In the year since Illinois’ pioneering media literacy requirement went into effect, experts, teachers and the state have scrambled to define what media literacy means and how to implement the new law without additional funding, professional development or clear standards. Illinois became the first state in the nation to require instruction of media literacy at the … [Read more...] about Illinois’ pioneering media literacy program lacks resources, oversight
Illinois
Southern Illinois media fail to report whole story of Chinese-American professor wrongly targeted by feds
In April 2021, the federal government indicted a Southern Illinois University Carbondale professor under the “China Initiative,” alleging two counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement in regards to a National Science Foundation grant application made on behalf of the university. If convicted, Mingqing Xiao could have faced up to 20 years in federal prison … [Read more...] about Southern Illinois media fail to report whole story of Chinese-American professor wrongly targeted by feds
Post-Dispatch and other Lee papers in Midwest brace for possible sell-off to hedge fund
Union members at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other papers owned by Lee Enterprises Inc. are urging the company to fight hard against a takeover attempt by Alden Global Capital LLC, a hedge fund the unions accuse of “gutting newsrooms.” In a letter Monday to Lee’s board of directors, 12 guilds representing Lee’s unionized newsrooms warned that Alden — which owns papers … [Read more...] about Post-Dispatch and other Lee papers in Midwest brace for possible sell-off to hedge fund
With its work set to begin in less than two months, the Local Journalism Task Force in Illinois still recruiting members to fulfill its mandate
A new local journalism task force is gearing up to examine the growing news desert in Illinois under a new mandate that goes into effect the first of the year, but the majority of the people who will do that work have yet to be appointed. The task force, established by law and signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August, will bring together educators and other key figures in … [Read more...] about With its work set to begin in less than two months, the Local Journalism Task Force in Illinois still recruiting members to fulfill its mandate
It’s getting hard and harder to find a newspaper for sale
Late last month, my son and I were photographed outside of Columbia College Chicago for a story about my employer’s new policy limiting children on campus. The Chicago Tribune photographer captured him in a wrap on my back, his blue Vans untied and a floral mask covering his face. It was my baby’s first newspaper photo. I’m just old school enough that after I … [Read more...] about It’s getting hard and harder to find a newspaper for sale