The Re-imagining Media program for student journalists

The problem we’re trying to solve is the lack of media literacy or media education among school students in India. At Via News Didi, we’re concerned that thousands of students are consuming news and information that is false, misleading and often harmful to their health- all without the skills to recognize and combat this problem.

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyse, evaluate, and create media in various forms and unfortunately finds no mention in Indian curricula or the recently updated National Education Policy 2020. 

This lack of media literacy training means that 

1. Students aren’t taught to critically analyse media, question the information they’re consuming or identify false or misleading information. 
   It's scary to imagine students at the receiving end of misinformation in a country where we find more fake news than anywhere else in the world. (Microsoft Survey, 2020)

2. Students lack technical skills, the ability to use digital tools to create media that may be essential for careers in journalism, advertising, marketing, filmmaking, and social media management

3. Students will  unlikely become active global citizens and informed decision makers with the ability to shape narratives, share their stories and feel a sense of agency and empowerment.

As educators, we’ve seen students defending Whatsapp forwards as the truth, sharing misinformation on Instagram and believing polarising content. The repercussions of our future leaders consuming such content today is a threat to democracy, peace and harmony. 

The Re-Imagining Media Program is a 6-8 week online learning program that empowers students to become responsible and innovative creators of media, for a better world!

The Program has 3 key components:

i) Online masterclasses with journalists, fact-checkers and other media professionals 

Every weekend students are taught by our panel of diverse media professionals or ‘media mentors’ as we like to call them. 

ii) Students write, edit and produce their own weekly, digital newsletters through the course of the program

Students share their learnings from the program and put their newly acquired knowledge and skills to use by producing digital newsletters on issues or themes they are passionate about. This gives many of them their first bylines and heaps of confidence! 

Students from our cohorts have created newsletters on history, climate change, happenings at school and even media literacy.

iii) Personalised feedback on student work through coaching calls

Students are provided guidance and feedback on their newsletters and additional resources to create content. 

The program can be run on any software like Zoom or Google Meet. 

More details about our program can be found here. 

https://www.vianewsdidi.com/medialiteracyforstudents

Our solution - the Re-Imagining Media program is currently open to students of Grade 8 -12. In each cohort, we work with about 35 students - almost a half of whom come from low-income communities. These students are typically first generation learners without access to any media education whatsoever. 

Through the skills they acquire at the Re-Imagining Media program, these students will be able to develop and use their agency to tell their own stories, advocate for themselves and others and become informed decision makers! Furthermore, media creation skills will make them more job-ready for careers in journalism, advertising and content creation.   

The Re-imagining Media Program is run by both students and teachers and has been designed through extensive consultations and feedback from students. 

For us, our proximity to the communities we serve is reflected in the following ways:

1. Our founding team consists of 2 Teach for India fellows (including myself) and an ex-student of mine who is currently in Grade 12. 

2. As Teach for India Fellows, we bring an understanding of the needs of learners from poorly resourced schools and low income communities. 

3. As a social science teacher, I’ve had many troubling conversations with my students whom I heard defending false WhatsApp news forwards and sharing misleading information they saw on TV news debates.  

At the beginning of the program we conduct a baseline survey to assess students’ learning levels, their ability to fact check information and overall understanding of the media landscape. At the end of the program, through an endline survey we assess how much students have learnt and the kind of skills they have acquired. This data also informs our program design for the next cohort. 

Additionally, given that the program is co-facilitated with media professionals, we also have a close proximity to the needs of media experts and what it would take to re-image media for a better tomorrow! 

We face the following challenges that we hope Solve can help us overcome: 

1. Technology :  We hope to gamify some of our content to help students better engage with media literacy concepts and even test their skills. For example, games that simulate the experiences of a reporter or quizzes to identify fake news could give students a more immersive experience. As a bootstrapped social enterprise, we have not yet been able to make significant investments in technology.

2. Marketing and Advocacy : Media literacy is not a focus area for schools or curricula in India, primarily because there is a lack of awareness around media consumption and its grave consequences. With the help of Solve’s robust network, we hope to create awareness around the need for media literacy and advocate for it to be seen as an essential skill for all learners today!

