News Literacy, Informed Citizens and Consumer-Driven Media: The Future Landscape of American Journalism

Today, Americans face the challenge of information overload through increasingly accessible mediums, making it harder to identify valuable information and to move fluently and efficiently through social media, news and entertainment platforms. And yet, because of this profound connectivity, user engagement levels are at an all-time high. Individual consumers have more power than ever to shape the changing digital world and demand high-quality information merely by connecting with news sources online. It is of utmost importance, then, that this very consumer class is as informed and educated as possible in regards to the value of accurate, verified journalism and high-quality reporting, in order to demand a better journalistic product and to fulfill the American ideal of an informed, engaged citizenry.