Schools are a place to foster lifelong learning skills. Upon graduation, students continue to learn through the news. What skills and abilities are needed, then, to become news literate? By relying on in-depth interviews with five Ontario journalists, this study brings the voice of journalists into this academic discussion, a voice that has been largely neglected in the reviewed literature. This study finds reporters largely agree with educational theorists on the concepts and lessons underpinning news literacy curricula, although refine these ideas from the point of view of news producers. Several themes emerged through phenomenological analysis of interview transcripts, including news creation as a social process, deep questioning and curiosity in relation to critical thinking, the roles of social media in the modern news ecosystem, and understanding news as a narrative that we shape and are shaped by. Each theme defines what it means to be news literate from the point of view of journalists and gives a detailed view of the generally accepted academic definition of media literacy, which is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms (Aufderheide, 1993; UNESCO, n.d.). Journalists acknowledged their domain expertise with the media and teachers’ expertise with education, meeting Masterman’s (2001) belief in the need for educators and journalists to work together to further the cause of media literacy. Educators looking for more detailed ideas for the construction of news literacy curricula can find those details in the thoughts, ideas and themes in this study. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-04-25 21:40:25.073

abstract: Long before “fake news” dominated the conversation within and about the media, media literacy advocates have championed the need for media literacy education that provides the tools for people to understand, analyze, and evaluate media messages. That the majority of U.S. adults now consume news on social media underscores the importance for students of all ages to be critical users of media. Furthermore, the affordances of social media to like, comment, and share news items within one’s network increases an individual’s responsibility to ascertain the veracity of news before using a social media megaphone to spread false information. Social media’s shareability can dictate how information spreads, increasing news consumers’ role as a gatekeeper of information and making media literacy education more important than ever. This research examines the media literacy practices that news consumers use to inform their gatekeeping decisions. Using a constant comparative coding method, the author conducted a qualitative analysis of hundreds of discussion board posts from adult participants in a digital media literacy Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to identify major themes and examine growth in participants’ sense of responsibility related to sharing news information, their feeling of empowerment to make informed decisions about the media messages they receive, and how the media literacy tools and techniques garnered from the MOOC have affected their daily media interactions. Findings emphasize the personal and contextual nature of media literacy, and that those factors must be addressed to ensure the success of a media literacy education program. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 2018