The World News Literacy Project © WAN-IFRA 2010 - Page 1 - How the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), its members and its partners assist the development of reading skills, media literacy and civic values. Overview and background The World News Literacy Project grew out of the young readership development work of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and calls upon newspapers and news publishers to work with all possible partners to assure that new generations are capable of comprehending news messages and of understanding the process and role of news and the importance and fragility of press freedom. The four areas of this work are newspapers in education (NIE), family reading, media literacy and making the news. WAN-IFRA and the young Since 1992, WAN-IFRA has trained thousands of teachers and produced dozens of research reports and educational resources in partnership with educators worldwide via our network of news producers. This is a core activity for WAN-IFRA, alongside our work to assure press freedom and the survival of a free press. Each year, the WAN-IFRA World Young Reader Prizes honour excellence in newspaper engagement of the young. Categories are: public service, newspapers in education, editorial strategy, brand extension, making the news plus a special category that changes each year. Special prizes have been given for excellence in work that supports literacy and an understanding of press freedom among the young. Also, WAN-IFRA names a Young Reader Newspaper of the Year. The prizes are supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based paper producer. WAN-IFRA has also done several studies concerning young people including content analysis of youth portrayal in newspapers carried out by 12-year-olds in 24 countries, an experiment to assess the effects of classroom newspaper use on democratic values and the ongoing Youth Media DNA international project to gauge the information needs of the young. Details about our efforts can be found on our website www.wan-ifra.org/youngreader and through our professional network created to unite and serve newspaper people worldwide who care about the young www.worldyoungreadernetwork.ning.com Who helps us do this work We do this work with the help of the four working groups of our World Young Reader Committee: association young reader specialists, expert consultants, individual newspaper publishers committed to engaging the young, and judges of our World Young Reader Prize competition. Supporters of this work have included Norske Skog, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and The Education for All Forum. WAN-IFRA: The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) was founded as FIEJ in 1948 by the surviving clandestine editors of France and the Netherlands as a nonprofit association to help the world’s press unite to survive in a free-press environment. WAN-IFRA now represents 18,000 publications and media associations, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries and has top-level advisory status with UNESCO, the European Journalism Centre, and several other international bodies and educational institutions. CONTACT: Dr. Aralynn Abare McMane, executive director, WAN-IFRA Young Readership Development, +331 47 42 85 17: aralynn.mcmane@wan-ifra.org Newspapers in Education (NIE) What we do and how Newspapers in Education (NIE) programmes were the original emphasis of our work. WAN-IFRA has helped establish NIE programmes all over the world. NIE can help all ages of students, from pre-school children learning how to read and do arithmetic to adults learning to read or learning a new culture. NIE also puts an emphasis on learning about newspapers and media messages themselves, with activities as simple as a “newspaper race” to learn the components of a newspaper or a visit from a journalist who works for the local newspaper to high-level critical thinking, comparing messages in multiple media and on multiple platforms. Recent WAN-IFRA resources, free to download from our site, have included Reading and Learning, a set of three basic NIE guides in Spanish and English for teachers, NIE coordinators and newspaper executives; the World Newspaper Reading Passport, in six languages so far, with fun activities to explore the newspaper; and Newspapers in Adult Life, in Spanish and English, with reading and comprehension activities tied to learning, playing and working with the newspaper. The results • Millions of students use newspapers in classrooms as a current supplemental text thanks to this work (5-year results at left). • Research finds a link between using the newspaper and academic achievement. The latest study, in the United States (U. of Minnesota), found children who used newspapers in class scored up to 10 points higher on standardized tests than children who did not, with best results for poor children • Research finds a link between using the newspaper and the development of civic values. The latest such study, from Argentina (Education Ministry), found that children who used the newspaper in class were significantly more likely than those who didn’t to engage in fundamental civic activity such as showing interest and knowledge in political news, an intention to vote and the expression of support for democracy, tolerance and diversity. We help educators and newspapers form an NIE partnership to use newspapers in class as a supplemental text for a wide range of school subjects from learning to read to learning about democracy to learning to think critically. Family reading What we do and how Since 2007, to help celebrate International Literacy Day (8 September), we have offered newspapers worldwide the text and art to run a serialized story accompanied by activities to encourage further exploration of the newspaper itself. The stories have