Empowering Students through Journalism: Introducing News Decoder

Empowering Students through Journalism: Introducing News Decoder

By Vicki Kohl, Upper School English Teacher

Although I am new to Tatnall, I am not new to teaching or journalism. I have spent the last 30 years as an English teacher with the Red Clay School District, during which time I taught Journalism and acted as adviser for the school newspaper. Therefore, I was excited to learn that I would have the opportunity to work with News Decoder as a part of the Global Literature Honors curriculum.

News Decoder is a global education program created by Reuters that has made it their mission “to help young people develop internationally-recognized global citizenship competencies, including the ability to communicate to global audiences, appreciate diverse perspectives, think critically about global issues and identify solutions to local, national and global problems.” In other words, students will learn how they can become literary activists by researching and writing about issues about which they care deeply. 

During the first semester, students learn about journalism ethics and bias, as well as how to structure a news story and conduct interviews. They will then use and further develop these skills during the second semester as they research and write articles about issues of global interest. During this time, they will go through the formal process of pitching, reporting, drafting, and revising their articles with support and feedback from professional journalists at every step. Students who successfully complete the process can submit their articles to News Decoder’s Storytelling contest with the opportunity to have their stories published and win a cash prize.

In addition to mentoring and training students to be responsible journalists, News Decoder offers so much more. For example, students have the opportunity to participate in monthly global webinars where they can hear diverse perspectives from journalists and students from 15 countries on five continents about topics such as leadership, A.I., and climate change. They also have access to podcast training and E-learning courses.

News Decoder helps develop “the skills, knowledge, and values that students need to cooperate in resolving the great global challenges of our time.” Through the lens of learning how to be responsible journalists they will learn essential life skills such as how to evaluate information sources and the importance of considering all sides of an issue, as well as how to consume media responsibly in an era filled with misinformation. But perhaps, most importantly, News Decoder teaches students that as members of a global community, we need to respect diversity while embracing our common humanity.