The 10th Annual
Northeast Media Literacy Conference
Friday, March 16, 2012
Bishop Center • University of Connecticut • Storrs, Connecticut 06269
“News Literacy in a Digital Media Age”
The expanding media literacy movement has helped children and youth to become more media literate for many years now, with a major emphasis upon skill in accessing, analyzing, and evaluating the many complex messages presented through the mass media, particularly through television, advertising, and the news in many forms and formats.
The rapid spread of new digital technology devices has also had a great impact upon the types and extent of mass media exposure and media use in today’s youth culture, including cell phones, iPods, voice and text messaging, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, video games, etc.
In our tenth annual Northeast Media Literacy Conference, major emphases will be upon:
- exploring the growing importance of news literacy within the larger media literacy world, particularly in a key election year
- the impact and changes brought about by the spread of new, more personal, faster digital technology
- where and how young people are accessing (or not accessing) important national and international news
- the continuing need to help young people to develop critical thinking skills in accessing, understanding and interpreting the ubiquitous media world and its impact upon their changing youth culture — in terms of their use of time, thinking, priorities, decisions, actions, and values, and the potential implications for their own futures
- exploring the possible need for changes and priorities in our media literacy efforts in our schools, communities, and youth-oriented organizations.
Two outstanding keynote speakers will headline the 2012 conference:
Howard Schneider, nationally recognized speaker, educator, founding dean of the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University, creator of landmark news literacy program. For more than 35 years. Schneider was a reporter and editor at Newsday. At Stony Brook, Schneider helped develop the nation’s first course in News Literacy, which seeks to have students across all disciplines study how to become discerning news consumers. The course has subsequently spread to universities around the nation. He is the executive director of the school’s Center for News Literacy.
Dr. Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, nationally recognized pediatrician and expert on the impact of the mass media upon young children and media literacy leader for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Dr. Clarke-Pearson has a unique background as both an elementary school teacher and pediatrician,” said Barbara Bradley, president & CEO of Action for Children North Carolina. “There is no more vocal advocate for the children of our state.” She has received an award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for her work in developing a statewide initiative to limit television viewing by children.
A special repeat international feature of the 2012 conference will be the participation of 22 media leaders from twenty-two nations around the world sponsored by the U. S. State Department’s highly regarded International Visitors Leadership Program.
A special feature again this year, for all registered attendees, will be the media display and generous offer by the Media Education Foundation for the purchase of any of its timely films at $20, a spectacular bargain.
Mark your calendar for this landmark 10th year for the Northeast Media Literacy Conference, following up on and hopefully enhancing our nine previous highly successful annual meetings — Friday, March 16, 2012. We hope you will join us.
For more details on the Conference, check our website which is updated periodically, http://medialiteracy.education.uconn.edu
