Editorial: Make media literacy education a reality

Two years ago, the Illinois General Assembly pioneered legislation requiring the state's public schools to teach media literacy.

It was a major step in helping to equip today's students - and tomorrow's electorate - with the tools needed to become responsible citizens in a new era of fragmented media, sophisticated analytics and widespread misinformation.

While Illinois Senate sponsor Karina Villa of West Chicago describes the mandate simply as "a common sense piece of legislation," it was precedent setting, the first law of its kind in the nation.

And necessary. We lauded its passage and support its implementation.

But that second part is key. It is one thing to pass a law. But it is even more important to make sure that it works.

So far, the jury is very much out on that.

As precedent setting as the law was, it also was passed with little guidance for its enactment. We suspect politics played a role in that, the more vague the legislation, the less critics it might set off.

The Northern Illinois News Association recently surveyed a handful of high school journalism advisers and teachers and found wide variations in the profile media literacy is receiving and in the ways the mandate is being addressed.

Should it be taught as a separate and clearly identified segment? Or woven in almost unnoticed as part of a pertinent class?

What grade level should offer it?

Should testing on some of the basic concepts be part of a requirement for high school graduation?

How are fears that the instruction could be biased against conservative viewpoints to be addressed?

The association survey found no common answers to these basic questions.

Beyond that, educators in some schools were largely unaware even of the media literacy requirement.

It has been only two years. General guidance from the state has only recently been developed.

But we urge Sen. Villa and the bill's House sponsor, Lisa Hernandez of Cicero, as well as other interested legislators, to follow up.

Media literacy is too important - not just to the students themselves, but also to the republic - to assume that the law's passage necessarily means it is being embraced and taught with the emphasis it needs.

Put a thorough review of its implementation under the legislative microscope. And if necessary, refine the guidelines schools need.

Alluding to the monumental cultural impact social media has had, Villa warns that media literacy is "something that society at large really needs to educate themselves on. The way that we consume social media is impacting us in several ways."

We agree wholeheartedly. Hernandez and Villa are important pioneers, more important than perhaps even they recognize.

We call on them to do the follow up that will turn that work into a meaningful legacy.