Category: Midwest

After COVID-19, media literacy was on a ‘back burner’

Teachers came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, then they heard about the Illinois’ media literacy requirement. Raquel Bliffen, an English teacher at Mt. Vernon Township High School, said her reaction to the new requirement may have been tainted by her whole mindset since COVID-19, which is “kind of like one more thing.”  “I kind of…

‘Teaching through experience and learning from reactions’: a first-hand look at the implementation of Illinois’ pioneering media literacy program

A windy 27 degrees covered Bedford Park, IL as airplanes from nearby Chicago Midway Airport flew above John Hancock College Prep High School. The bell rang to start the day.  In the year following a new Illinois law that requires instruction of media literacy at the public high school level, the state’s educators have been…

News Analysis: St. Louis tech startup that monetizes far-right fantasies faces little pushback in its hometown

Nearly a year has passed since the Gateway Journalism Review first reported that LockerDome, a prominent St. Louis tech startup, had become a company that partners with some of the most notorious right-wing websites in the country.   Serving as an advertising middleman, LockerDome was actually helping to fuel dozens of sites promoting election denial, white…

AI Content for Journalism: Unleash it, or control it?

Artificial intelligence ought to help journalists and other content creators. It’s modern and efficient. Feed it data, tell it the subjects you want covered and watch as the finished articles pop up on your screen. Make a few tweaks and send them out. Sit back and watch the profits come in. What could go wrong? Everything —…

The case for building better business journalism

Business journalism, if done well, is community journalism.  The beats converge in stories about burgeoning small businesses, from a new grocery store that serves an underserved Hispanic community, to the giddy launch of a trading-card store. Business journalism seeks to answer the “why” behind the persistence of sexual harassment at restaurants. And it explores quirky…