Press Council seeks focus on media

THE PROPOSED curriculum for the new Leaving Certificate subject, politics and society, should include an emphasis on the power and accountability of the press and new media, the Press Council of Ireland has said.

In a submission to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the Press Council said students should be able to analyse the ways in which the media operates in a democracy.

The development of a syllabus for the new Leaving Certificate subject is in line with recommendations on fostering citizenship among school students included in the March 2007 report of the Taskforce on Active Citizenship.

The Press Council said students should also “be able to identify the strengths and weakness of various forms of media accountability and identify relevant examples of media accountability in action”.

“They should be able to compare the social effects of old and new media, identify the special characteristics of new media, and describe the challenges – for regulators and others – posed by the new media.”

The submission adds that students should be helped to develop a critical framework for analysing the media and an awareness of professional practices.

It says they should be assisted in assessing the power of the media in society, the role of the media in the context of globalisation and localisation and the effectiveness of the media as an informal regulator of societal institutions generally.

According to the submission, “the press has traditionally been understood as one of the ways in which social and political institutions are held to account.

“This concept has now been enhanced to include the accountability of the press itself, partly as a reflection of the power the press exercises, partly because of the growing realisation that an institution which holds other institutions accountable should be accountable itself.”

The submission continues: “In an era characterised by an explosion of digital, user-generated media content, social networking and related innovations, to which students in particular increasingly contribute and by which they are increasingly affected, students will learn about the interaction of media and new technology, and of new and old media. They should be able to compare the social effects of old and new media.”

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment was established on a statutory basis in 2001 to advise the Minister for Education on curriculum and assessment for early childhood education and for primary and post-primary schools.

The Press Council of Ireland was established in January 2008.