Media Literacy Initiative Helps Young People Prepare for 2012 Presidential Election Campaign

Though all of the votes from the 2010 midterm elections have yet to be counted, the political focus is already shifting to the 2012 presidential campaign. In fact, the first debate among potential Republican candidates, to be televised by NBC, is scheduled for next spring. To help young people prepare to sort through the overwhelming flood of information that will soon pour forth from the media about the campaign, a media literacy initiative at Ithaca College has published an update to its popular curriculum kit for teachers. Produced by Project Look Sharp, "Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns" is a free online teaching aid that uses examples from past campaigns to help students understand how the media cover elections and how candidates use the media.