Students urged to engage with world of journalism

TRANSITION year students are being given the opportunity to dip their toes into the world of journalism.

NewsBrands Ireland has announced the launch of Press Pass 2017, a journalism and news literacy programme now in its sixth year.

It has been designed to improve literacy and criticalthinking skills, while helping students to develop a deeper understanding of news media and how it communicates about the world around them.

Social media giant Twitter has been confirmed as a partner for this year’s programme, which also has the support of the Department of Education.

Participating schools will receive newspapers, a new teacher’s lesson plan and a specially created workbook free of charge.

Students are encouraged to engage with the newspapers in the classroom, and to analyse them and to create examples of original journalism, the best of which will then be entered into a national competition.

Around 70,000 students have benefited from the Press Pass programme since it was launched.

NewsBrands Ireland chairman Vincent Crowley said the publishers that made up the organisation believed in the efficiency of Press Pass, which allowed students to take advantage of the many educational resources that newspapers had to offer.