Media education: Students get to create their own news
The Finnish national broadcasting company Yle’s News Class is a long-term project as part of their media education work. Young people learn about media by producing content themselves with the help of Yle journalists acting as news mentors. News made by young people are visible and audible in Finland every year.
The goal of this News Class is to improve young people’s media literacy and increase interest in society and current affairs. Young people make news about their own topics. News Class’s content is published on broadcasting company´s platforms throughout the school year, and the activities culminate in News Class Week at the end of April.
When a class participates in the News Class, they get a journalist as their news mentor, who assists the students in creating stories. The news mentor also visits the class to talk about topics such as the work of a journalist, creating news, fake news, freedom of speech, social media, and image and video hoaxes.
Not every class has their own news mentor, but it is also possible to participate in this initiative independently through online materials. There is a comprehensive material package available for teachers for media education lessons, which allows the themes of News Class to be covered independently with their own class.
Do broadcasting companies and news agencies collaborate with schools in your country? And how are you tackling media literacy and fake news? We would love to hear your thoughts on media education as it is a hot topic at the moment!
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