Illinois drafting required media-literacy course; high-school students' videos on the subject to be shown online tonight

Axios llustration by Aïda Amer

Illinois has become the first state to require students to take a course in media literacy, and tonight at 6 p.m. CT the Illinois Media Literacy Coalition will showcase award-winning videos by Illinois high school students about the importance of understanding media, reports Monica Eng of Axios.

The course will be required in the 2022-23 school year. The law says the course should help students analyze the purpose of media messages and how they are made, how media influences behavior, and the importance of digesting multiple media sources, Eng reports.

State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Teutopolis, said the law is "anti-Trump, anti-conservative" and a bid by liberals "to get into our school systems at a young age," according to the Illinois Radio Network. "Supporters of the law tell Axios it's not about politics, but giving students tools to develop their own BS detectors," Eng writes, quoting attorney Maaria Mozaffar, who helped write the law: "I would use the analogy of financial literacy classes."

Columbia College Chicago professor Yonty Friesem, who is co-writing the teaching framework, told Eng that Lessons in the course will be framed as discussions: "We don't want to dictate how it's going to be taught. Instead, we want to show the value of asking questions and reflecting on how the media impacts us. This is not about making the teacher the sage on the stage, but about facilitating discussions where people can have different opinions . . . civil debate and deliberation." Friesem invites comments and suggestions at YFriesem@colum.edu.