Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
New Perspectives on Media and Education. A series of interviews with innovators and thought-leaders, hosted by Professor Ger Graus.
Jodie Jackson’s report on Navigating News, Nurturing Hope is an evidence-based approach to a new way of educating young people in their understanding of news. From her personal experience, explored in-depth in this fascinating interview with Ger Graus, and from classroom experience delivering a course that offers new understandings of the “hidden agenda” in news content and the unconscious bias towards the negative in newsrooms, she brings a new perspective on positivity for young people in the face of the many problems they encounter in news coverage. “Solutions journalism” is not a new concept. But for young people it offers an innovative way the audiences that receive news content can filter what they see on screen and reconsider its meaning and impact on their lives.
There are lessons not only for the children who learn these new approaches, but for everyone who makes media for young people.
Accentuating the positive is not about light-hearted stories and positive bias. It’s about handling the complexities of life lessons in factual and fictional content to help the young find routes to a better future. It inspires engagement and action, rather than despair and resignation. With implications for the mental well-being of the young audience and for their role as active citizens, Jodie’s in-depth work in unpicking news reception reinforces the positive approach many in the kids’ media sector know and practise, and shows that “Thinking Differently” about the purposes and effectiveness of media in education has an important part to play not only for the learning community but for content creators of all kinds.
New Perspectives on Media and Education. A series of interviews with innovators and thought-leaders, hosted by Professor Ger Graus.
Jodie Jackson’s report on Navigating News, Nurturing Hope is an evidence-based approach to a new way of educating young people in their understanding of news. From her personal experience, explored in-depth in this fascinating interview with Ger Graus, and from classroom experience delivering a course that offers new understandings of the “hidden agenda” in news content and the unconscious bias towards the negative in newsrooms, she brings a new perspective on positivity for young people in the face of the many problems they encounter in news coverage. “Solutions journalism” is not a new concept. But for young people it offers an innovative way the audiences that receive news content can filter what they see on screen and reconsider its meaning and impact on their lives.
There are lessons not only for the children who learn these new approaches, but for everyone who makes media for young people.
Accentuating the positive is not about light-hearted stories and positive bias. It’s about handling the complexities of life lessons in factual and fictional content to help the young find routes to a better future. It inspires engagement and action, rather than despair and resignation. With implications for the mental well-being of the young audience and for their role as active citizens, Jodie’s in-depth work in unpicking news reception reinforces the positive approach many in the kids’ media sector know and practise, and shows that “Thinking Differently” about the purposes and effectiveness of media in education has an important part to play not only for the learning community but for content creators of all kinds.
