Erie News Now regularly visits the Media Literacy Class taught by Alex Samples at Fairview Middle School.  Today it was my turn to visit and talk with the students about broadcast journalism.

It was a privilege to share thoughts on how we in the news business decide on a daily basis --thinking through questions such as: What is news? How we should report on it? How to report new fairly? And what images shouldn't be seen on TV?

Along with Erie News Now photographer Brian Schneiders, who captured the day with his cameras, we talked about the challenges of how we do our journalism jobs.

But after recent events, it was impossible to avoid the subject of political violence and the national dialogue that the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has sparked.

The 7th grade students asked smart, sophisticated questions, and they made it clear that they have learned the difference between factual news stories and coverage where opinions that are not objective creep in.

I asked the students to share how they process scary stories such as the Kirk incident, and if they think new coverage is fair. Marissa Lillis said, "When the Charlie Kirk incident happened, my dad told me in the car before school because he didn't want like, if kids said like other stuff that weren't true about it, he wanted me to hear it from him." Hayden Devine said you should share your thoughts, even if you might feel some impact. "I think it's important to like share your opinions and stuff." Austin Teudhope differed on that point. "How I deal with like people talking about Charlie Kirk, I usually stay out of it - I do have my opinions, but I don't really tell other people about them," Austin said. And Cruz Swantek weighed in on objective reporting, or a lack thereof. "There are some news stories that I've seen, that I feel like they're just giving their opinions mainly, but some like Erie News Now, I feel like they're actually stating the real facts."

Right now the students are learning how to conduct interviews, as they prepare to put together stories themselves.  Some may have an interest in media careers, but even if they don't, the media literacy class will help them become better news consumers.