbling furiously on note pads, the panelists covered a myriad of topics, including journalism's failing business model and the need to produce news of higher quality than ever before with less money.

At the conference, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the top issue was the need to educate the nation in the art of interpreting the news.

There is a big difference between news and opinion, they said, and the broadening scope of the internet and television programs are blurring the line more every day. By educating the nation, they said, consumers will be better equipped to navigate an increasingly complex media world.

"It was exciting to be there and have an opportunity to meet some of the industry leaders," said Rachelle Johnson, a journalism major. "The tone was conversational and included very provocative questions from the audience.

"I truly feel that as a journalism student and a member of the host campus that more journalism students should have been included in such an important event," she continued. Only journalism majors were invited to attend the panel.

Another issue the panelists tackled is the effect the economy has on foreign correspondents and local news coverage. At one point, a panelist said that major television stations went from having around 30 foreign correspondents to just six or seven. Local news coverage has dropped dramatically.

"We need to find a way to do the same quality news but less expensively," Wallace said. "Foreign [coverage] isn’t going to be too tough - we’ve done it before. Local [coverage] we need to come up with a new model for."

Currently the school of journalism is trying to launch a program to train out-of-work journalists, casualties of a shrinking and consolidating industry, to teach news literacy. Once they have been trained they can go to universities nationwide and teach news literacy.

"This conference comes at a pivotal time when the world of news is changing," said President Shirley Strum Kenny on the School of Journalism website.

"Now more than ever, it’s extremely important to educate and give students the necessary tools and critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports and news sources, from print and broadcast to the web."