Schools can successfully cultivate an interest in civic news, says CNN-editor-turned-professor

Media Literacy Education
Schools can successfully cultivate an interest in civic news, says CNN-editor-turned-professor
By David T.Z. Mindich
Jul 17, 2005, 18:50

James Romenesko at the Poynter Institute in mid-July took note of an important essay in the Wilson Quarterly by former CNN assignment editor (and now Vermont college professor) David T. Z. Mindich. In it, Mindich says the appetite for news among the young must be nurtured and promoted. Writes Mindich: "I met a group of boys in New Orleans who were very unlikely consumers of news: They were saturated with television programs and video games, they were poor, and they were in eighth grade. Yet they were all reading The New York Times online. Why? Because one of their teachers had assigned the newspaper to them to read when they were in sixth grade, and the habit stuck."

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Here's an except of Mindich's essay in the Wilson Quarterly. The full article may be found here:

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=135872

If we are entering a post-journalism age -- in which the majority of Americans, young and old, have little interaction with mainstream news media -- the most valuable thing we are losing is the marketplace of ideas that newspapers and news broadcasts uniquely provide, that place where views clash and the full range of democratic choices is debated. You usually don't get that on a blog. You don.t get that in the left-leaning Nation or on right-wing talk shows. But any newspaper worth its salt, and there are plenty, presents a variety of views, including ones antithetical to its editorial-page positions. These papers are hardly immune from criticism -- they sometimes err, get sloppy, or succumb to partisan or ideological bias -- but they do strive to be accurate and independent sources of fact and opinion, and more often than not they fulfill that indispensable public function.

America's newspapers and television news divisions aren't going to save themselves by competing with reality shows and soap operas. The appetite for news, and for engagement with civic life itself, must be nurtured and promoted, and it's very much in the public interest to undertake the task. It.s not the impossible assignment it may seem. During the course of my research, I met a group of boys in New Orleans who were very unlikely consumers of news: They were saturated with television programs and video games, they were poor, and they were in eighth grade. Yet they were all reading The New York Times online. Why? Because one of their teachers had assigned the newspaper to them to read when they were in sixth grade, and the habit stuck. There's no reason why print and broadcast news shouldn't be a bigger part of the school curriculum, or why there shouldn't be a short civics/current affairs section on the SAT for college-bound students, or why all high-school seniors shouldn't have to take a nonbinding version of the civics test given to immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens. And why shouldn't broadcasters be required to produce a certain amount of children's news programming in return for their access to the public airwaves? These are only the most obvious possibilities.

Reporters, editors, producers, and media business executives will all need to make their own adjustments to meet the demands of new times and new audiences, but only by reaching a collective judgment about the value and necessity of vigorous news media in American democracy can we hope to keep our public watchdogs on guard and in good health.

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