Lisa Buckley is Communications & Programmes Director, NewsBrands Ireland. Lisa represents the News Publisher sector on the Media Literacy Ireland Steering Group.
The need for news literacy education in our schools has never been more urgent. As young people are bombarded with a constant stream of news and information that can frequently contain fake news, propaganda, and hoaxes— often masquerading as credible journalism — it is becoming more and more difficult for people to distinguish fact from fiction. Furthermore, threats to press freedom and journalism are becoming worryingly more prevalent across Europe and the rest of the world.
As the representative body for Ireland’s national news publishers, we in NewsBrands Ireland and our members, are committed to promoting news literacy and the crucial role responsible journalism plays in a democracy. To this end, we run a free news literacy and student journalism programme for Transition Year students called Press Pass which seeks to empower young people to understand, critically analyse, engage with, and participate in the news.
Since its launch in 2012, it has reached over 110,000 students across the country and over half of all schools take part every year. The Press Pass module teaches the fundamentals of journalism writing, seeks to improve news literacy and critical thinking skills, and encourage students to analyse content and form opinions about important social issues.
Learning by Doing
By researching and writing their own pieces of journalism, Press Pass students understand the basics of professional journalism – fact checking, using sources, formulating opinions and writing clearly. Being able to understand, value, and participate in journalism is crucial because it allows students to critically evaluate information and media messages from a variety of sources.
Participating schools receive free access to news websites, a Teacher’s Lesson Plan, and a specially created Student Workbook. We also run number of webinars for schools which include advice and inspiration from renowned journalists and editors. More recently we have partnered with Arts in Junior Cycle to provide workshops for teachers on topics such as Opinion Writing and Podcasting.
National student journalism competition
Through Press Pass, students are encouraged to engage with journalism in the classroom, to analyse it and then to create their own original journalism, the best of which is entered into a national competition. Categories include School Newspaper, Opinion Writing, Features, Sports Writing, News Reporting, and Photojournalism. Students write and report on an array of subjects including the climate crisis, mental health, local sports games, gender issues, and politics. The finalists will be honoured at an awards ceremony in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on May 10th.
Through discussion with teachers, we can see that Press Pass has the potential to grow and reach all students beyond Transition Year. By working collaboratively with educators and journalists, the hope is to foster an appreciation and understanding of responsible journalism from a young age, to encourage aspiring journalists, and a new generation of media savvy, empowered citizens.
