In the spring of 2013, I drove up to Georgetown outside Lexington for a one-day conference titled, “Words in a Changing World: From Bradford to Bloggers.”
Bradford referred to the publisher John Bradford, who put out the state’s first newspaper, the Kentucky Gazette, beginning in 1787. Several Kentucky journalists were invited to the conference to speak about the future of news media in Kentucky. I went to hear them.
To me, one panelist stood out — John Carroll, who was retired after leading the Lexington Herald-Leader, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. That day Carroll talked about the growing threats he saw against traditional journalism, in part because of hyper-partisanship stoked by media celebrities who wanted Americans to think they couldn’t trust people who report the news.
Carroll’s purpose that day wasn’t strictly to tell us how bad things would get. He also offered at least one constructive response — a nonprofit he helped establish around 2006 to help teach people how to become smart, active news consumers.
That was the first time I’d heard of the News Literacy Project. Today the organization provides teaching tools and resources for educators and the general public with an aim to help improve democracy.
Now is a good time to learn about NLP because News Literacy Week is Jan. 24-28.
“This annual event underscores the vital role of news literacy in a democracy and provides audiences with the knowledge, tools and abilities to become more news-literate,” NLP describes. “It also aims to inspire news consumers, educators and students to practice news literacy and to strengthen trust in news media by reinforcing the role of credible journalism.”
You can learn more about NLP’s work here. The website has a quiz to help you make better choices about sharing information online. And this quiz tests your knowledge of the First Amendment.
I hope you’ll check it out.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
