Media literacy makes strides in Illinois

Reliable information is to civic health what proper sanitation and potable water are to public health.”

A report from the Stanford History Education Group

A media literacy program will be part of every Illinois high school's curriculum beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.

The program results from a bill introduced by Illinois State Senator Karina Villa and signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on July 9. It will “provide instruction for students to learn how to analyze and communicate information from a variety of mediums, including digital, interactive, audio, visual, and print,” says the bill.

The Illinois program is the latest in a series of such programs that have been promoted by the advocacy organization Media Literacy Now. The Stanford University History Education Group conducted a study from June 2018 to May 2019 of 3,446 high school students whose demographics represented all high school students in the United States. A report released in 2019 stated that nearly all students “floundered” in six exercises to gauge their ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet.

“Reliable information is to civic health what proper sanitation and potable water are to public health,” said a report from the Stanford History Education Group. “A polluted information supply imperils our nation’s civic health. We need high-quality, digital literacy curricula which is validated by rigorous research to guarantee the vitality of American democracy.”

In its "U.S. Media Literacy Policy Report 2020,” the organization calls Florida and Ohio leaders. Florida has required that media literacy be integrated into all subjects taught in K-12 schools, along with education about communication, reading, writing skills and civic engagement. In Ohio, statewide academic standards include “the development of skill sets that promote information, media, and technology.”

Texas is listed as a “strong leader,” and Media Literacy Now says there is progress in 11 other states. However, Media Literacy notes that many states have programs that focus only on social media and not all media platforms.

Yonty Friesem, associate director of the Media Education Lab and assistant professor of civic media at Columbia College Chicago

The Illinois bill was backed by the Illinois Media Literacy Coalition, a group of educators and scholars created by Yonty Friesem and Michael Spikes. Spikes is an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago and a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy. He has been teaching, writing about and developing a curriculum on news media literacy for 15 years. Friesem is associate director of the Media Education Lab and Assistant Professor of civic media at Columbia College Chicago, where he founded M.A. programs in Strategic Communication and Civic Media.

Michael Spikes, adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago and a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy

Friesem and Spikes, who have worked together to craft the media literacy teaching framework, are aware of the issues with the media literacy programs in other states. Spikes said that while other states already have enacted media literacy requirements, they haven’t created a mechanism for ensuring that media literacy programs are implemented. The Illinois program will do that.

Friesem said the program they have crafted includes a subset known as news literacy that teaches students to look for sources of information that don't align with their point of view. He said it is also important to teach students what different types of media have to offer and don’t offer.

“Each particular medium has different advantages and limitations,” he said. “One thing that should be part of any media education program is understanding what are the limitations and advantages of getting information from different types of media. … For example, video doesn’t always work well when it comes to certain complex subjects. Words or text might work better.”

Spikes and Friesem said the program they have constructed isn't a single course but should be spread across all students’ subjects.

Henry (Hank) Scott is a journalist and media business executive whose Media-Maven LLC (www.Media-Maven.com) provides a variety of services to media startups and existing publishers.