CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV)— A production classroom at Carlsbad High School allows students to live broadcast every morning and produce feature stories with a partner.
The CHSTV Production classroom, taught by a broadcast journalism teacher, Kurt Kohnen, has students ranging from freshmen to seniors. On Tuesday, the students sit at the ready to find out their assignments for the newscast.
“I really like how you come in every day, and you don’t know what job you’re going to get. He pulls the sticks, and it’s whatever’s left you pick from that,” Faye Glenn, a Carlsbad HS senior. “It’s unique in the way that we do everything.”
Real-world experience is something everyone wants. Kohnen tells ABC 10News there are chances for learning lessons that the students get to have about being vigilant of what they’re seeing and sourcing.
“In order for them to be better consumers of media and news, they need to be critical, have a critical eye of the sources and the information,” Kohnen said. “So that comes up in the daily broadcasts, with their stories.”
Having media literacy is something the state is hoping to bring into every classroom with a plethora of polarizing stories, issues and topics out in the ether.
“But it is something I would say isn’t very common. And I believe this law will help them become better consumers of news and media,” Kohnen said. “It’s something I think we welcome.”
Starting in 2024, a new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom will fold media literacy into teaching English, math, science, and social science in California schools K-12.
“So, news literacy has definitely become more of an issue now that we are using social media to get most of our news as, like, anybody can post anything, and a lot of it can be fake, which can be dangerous,” Carlsbad High School senior Danika Witt said.
It’s a similar sentiment echoed by the author of the new law.
Witt’s writing her senior research paper on the topic includes a survey of how her fellow high schoolers get their news.
“I just think that’s like a changing world. And it’s really interesting to see if people who are getting their news on social media actually understand what’s going on in the world,” Witts said.
With the seconds of Witt’s and Glenn’s high school world counting down, they say this new media literacy education can help student as they grow up from grade to grade.
“As you get older [it] would really help develop your skills when you’re an adult, and you’re looking at the news to figure out who [you're] voting for, or you’re looking at the news to figure out where the traffic is and things like that. It’ll definitely help you later in life,” Glenn said.
