Media Literacy

Students Fill Gap of Local Coverage?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty & Carolina Abbot Galvao, 12/2/25

Headline:  “How Students Are Trying to Save Local News”

Subhead:  “Across the country, university programs are filling gaps in the coverage.”

At twenty-one, just after her graduation from the University of Vermont, Holly Sullivan became the editor of the Winooski News, the sole paper in Vermont’s smallest city—spanning a mile and a half, with about eight thousand residents who speak more than thirty languages. In the course of a few months, Sullivan went from being a student to editing articles and a newsletter that serve the area at large, written entirely by university students.

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/how-students-are-trying-to-save-local-news.php

Wait! Aren’t Media Always Correct?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvão, 11/26/25

Headline:  “Could Public Skepticism of the Press Actually Be Good for Democracy?”

Subhead:  “An expert on political communication explains how Argentina’s history of public lying created a protective barrier between citizens and information, and how distrust can help fight autocracy.”

“. . .the authors of The Patina of Distrust, a new book that explores how people interpret misinformation, argue that that perspective overlooks a crucial piece of the puzzle. Basing their findings on extensive research conducted in the wake of Argentina’s 2019 elections, they conclude that news consumers are less susceptible to falsehood than we might anticipate. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the-interview/public-skepticism-press-good-thing-patina-distrust-argentina-eugenia-mitchelstein.php

Youth – Dim View of the Press

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao, 11/5/25

Headline:  “Biased, Boring Liars”

Subhead:  “More than three-quarters of teens surveyed have negative views of the press, a new study finds.”

“A study published today by the nonprofit News Literacy Project paints a bleak picture of how young people view the press. It found that more US teens think ‘reporters are skilled at lying than informing the public,’ and about half believe the news media frequently engages in ‘unethical practices such as making up quotes.’ When asked what word best describes news media, 84 percent of teens surveyed ‘expressed a negative sentiment,’ often using words like ‘fake,’ ‘false,’ and ‘lies.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/biased-boring-liars-news-literacy-perceptions-media-youth-cynicism.php

Media Literacy – Important to Everyone

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Article in Poynter by Renata Salvini & Brittani Kollar

Headline:  “A journalist in Brazil is showing seniors how to outsmart misinformation, one WhatsApp message at a time”

Subhead:  “Through hands-on workshops, Talita Rosa is proving that media literacy can empower people of any age”

“The International Center for Journalists’ (ICFJ) Disarming Disinformation initiative is a three-year program, supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation, that aims to slow the spread of disinformation through multiple programs such as investigative journalism, capacity building and media literacy education. ICFJ partnered with MediaWise from the Poynter Institute to develop and deliver media literacy programming. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/media-literacy/2025/a-journalist-in-brazil-is-showing-seniors-how-to-outsmart-misinformation-one-whatsapp-message-at-a-time/

 

Reporting Abductions

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu. 10/22/25

Headline: “Tear gas, fear and federal secrecy: How Chicago journalists are covering Trump’s immigration policies while living through them”

Subhead:  “‘It’s really exhausting, mentally and physically. But somebody has to record history’”

“. . .The tips pour in at all hours: sightings of agents in all parts of Chicago. Many of them are masked, in the city to find undocumented immigrants. They move quickly, but sometimes, Garcia Hernandez — whose beat is the largely Latino neighborhoods of Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards but whose coverage area has since expanded — gathers just enough information to make it to the aftermath of a raid. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/chicago-ice-raid-apartment-journalists-immigration-trump/

Fewer Local News Outlets

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 10/20/25

Headline: “An alarming number of independent publishers and small chains closed papers last year, new Medill study finds”

Subhead:  “The United States has lost nearly 3,500 newspapers and more than 270,000 newspaper jobs since 2005, the report found”

“For years, the U.S. has lost more than two newspapers per week on average, thanks, in part, to growing consolidation. But this past year, the majority of closures were papers belonging to smaller chains and independent owners, according to a new report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

“Medill’s 2025 State of Local News report tracked 136 newspaper closures over the past year, up from 130 last year. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/medill-report-local-news-closures-independent-papers-news-deserts/

Student Journalists Polarized?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao, 10/13/25

Headline:  “Student Journalism Is Fraught, Too”

Subhead:  “The dispute over plans for MediaFest, the nation’s largest conference of student journalists, reflects the polarization of the news industry that awaits them.”

