Whitman will host local journalists to speak this fall as part of the News Literacy Project.
The NLP’s fall forum will feature speeches from NPR president Vivian Schiller, Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth, PBS NewsHour and Washington Week’s Gwen Ifill and former White House press secretaries Michael McCurry and Dana Perino.
“People are excited about the caliber of the speakers, and about how timely and compelling the topics are,” founder of the NLP Alan Miller said. “I think were going to continue to generate more momentum as people return from vacation.”
Schiller and Weymouth will discuss “The Future of Journalism in the Digital Age” Sept. 12, Ifill will discuss “Race and Politics in the Age of Obama” Oct.17 and the former White House press secretaries will discuss “Briefing the press” Nov. 4.
“We really wanted individuals who were at the forefront of the transformation in American journalism,” Miller said.
In order to publicize the events, the NLP put flyers in different areas around Bethesda.
Tickets for the events are sold on the project’s website. Admission for a single event is $15 per adult and $10 per college or high school student. A package for all three events is $40 for adults and $25 for students.
During the school year, the program brings journalists to classrooms to speak about their profession and the importance of reading the news.
After the program began in 2009 with Whitman and two schools in New York, the NLP expanded to work with seven schools in New York, Chicago and the Washington, D.C. area. This fall, the program will expand to four more schools, including Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School.
“As more and more students are using electronic news sources on a daily basis, the program seemed like a really worth while endeavor,” principal Alan Goodwin said. “Students’ literacy has improved.”
Some students have found the project to be a good learning experience.
“The most intriguing aspect of the News Literacy Project is the array of critical thinking and analytical strategies that the project teaches students,” said junior Kevin Kay, a NLP student associate. “The value of taking an extra few minutes upon reading a piece of suspicious information to vet cited sources and check the article with comparable media is no less than extraordinary.”
As more people depend on the internet, the project looks to increase the number of online features on their website.
“We’d like to design a new website with a lot more capability and interactivity, as well as a number of other features to engage students and teachers with each other and with other journalists,” Miller said.
