In less than two years since he’s been with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Professor Federico Subervi, Ph.D., has not only dedicated his time and efforts in educating future journalists, he has also served as a pioneer in the development of a Latino-Oriented News Literacy (LONLit) program.
Subervi, an expert about Latino media and audiences, said the effort proceeded thanks to collaboration with the Center for News Literacy (CNL) at Stony Brook University. CNL received a $130,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation in 2014 for a two-year development of Latino-oriented news literacy workshops. The first workshop took place July 2014 in Chicago and the next will be July 2015.
“The involvement with Stony Brook University’s CNL has helped me be a better consumer and educator of the role of media in society,” Subervi said. “Being a key player in the genesis of the LONLit initiative has been very rewarding, especially as I saw the positive outcome of that first workshop.”
Subervi presented a talk Nov. 15 at the University of Salford in Manchester, U.K., about the changing landscape of Latino-oriented media in the U.S. From there, he traveled to Prague to present a talk about the Latino-oriented news literacy program he helped develop.
In December, he attended a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Latino Public Radio Consortium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Advisory Council meeting of Child Trends Hispanic Institute in Washington, DC.
“It was a very busy end of semester indeed,” Subervi said.
He also traveled to the University of California, Merced, Jan. 29 to deliver a talk about Latinos and the media.
Subervi is trying to increase media literacy at Kent State, too. He served as the conduit to get Kent State selected by the National Association for Media Literacy Education for the screening of the documentary “Eyes Wide Open: This is Media.” The screening took place Feb. 20, 2014, in the FirstEnergy Auditorium.
To develop critical thinking skills, Subervi tells his students to seek answers to three key questions about the developments in the world they live in: Who makes the decisions? By what means are those decisions made? Who benefits and who does not from those decisions?
“I also try to get them to learn the complexity of the relations between politics, economics and the content and effects of news and entertainment media,” Subervi said.
Subervi thinks it is important to focus on Latino-oriented news literacy because Latino-oriented news media are growing and here to stay, especially in cities and regions with large Latino populations.
“Just as we care to offer news literacy about general market media to enhance the civic engagement of youth and citizens of all backgrounds,” Subervi said, “it is valuable to do the same for people who primarily rely on Latino media for their education and participation in society and democracy.”
*This story first appeared in CCI Candid.