LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — This week is National News Literacy Week, and LEX 18's parent company, the E. W. Scripps Company, highlights journalism's role in a healthy democracy.
Students at Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington learn about media literacy early by informing their peers each morning.
Pablo Alcala's media students broadcast the morning announcements live every day.
"We're the only school in the county that does live morning announcements," said senior Owen Herman.
Some students work behind the scenes, directing the show or running teleprompter. Other students present the announcements as anchors.
The day we visited the class, they also showed first-year students what learning about media looks like.
Alcala's classes prepare students for a potential career, but hands-on experience in a studio prepares them for a changing media landscape. According to the Pew Research Center, 93% of teens use YouTube. More than 60% of teens have TikTok and Snapchat accounts. In these online spaces, it can be hard to determine what's true and what's false.
"That's the hardest," said Alcala, a former photojournalist at the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Students aren't watching too much news; they're not reading newspapers. They're watching less credible sources of news."
"It's sad to say, but most probably get their news from social media," Herman said.
But after learning what goes into a daily newscast, these high schoolers say they understand why news literacy matters.
"I subscribe to the New York Times, and it's mostly where I get my world news from," said Lunna Miller.
"Especially if something seems outrageous, I think, 'Maybe this isn't true. Maybe I should do a little more research into what I'm reading,'" said Mackenzie Ostrander.
"You have to cite evidence everywhere," Herman said. "Whether it be in papers you're writing in class or on the news. If you're not credible, no one is going to listen."
