National Council of Teachers of English Hosts Advance Screening of Trust Me
NCTE partners with the Getting Better Foundation to share award-winning documentary with literacy educators.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Abby Heverin, aheverin@ncte.org
Champaign, Illinois—The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has partnered with the Getting Better Foundation to host an advance screening of the award-winning documentary Trust Me.
Trust Me is a feature documentary that explores manipulation and misinformation at the intersection of human nature and information technology. It explains how these drive a need for media literacy. Expert interviews point the way toward a positive future.
An online screening of Trust Me is available until June 30. The retail price is $12.99. NCTE members can enjoy a 50% discount by using the promo code provided in their most recent INBOX email newsletter.
“The film screening and panel discussion, in partnership with Getting Better Foundation, provide insight into the role of media today. Participants will have the opportunity to understand how misinformation proliferates and how to be informed digital citizens who critically analyze and view information,” NCTE Executive Director Emily Kirkpatrick said.
“Media literacy is a cornerstone for credible journalism. Media ill-literacy is wreaking havoc in our beliefs, polarizing our political environment, and affecting our mental health. Trust Me takes an apolitical look at the causes and the results and offers solutions,” Joe Phelps, the film’s executive producer and founder of the Getting Better Foundation, said.
On Thursday, June 17, at 7 p.m. ET, NCTE will also host a virtual panel discussion on Trust Me and the need for critical media literacy. During “Trust Me: A Conversation on Critical Media Literacy,” educators, students, and advocates will explore the manipulation and misinformation at the intersection of human nature and information technology. Panelists will include Alfredo Celedón Luján, NCTE President; Frank W. Baker, president of the Media Literacy Clearinghouse; Fareed Mostoufi, associate director of education for the Pulitzer Center; and Joe Phelps, executive producer of Trust Me. The panel event is free for NCTE members and $10 for nonmembers.
The film screening and event are available as part of NCTE’s ongoing commitment to advancing critical media literacy in the literacy education discipline and in literacy educators’ classrooms. NCTE’s Task Force on Critical Media Literacy was convened in June 2020 and charged with assessing the current national landscape of policies, practices, resources, and dialogue related to critical media literacy education. Read the report from the Task Force on Critical Media Literacy here. This past April, the NCTE Squire Office of Policy Research published Critical Media Literacy and Popular Culture in ELA Classrooms, a policy brief by Jamila Lyiscott (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Nicole Mirra (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), and Antero Garcia (Stanford University). Download the brief here.
About NCTE
As the nation’s oldest organization of preK through graduate school literacy educators, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. For more than 100 years, NCTE has worked with its members to offer journals, publications, and resources; to further the voice and expertise of educators as advocates for their students at the local and federal levels; and to share lesson ideas, research, and teaching strategies through its Annual Convention and other professional learning events.
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