3. Strategic : Our hope is to ensure that every single student in India is media literate. We have designed multiple iterations of the Re-imagining Media program in order to reach more and more students every year. We would benefit tremendously from consultations with experts and reviews of our plans. 

In India, media literacy for school students is almost non-existent. The few programs that have existed (in the past- BBC Young Reporter India) or have recently been launched (Teen Fact Checking Network India) focus entirely on students are consumers of media. Students are taught to critically analyse information but not actively create media. 

The Re-Imagining Media Program not only has a more holistic focus - by viewing students both as creators and consumers of media, but is also a more hands-on, immersive experience. The program not only empowers students with media literacy skills but also gives them opportunities to apply these skills by creating anti-propaganda resources, email newsletters, videos and podcasts too! 

Given the lack of awareness around media literacy in India, we believe that there is great potential in collaborating with other media literacy initiatives to advocate for media literacy for all school students. It is also our view that as more and more students demand to learn how to use digital tools and create media, we will be able to leverage our experience in the field to help similar initiatives to expand their offerings and even share our content and resources with them. We recognize that tackling misinformation and incorporating media literacy in the Indian curricula will require collective action and therefore view organisations in this space as potential partners and collaborators!

Our impact goals for next year are as follows : 

1. Equip 1000 students with media literacy skills through the program

Having piloted the Re-Imagining Media program and successfully completed three editions of the program (the 3rd edition is currently underway), we are ready to take the program to a larger number of students. This will be done by:

a) Increasing number of participants per cohort (from 35 to 70 students)

b) Increasing number of cohorts per year (from 3 to 6) 

2. Test the Re-Imagining Media Program for schools in 20 schools

In its current form, the Re-Imagining Media program is a competitive, application based opportunity for students. In the coming year, we wish to pilot (already underway) running the program for an entire Grade in a school - as a year long (online + in-person) engagement 

3. Create at least 20 student led publications through the Re-Imagining Media Program for schools 

Through the year-long program with partner schools, we hope to facilitate the creation of one student-led publication in each of our partner schools. These could be school newspapers, newsletters or magazines that will allow for greater student agency and creative expression.

In the next five years, we wish to reach at least 5000 students by collaborating with other local educational organisations to deliver the Re-Imagining Media program in their local areas. Additionally, we hope to introduce the program in Hindi and other regional languages as well, in the next 5 years.

Following are some of the key indicators we aim to use in order to measure progress:

1. Student Learning Outcomes: 
Through our baseline and endline surveys we measure student learning as a result of our intervention. 

2. Program Reach 
We will track the number of students who access the intervention across its various forms i.e the Re-Imagining Media program and the Re-Imagining Media Program at school.

3. Student led publications 
We will track the number of student led publications created as a result of the intervention. (Producing a student led publication is a key student output of the program)

4. Student voice in mainstream media 
We will track the number of articles or published works (in mainstream media) of student journalists who were trained through the Re-Imagining Media Program. 

Our belief is that if students are equipped with media literacy skills, then they will become responsible consumers and innovative creators of media with the ability to advocate for themselves and others. 

Our Business Model Canvas defines our Theory of Change in greater detail:

Currently we use only softwares like Zoom and Google meet to conduct our learning program. Additionally, we also other online learning tools in our sessions to enhance and track student learning.  

Our approach to incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion in our work is as follows: 

Equity : In order to make the program accessible to students from low income communities, we offer both partial and full scholarships to such students. We also partner with organizations like Teach for India, Akaknksha foundation and Avasara Academy to include students from disadvantaged communities in our cohorts. 

Diversity : We believe that classrooms are becoming more and more homogenous today and this is not in the best interest of the learner. Therefore our program cohorts ensure that students across class barriers are learning together. We also create heterogeneous teams that include diverse students who work towards a common goal - creating a student led publication that includes all their voices!  

Inclusion: Our founding team consists of both students and teachers. This ensures that beneficiaries of the program also have a say in its design, opportunities to voice their needs and interests and help us put together a program that truly serves the best interests of students!