The Overseas Partnership Program supported an ambitious initiative by the The Vietnam National University of Social Studies and Humanities (USSH) in Ho Chi Minh City to spread News Literacy to university students in 4 Vietnamese cities. Through a series of workshops using a curriculum based on the Stony Brook University’s News Literacy model, the project’s aim was “to empower Vietnamese students’ critical thinking capabilities, to improve their ability to judge the reliability of news and information and to encourage them to consume media wisely. In addition, the project will train students to be more responsible in posting and sharing their information, images, and opinions across media platforms.”
The year-long project, which was funded by the US Embassy in Vietnam, relied on partnerships with the Youth Alumni Network & Vietnam Fulbright Network, the Vietnam Journalists Association, Hoa Sen University, Dalat University, Nha Trang University, Duy Tan University, and An Giang University, student media clubs at host universities. Overseas Partnership Program Director Richard Hornik led a two-day workshop in July 2013 to help train over 30 educators and journalists in how to convey the basic concepts of news literacy. The leaders of the program at USSH created a 100-page news literacy manual that was used as a textbook for the student workshops.