had non-humans (monkeys, fish and insects) as heroes to allow children all over the world to identify with them. Each year, Sardine Features, a Paris-based photo and feature service, has provided a free story and photos about real monkeys, fish and insects. We make the story and accompanying materials available in English and Spanish. In addition, we have facilitated global distribution of public service literacy advertisements produced by the Newspaper Association of America in cooperation with several film producers and organized a worldwide distribution of cartoons about reading, donated by the artists. Newspapers have used the stories, advertisements and cartoons in a wide variety of community projects, including reading sessions at libraries, prominent local figures reading the stories on television and radio, and contests that challenge youth to write an additional chapter of the story or create the creatures from the story using old newspapers. The results Each year, use of the story has grown (see figures below), as has enthusiasm for the project. Newspapers have translated the stories into several languages, including Portuguese, FInnish and Icelandic. At last count, newspapers in 26 countries used the latest story, published in newspapers for audiences both large, such as in the United States, Brazil and China, and small, such as in Iceland, Sri Lanka and Uganda. 2007: The Monkey King Donor: Breakfast Serials Global circulation: 1 million (est) 2008: Frannie learns a lesson Donor: The Curriculum Closet Global circulation: 3 million + 2009: José – Fly Reporter Donor: The Curriculum Closet Global circulation: 4 million + Global circulation: We give newspapers worldwide a free serialized story to help them encourage families to read together, plus public service advertisements and cartoons that help celebrate reading. Media literacy What we do and how Media literacy has been a basic component of Newspapers in Education work since its origins in the 1930s in the United States. Through NIE, teachers have been able to teach the basics of who puts together the newspaper, why, how and with what effect. Recently, we have added two this basic components to fill two gaps in media literacy work: an understanding of press freedom and easy, wide dissemination of basic media literacy advice for parents and teachers. WAN-IFRA gives to newspapers and schools materials about news and those who produce it, including many for whom that job has cost their freedom or their life. WAN-IFRA created a set of exercises to help teachers and parents explore the idea of press freedom with young people and helped UNESCO devise its own toolkit for this work. The format allowed each exercise to be printed in newspapers on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) in order to introduce the community to an understanding of the importance, and fragility, of press freedom. For information about these materials, consult: http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org/ In addition, we awarded a special Press Freedom World Young Reader Prize in 2009, which went to a newspaper for children in which families of journalists explained what it was like to have a parent put in prison for what he or she broadcast or wrote. Also, WAN-IFRA is encouraging its worldwide constituency to assure the widest possible distribution of knowledge about general media literacy in a form that helps parents and teachers guide children. In a first effort, we are making available all the materials a newspaper needs to publish “Internet in the Family: A guide to helping your child go online.” This material, which will be updated for a new version in September 2010, concentrates on the importance of establishing a family code of internet conduct and has the endorsement of leading educators in France, Nigeria, the United States and Argentina All these materials can be downloaded in as many as four languages for free from the WAN- IFRA young reader pages with users invited to join a group in the World Young Reader Network. The results Several organizations, including UNESCO and national media literacy groups, have asked us to advise them on producing press freedom media literacy materials. We give materials to newspapers and schools about news and those who produce it, including the thousands of journalists for whom that job has meant jail or death. Making the News What we do and how In our most recent young readership development activity, we strive to help newspapers and newspaper associations give young people a professional journalistic experience that will serve them well as citizens and consumers of news. A second and equally important goal is to encourage the kind of dialogue between journalists and other newspaper personnel and young people that will help the newspaper better serve those readers Newspapers and newspaper associations have often acted as allies in the basic work of teaching basic journalism to youth. The result can be an unforgettable journalistic experience for youth, whether in a high-tech simulation or a simple project that leads to their efforts being published alongside those of professional journalists. We are in the process of creating models for this kind of experience for all ages. Thanks to a decade of World Young Reader Prize entries, we have full details about dozens of variations on such projects, ranging from a three-hour workshop for seven-year-olds in the offices of a French daily newspaper for children, pictured above at left, to a two-week long British project in which “at risk” teenagers create a slick fashion magazine. Newspapers and foundations in several countries have gone further by establishing very powerful, high-tech journalist simulations. Beginning in 2009, to further encourage this work, we established a new category for the World Young Reader Prize