Program
Voices of Support
Soledad O’Brien
“I believe it is our responsibility as journalists to connect with today’s youth about what is happening in our world so we can better cultivate a new generation of news readers and watchers. The News Literacy Project will help to connect journalism professionals with students in a way that can widely spread passion about news and new ideas.”
— Soledad O’Brien, CNN anchor and special correspondent, Special Investigations Unit, and a member of the project’s board
Alan Goodwin
"In the midst of an ever-changing, electronically driven information culture, the ability to discern fact from fiction and to determine the reliability of a range of media, from newspapers to websites, is an increasing challenge. We are excited about the News Literacy Project because we believe it will teach students to analyze information effectively and determine the reliability of various sources, thus helping them to make informed decisions in their personal and professional lives."
— Alan Goodwin, principal, Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md., and a member of the project’s advisory committee
Louise Dufresne
“Many students are living in a virtual world that they’ve created — a world where they’re so addicted to their cellphones and their iPods and they don’t see that life’s bigger than high school. Making news accessible to students is essential. Unless we start learning about the world we’re going to enter as adults, it’s going to be difficult to make critical decisions in the future.”
&mdash Louise Dufresne, senior at St. Andrew's School and editor of the school newspaper
Ken Paulson
“In an era in which there’s a greater quantity of news and information than ever before, it’s critically important to give the members of a new generation the tools they need to assess the quality of that content. The News Literacy Project is the right idea at exactly the right time.”
— Ken Paulson, editor, USA Today
Andrew Heyward
“As part of a nascent but growing campaign by seasoned journalists to give young consumers the analytical tools to make critical distinctions among the myriad messages clamoring for their attention, the News Literacy Project’s mission is vital not just for the future of journalism, but for our nation.”
— Andrew Heyward, former president, CBS News
Jared Wexler
“While our state content standards call for students to have media literacy as early as second grade, students still do not differentiate between sources that are reliable and those that are not. This sounds like a remarkable project. I would love to implement this in my classroom.”
— Jared Wexler, 7th grade social studies teacher, Hackensack Middle School, Hackensack, N.J.
Tom Rosenstiel
“The News Literacy Project is a simple but powerful idea. Everyone knows we need to do media literacy, and this is exactly the way to do it.”
— Tom Rosenstiel, founder and director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and a member of the project’s advisory committee
Bill Marimow
“The concept of reaching out to the younger generation through those of us who have experienced classical journalism and appreciate the First Amendment is long overdue. In my opinion, this project is one of great importance, and great urgency.”
— Bill Marimow, editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Jane Eisner
“Young people are growing up in a time when there’s plenty of information, but not enough civic knowledge. It’s imperative that we help them learn how to hold their government, their communities and the media accountable.”
— Jane Eisner, editor, The Forward, author of Taking Back the Vote: Getting Youth Involved in Our Democracy and a member of the project’s advisory committee
Mark Lukasiewicz
“The News Literacy Project is a great idea. It is a way to remind young people that unfettered journalism is crucial to any free society, and that a true journalist’s most important commitment is to the audience, and to the truth, wherever it may lead."
— Mark Lukasiewicz, vice president, digital media, NBC News
Jules Mermelstein
“This project could help me produce students who can function in the 21st-century information overload and, hopefully, become responsible, participating members of our democratic society.”
— Jules Mermelstein, history and government teacher at Upper Dublin High School in Upper Dublin, Pa., and president of the Upper Dublin Township Board of Commissioners
Geneva Overholser
“Fostering a public understanding of journalism offers such promise — in creating greater support for press freedom, in building discernment so that people demand high quality in their media, and in enriching civic discourse and nourishing the democracy.”
— Geneva Overholser, director of the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication
Noemi Donoso
“I love the idea! This seems like just the project to help teachers to think more creatively about their curriculum.”
— Noemi Donoso, former high school English and history teacher and principal in New York and Los Angeles and a member of the project’s advisory committee
Peter Price
“The News Literacy Project will dovetail with our mission to educate the public about what it sees on television. I expect that it will inspire many hundreds of our members, including reporters, producers and directors nationwide, to volunteer to work with students.”
— Peter Price, president, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Christine Szudzik
“I absolutely love this idea, especially under the current circumstances of our students having difficulty understanding how to weed out biased and unreliable sources.”
— Christine Szudzik, teacher, Beginning with Children Charter School, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Michael X. Delli Carpini
“The new media environment offers both opportunities for creating a new generation of informed citizens and risks that they will be lost in a sea of distractions and misinformation. The key to meeting its potential and avoiding its risks is to provide young people with the motivation and skills to become better consumers and producers of news in all its forms. The News Literacy Project offers a promising model for how we might achieve this goal.”
— Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, author of What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters and a member of the project’s advisory committee