“In late July, a group of student-journalism advisers convened on Zoom to discuss a brewing controversy over opinion, reporting, and religion. They were preparing for MediaFest—the nation’s largest conference of student reporters and their mentors, which will take place in Washington, DC, this week. Steven Sandberg, a student media adviser at Oregon State University, had been browsing the event schedule when he came upon a list of speakers slated for a portion of the conference called the “faith track.” “I saw pretty far-right, anti-LGBTQ language,” he said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/student-journalism-mediafest-fraught-religion-faith-reporting.php

Local Journalism Gets it Right

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Article in Media Matters by Noah Howe & Pete Tsipis, 10/10/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media say Portland is a war zone under siege. On-the-ground coverage paints a different picture.”

Subhead:  “Local coverage has highlighted the peaceful nature of protests and the violent response of federal agents”

“Right-wing media claim that Portland’s protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement show a city ‘under siege’ or ‘conquered by antifa,’ but on-the-ground coverage, by both national media outlets and local media outlets, has revealed the opposite.”

“Multiple local broadcast outlets report that protests are relatively small and peaceful, with many demonstrators ‘in pajamas, sharing pastries, throwing a frisbee, and playing board games’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-say-portland-war-zone-under-siege-ground-coverage-paints-different

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Editors 10/10/25

Headline:  “Local TV News Does Good”

Subhead:  “Forget about the mergers and buyouts and executive leadership for a while. The local grunts keep breaking news.”

“. . .firestorm ignited by Porter’s [California Governor Candidate] reaction to Watts’s calm, sensible questioning was just one example of what has been a banner couple of weeks for the often overlooked foot soldiers of local television news. At a time when the national conversation about TV news has been dominated by anxiety about mergers and corporate politics and hostile takeovers, it’s reassuring to see the reporters on the ground continuing to do the kind of work that makes them indispensable to the communities they serve.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/laurels-and-darts/local-tv-news-does-good-porter-california-governor-fox.php

Media Give Knowledge

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Article in UPI by Karen Butler, 9/30/25

Headline: “ ‘Morning Show’ newbie Cotillard: It’s important to study the media”

“. . .Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard says she was eager to join The Morning Show for Season 4 because she is a massive fan of the inside-television drama and how it empowers women in the wake of the MeToo movement.

“It’s very important to study how the media works,” the 50-year-old French actress told UPI in a recent Zoom interview, emphasizing how journalism is a critical tool for holding people accountable for their actions.

“It’s a very, very powerful thing to deliver the news and how you can manipulate the news or how you can be driven to seek the truth, especially today when the big medias are owned by big companies and very powerful people who want to use the medias for their own interest . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/T V/2025/09/30/marion-cotillard-morning-show-interview/9281759192908/

What Should Media Call Things

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Allsop, 9/9/25

Headline: “War Games”

Subhead:  “Should the press follow Trump in calling the Pentagon the ‘Department of War’?”

“. . .Pete Hegseth, the Fox & Friends host turned defense (sorry, war) secretary, returned to his old stomping ground to roll the pitch. (‘We think words and names and titles matter,’ he said, before attempting to tease an upcoming change to the signage behind him by pointing over the wrong shoulder.) . . .”

“. . .The rebrand may sound—and, on some level, absolutely is—very silly: a predictable move for a military apparatus that is ultimately led by a pair of TV stars obsessed with looking and sounding cool. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/war-games-defense-department-hegseth-trump-name-change.php