called “Making the News,” with the first award going to La Repubblica’s web-based Scuola project. The results We have created only one resource of our own so far, a guide for journalists who go into the classroom to speak with students. We also did what we profess as bringing journalism students to our most recent World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum to act as bloggers, videographers and photographers and to interact with newspaper executives from around the world. Further, we are working with Futuroom in Prague toward establishing an international multimedia youth journalism camp. In our newest activity, we are seeking out and adapting models for giving young people an unforgettable experience in professional newsgathering. What’s been happening lately The World School Newspaper Prize for Press Freedom ANJ, the Brazilian newspaper publishers association joined WAN-IFRA to make a joint regional award to a Brazilian school in the first World School Newspaper Prize for Press Freedom. The new award honors excellent use of WAN-IFRA materials for 3 May Press Freedom Day as both inspiration for students’ own content and as useful content to use in a specially-themed edition of the school newspaper. The winning school was Escola Municipan Prefeito Dr. Fulton Vitel B. de Macedo in Ponta Grossa, state of Paraná. The school was nominated by the Newspapers in Education department of Jornal da Manhã. The contest will be extended to a global level in 2011. Teacher Ambassadors from Jordan speak at 4th Arab Free Press Forum and help lead Beirut NIE Master Class WAN-IFRA’s "Teacher Ambassadors" from Jordan shared Newspapers in Education (NIE) training strategies with colleagues from Lebanon, then explained NIE to the dozens of publishers, editors, journalists and press freedom advocates from 25 countries attending 4th Arab Free Press Forum in Beirut. From Jordan were Raja'a Al Khatieb (top photo) and Ghada Kakish, joined by Aida Tabboush from Lebanon (bottom photo) in this first group of WAN-IFRA Teacher Ambassadors, which was joined by veteran WAN-IFRA trainer Gerard van der Weijden of Stepp in Belgium. The project aims to assure that teacher trainers in new or fragile democracies can have a first- hand examination and understanding of the real people who do the work of newspaper journalism and press freedom. World Football Reading Passport launched Newspapers worldwide gave a World Football Reading Passport to children during this year's FIFA World CupTM , which began on 11 June, thanks to free materials offered by WAN-IFRA and the International Association of Sports Newspapers (IASN). So far, newspapers representing more than 3.2 million paid circulation have signed up. The passport, in seven languages, is an educational editorial tool that uses football to encourage young people to learn about journalism, sports, geography, language and character. Readers explore the newspaper through exercises that can be used in schools or at home. COMING SOON – TWO EDUCATIONAL INSERTS WE WILL GIVE NEWSPAPERS TO PUBLISH: The Pony’s Tale, a serialized story to encourage family reading on and around International Literacy Day (8 September), and a new edition of our Internet in the Family guide that includes a focus on safe use by youth of social networks. Early 2010 saw an array of new projects, including a Teacher Ambassador programme in the Middle East and award of our first World School Newspaper Prize for Press Freedom. What we hope to do next Overall • make resources available in more languages. • improve both our website and our network to give easier access to online resources and provide more efficient networking capacity. • produce simple how-to videos for teachers and journalists to use to introduce the basic concepts in a memorable fashion. Newspapers in Education (NIE) • introduce NIE in the emerging democracies where it does not yet exist . • develop a set of models and cases for sustainability strategies for NIE programmes. • partner with the makers of the newest classroom technologies (interactive white boards, multipoint mouse systems, etc.) to assure that new activities can be created for these new classroom tools, and that the best existing activities can be appropriately adapted. Family reading • find a partner interested in branding this initiative. • find a book publisher interested in such a worldwide pre-production promotion of an upcoming children’s novel via serialization in newspapers. • create a new series of global literacy public service advertisements featuring prominent persons who children admire, plus characters from new films, such as the last Harry Potter and Tintin. Media literacy • assess relevant existing media literacy practice and resources to explore what can be useful to the quest to implicate newspapers in this work. • work with a popular television show for children to teach about journalism. For example, Dora the Explorer could become Dora the Reporter for one episode with Boots as her photographer. Making the news • produce models and supporting multiplatform documentation for the full array of student journalistic experiences, from the simplest one-hour activity to technologically supported simulated media experiences. • internationalize our Congress & Forum youth reporting team. • organize quality international journalism experiences for adolescents. We are seeking partners to continue, improve and expand this work into important new areas in ways that help newspapers and news publishers better engage the young. CONTACT: Dr. Aralynn Abare McMane, executive director, WAN-IFRA Young Readership Development, Tel: +331 47 42 85 17 E-mail: aralynn.mcmane@wan-ifra.org
The World News Literacy Project © WAN-IFRA 2010 - Page 1
The World News Literacy Project © WAN-IFRA 2010 - Page 2
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