Do you ever find yourself in the middle of something, certain that it’s probably a watershed event but too caught up in the moment to properly process it?

I’m talking real ‘forest-for-the-trees’ stuff?

That was me today as I stood alongside the South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas as he announced a four-year funding deal to roll out Newshounds – our media literacy resource for primary kids – to schools all over his state.

It’s an Aussie first – not to mention a vital lifeline for our little operation. And one which we hope is only the beginning of a wider, state-by-state roll-out. 

Long-time readers of this newsletter will know I’ve spent the better part of the last two years shuttling back and forth to Canberra and conducting classroom demonstrations of Newshounds all over the country for Federal politicians of every stripe, hoping to convince them of the urgent need to make media literacy education both universal and mandatory.

 In that time, I’ve also been lucky enough to travel the world on a Churchill Fellowship to see how other countries are tackling this challenge.

In the end, it was South Australia’s recently re-elected Premier Peter Malinauskas who was the first to grasp the urgency. 

 None of which is an enormous surprise, it has to be said. Afterall, it was Peter Malinauskas and South Australia that led the charge for the social media ban (shout out to his clever wife Annabel who read Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation and nudged her hubby into action), and now they’re doubling down – understanding that a ban is only going to be as effective as the education that precedes it.

 In a press release yesterday the Premier said: “With misinformation rife on the internet, we now live in an age where media literacy is an essential life skill. It has become just as important to teach children how to spot dangerous disinformation online as it is to teach them to read and write. That’s why we are funding this media literacy program to roll out in all our primary schools.”

We couldn’t be more excited to launch the next chapter of Newshounds in partnership with the South Australian government: including an updated content slate with an emphasis on AI, improved teaching instruction and enhanced tech for a more seamless classroom experience.

 Because, as the algorithm drives us all further into silos - fracturing our sense of social cohesion with mis- and disinformation – there’s never been a more important time for kids to learn to ‘Stop, Think and Check’ before believing everything they see online.   

 It’s going to have implications for Newshounds users in other states – but there’ll be more to come on that later.

Right now, I just want to thank the Premier, who understood the Newshounds vision the very first time I pitched it to him. Thanks also to South Australia’s Education Minister Lucy Hood who’s been on board from the get-go and to the good folk at Prospect Primary School in Adelaide for hosting today’s media event.

Thanks must also go to our friends at the Google News Initiative who have been staunch supporters since Newshounds’ inception. And thank you too to the many individuals and organisations who have supported us at Squiz Media in our media literacy crusade.

Rest assured this is only phase one for Newshounds. A launch-pad, if you like, that we hope will allow us to see media literacy taught in primary schools all over the country.  

Thanks too for your continued support ... and stay tuned.

Bryce