Noteworthy information 6

Essential to the distribution of information that strengthens the credibility of scholastic media and its integrity, whether by legacy media or multimedia, is sound information gathering and attribution.

Some interesting resources that can supply needed perspective and depth, build credibility and demonstrate leadership roles through reporting:

• Journalist’s Resource from Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy which provides access to sources for plenty of strong story ideas that can be localized.

• NewsU from The Poynter Institute. NewsU offers free (and some for pay) online courses where your students can learn everything from basic reporting skills to how to handle international reporting. Even better, the courses are not just all print, but cover extensive multimedia skills and topics. Students can self-direct through the courses or teachers can use them in class.

• The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press offers extensive research that can be used to localize stories. A link to a July 15, 2010 survey on political knowledge is especially interesting. Other Pew resources include Journalism.org which provides more research but also links to numerous resources, including the principles of journalism.

• Part 2 of a continuing series on missions of scholastic media and how to achieve them from The Center of Scholastic Journalism.

Credibility is a fleeting commodity.

A sound information agenda, using reliable sources, can go a long way to ensure credibility.