Executive Director, Citizens Education Clearing House and Kids Voting Missouri, UM-St. Louis
By Sandra Diamond
“Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”
Thomas Jefferson
People always ask me where I get my love and passion for the news, voting, and politics. The answer is quite simple—from my family and my teachers. Both helped instill this love and passion that has lasted a lifetime.
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, my father required me to read three newspapers a day—the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Daily News, and the Hammond Times. Before going to school, my father would quiz me on the news and sports. In the evening, Walter Cronkite and the CBS Evening News played on our black and white TV. Immediately after dinner, or many times during dinner, my father would question us on the evening news. Family discussions were held on what was going on in our city and the world.
Back then, we didn’t have many media choices. We had one black and white TV that was turned on to what my father wanted to watch and we had one radio that played music and news shows like the Paul Harvey show. In school, we had the Weekly Reader and teachers that loved to talk about current events; and on weekends, when we went to the movies, we were shown newsreels before the feature films began. Oh yes, we also had the public library.
Reading newspapers, following the evening news, listening to news commentaries, and going to school, made up most of my day. In the 50’s and 60’s, this was called current events. I read, listened, and discussed the news /events of the day with family, friends, and classmates. I was challenged early to think about what was going on, form an opinion, and defend my opinion. I was also taught to put myself in the other person’s shoes and to see things from the perspective of the other person. If someone made a good point, it was okay to change your mind and take a different side. I learned the value of compromise and good decision making.
Today, people have far more media choices than one could have ever imagined in the ‘50’s. From one black and white TV in my day, most Americans now have 2.86 TV sets in the home according to a 2009 Nielsen survey. And according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., “the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day. In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.”
In 2011 our media choices are many. We have flat screen TVs, magazines, satellite radio, the Internet, UTube, School Tube, On-line newspapers, Kindle, IPad, IPod, IPhone, Blog, Twitter, Apps, and Facebook, just to name a few.
You may be thinking, okay we watch a lot of TV, have many media choices, and times have changed since the 50’ and 60’s, but what does all of this have to do with empowering citizens to think critically about the media? In my day, young people grew up living the news; we did not have “No Child Left Behind,” state standards, or other mandates—we just had school, textbooks, homework, parents, and others who challenged us to think. The questions “Why,” “How,” and “What If,” formed the basis of our thinking process. Learning how to use and analyze primary sources was important in developing our thinking skills. Reading multiple sources, i.e, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, the New York Times, etc., helped us to see many, many different points of view. We were taught the difference between a news article and an editorial and encouraged to write our own.
As the digital age has grown and prospered, our job as educators, parents, relatives, or friends is to teach, inspire, and model good media literacy skills to our young citizens. We need to bring current events back into the limelight and inspire our youth to read/watch shows that discuss these issues. We must encourage our young people to think and ask questions. We need to provide opportunities for our young people to debate and discuss critical issues.
To do this, each one of us MUST be media literate. We must be reading newspapers, watching TV newscasts, and reading reputable on-line news sources. We must be able to distinguish fact from opinion; we must be able to see the difference between bias and objectivity; we must understand the role a free press plays in our democracy. We must be the role models that every young person is looking for.
As citizens of the USA we have many rights and responsibilities. One of our responsibilities is to get information, stay informed, and get involved in our government. I see staying informed and getting involved as my job-my duty. Why? Because American Democracy is based on the premise of: “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” And I am one of the people.
Many think that getting every citizen to register and vote is a key ingredient to sustain democracy. While registering and voting is extremely important to our democracy, I believe it is just as important that people become informed, engaged citizens. An informed citizenry is an important requirement of our representative democratic system of government. To become informed and active, in my opinion, we must be media literate.
Please join me this Media Literacy Week and pledge to be a role model for our young citizens—read newspapers (on-line or in hard copy) and discuss with students, family or friends; inspire a young person to watch a TV news program and then dialogue with that person about the program; motivate someone you know to attend one of the many upcoming political debates; hold a debate watch party at your home; join the League of Women Voters; take a young person to the polls with you on Election Day; use the news in your teaching or family discussions.
Working together, we can and we will empower each other to become media literate. Only then, as FCC Commissioner Michael Capps said recently, will we realize the full potential of an informed, engaged citizenry.
SANDY DIAMOND, M.ED. In June 1999, Sandy joined the Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH-pronounced “check”) at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She was hired to direct Kids Voting Missouri, one of CECH’s two citizenship education programs. Kids Voting Missouri is an affiliate Kids Voting USA, a national non-profit, non-partisan organization that strives to help students become educated, engaged citizens.
