6 October 2008
Nigerian students from more than a dozen schools competed in a quick "newspaper race" at the First Africa Media Literacy Conference as a World Association of Newspapers team explained how newspapers can be a natural ally in media literacy efforts.
Organizers of the session hoped participants would learn "practical ways to incorporate media literacy concepts, methods an materials into school, health and community programmes," according to Chido Onumah, Coordinator of the Youth, Media and Communication Initative (YMCI).
Co-organizers were the British Council and the National Film & Video Censors Board of Nigeria.
The WAN team included Solomon Ofori, director of Media in Education Trust - Ghana and a veteran trainer for WAN, who took the children through a 10-minute exercise in basic media literacy that had them racing to find "a story you would like to read," "news about a child, "a headline about some injustice," plus basic elements of the newspaper, such as a headline and a sub-headline.
Also on the WAN team were Gail January and Joseph Makuwa of South Africa who explained how the three-day camps the Institute for Advancement of Journalism have been running since 1994 have taught hundreds of children about the workings of professional journalism while helping them learn how to start, and financially sustain, a school newspaper. Both leading newspapers in Abuja, the Daily Trust and Leadership, donated copies for children to use in the exercise.
"Our purpose at this conference was two-fold," said Aralynn McMane, WAN director of young readership development. "Most speakers focused on broadcast, film and online media messages.
We wanted to show how the newspaper helps teach children in more than 70 countries to think critically and also to learn crucial role of the newspaper in a democratic community. We also wanted to highlight the crucial importance of teaching about press freedom."
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