Our Mission

Unreliable information overwhelms our media system and citizens are increasingly avoiding the news. In the spirit of our land grant mission, Penn State’s News Literacy Initiative aims to help, teaching students and citizens strategies for telling the difference between reliable public interest journalism and the noise that often overwhelms and divides us.

Our efforts will leverage resources from across the University system in a multipronged approach that will include campus events, K-12 educator webinars, online certification programs, a student News Literacy Ambassadors program, research efforts, and a radio show/podcast titled News Over Noise.

We hope this website and the multiple portions of the initiative will become a resource for everyone in the commonwealth.

Our Team

Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications

Matt Jordan

  • Director, News Literacy Initiative
  • Co-host "News Over Noise"

Leah Dajches

  • Postdoctoral Scholar, News Literacy Initiative
  • Co-host "News Over Noise"

Yasemin Beykont

  • Digital Media Director, Graduate Assistant

Sydney Forde

  • Graduate Assistant
  • Guest co-host "News Over Noise"

WPSU

Lindsey Whissel Fenton

  • Senior Producer and Director, WPSU

Sarah Hamilton

  • Education Program Manager, WPSU

Holly Lowe

  • Project Development Manager, WPSU

Rebecca Woolfrey

  • Web Designer & Content Strategist, WPSU