Daily news podcast for 8-12yos, Squiz Kids has announced a partnership with the Google News Initiative in 2022-23 to launch the literacy program Newshounds into primary schools across Australia and New Zealand.
A plug-and-play structure, Newshounds by Squiz Kids is a media literacy resource that delivers eight x 10-minute podcasts with complementing in-classroom activities. “We created Newshounds to make kids critical consumers of media – to teach them to stop, think and check before believing everything they come across on the internet,” said Bryce Corbett, Squiz Kids director.
Foundational to Newshounds are engaging board-game style activities that provide children with skills to identify misinformation. The partnership will provide classrooms across Australia and New Zealand with access to Newshounds for free.
In announcing the partnership, Corbett said: “Kids today have more information coming at them on a daily basis than at any other time in history… By partnering with Google, it’s hoped that Newshounds starts conversations with adults that help kids recognise online facts from fiction.”
Already piloted in Australia, Newshounds has garnered positive feedback, with teachers reporting an increase in confidence in teaching media literacy skills in the classroom.
“This partnership builds on our efforts to help give young people a safer experience online, including through our $1.4m investment in the Media Literacy Lab which has reached over 4,000 Australian students, and parents the tools they need to ensure family-friendly experiences online,” said Uma Patel, Google News Lab Lead, Australia and New Zealand.
The effectiveness of Newshounds will be monitored by Dr Amanda Levido from the Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Research Centre, a leader in the study of media literacy.
Squiz Kids is Australia’s top daily news podcast for kids, with more than 140,000 listeners daily. Newshounds goes live from the start of the school term four in early October.