Baruch College of the City University of New York
Nov. 12, 2010
New: Read Baruch College President Mitchel Wallerstein’s opening remarks.
Students need to be empowered to become critical consumers of news information so they’re not duped by propaganda, misinformation, marketing spin, and poor-quality information. In order to be informed participants in society, they need to learn how to assess the information that comes to them and seek and verify news information. As members of a public that increasingly contributes to the news information available online, they also need to learn how to be credible contributors of news content.
Where are students going for their news information? How do they filter and evalute the news information that comes to them via Facebook, MySpace, broadcast media and other platforms? What is their personal role in staying informed on matters of public concern? What is the value of high-quality, independently reported news information? Why is an independent press essential for any free society? What is the role of the press and the public in holding public officials accountable?
On November 12, 2010, classes from ten New York City public high schools, along with teachers, administrators, journalists and journalism educators from around the country, convened at Baruch College in Manhattan. There, the approximately 300 attendees and educators participated in an all-day series of meetings, panel discussions and events aimed to raise the profile of news literacy education and help provide students with knowledge and tools that can help them to become better informed citizens.
Baruch College’s Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions worked in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy, Alan Miller and The News Literacy Project, and Juana Ponce de Leon and the New York Community Media Alliance to create this event, which was possible because of the generous support of the McCormick Foundation.
We welcome your interest and participation!
–Geanne Rosenberg
Chair, Baruch College Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions
Participating Organizations:
Baruch College
Pulitzer Center
Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy
The News Literacy Project
New York Community Media Alliance
The LAMP
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University’s Knight Case Studies Initiative
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism
Newseum
McCormick Foundation
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The Harnisch Family Philanthropies
Participating High Schools:
Bronx Academy of Letters
Curtis High School (Staten Island)
Forest Hills High School (Queens)
Fort Hamilton High School (Brooklyn)
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (Queens)
GED Plus Tenzer Learning Center (Manhattan)
Herbert H. Lehman High School (Bronx)
New York City Lab School (Manhattan)
Townsend Harris High School (Queens)
Urban Assembly School for Media Studies (Manhattan)
