It was early in the morning, but the class was lively. Perhaps it had something to do with the news article the professor had just handed out for the students to read.

大清早，教室已生氣勃勃，可能和教授剛發給學生讀的一則新聞報導有關。

"Girls Go 'Wild' for Booze, Sex," the headline read.

「女生為酒和性瘋狂」，標題如是說。

The article reported on a survey in which 83 percent of young women said spring break involved heavy drinking and 74 percent said it included sex and outrageous behavior. The teacher, Howard Schneider, encouraged the class at the State University at Stony Brook to analyze the article. Were independent experts interviewed Had outside experts seen the survey Were its questions reasonable

文中報導，一項調查指出，83%美眉說，春假期間曾酗酒，其中74%說，還包括性和無法無天的行徑。授課的史耐德鼓勵雪城州立大學班上同學分析這則報導。有沒有訪問獨立的專家？外來的專家有沒有看過這項調查？問題合理嗎？

A few days after publication, he told the class, several polling experts came forward to challenge the survey. It had been conducted on the Internet with respondents who volunteered to participate, and was not a scientifically random survey. Two-thirds of the women surveyed had never even been on spring break.

報導刊出幾天後，他告訴班上，幾位民調專家出面質疑這項調查的可靠性。調查在網上進行，回答問卷者均志願參加，但並非一項有科學根據的抽樣調查。三分之二受調女性甚至從來沒有過春假。

The study was completely invalid, the experts said, and yet it was published by a newspaper and read by tens of thousands of people without challenge. Why, Mr. Schneider asked. Because it confirmed what reporters, editors and readers already believed.

這項調查完全站不住腳，專家說，但這篇文章已登在報上，而且有數以萬計的人讀後毫無異議。史耐德問，為什麼？因為這和記者、編輯及讀者先入為主的看法不謀而合。

"That is one of the hardest things to do as a news consumer," he told the class of 30 or so students, "to stay open to information that does not conform to your views." It was one small moment in the course on news literacy, a semester-long lesson on how to be an informed consumer of news, how to navigate with appropriate skepticism the ever more crowded — and confusing — spheres of print, broadcast and Internet journalism. The course is unusual in that it is aimed at all students, not just aspiring journalists.

「做為新聞消費者，這是最困難的挑戰之一，」他告訴班上卅來位學生。「對和你的看法相左的資訊，要持開放的態度。」在認識新聞這堂課上，這只是很短暫的時刻，一學期的課，要教你如何成為資訊豐富的消費者，如何以適度的懷疑，瀏覽爬梳愈來愈擁擠和混淆的平面、廣播和網路等不同領域的新聞。這堂課最特別的是它是針對所有學生，而不只是那些有抱負的新聞記者。

"This is not a course for journalists; it's a course for consumers," Mr. Schneider, the former editor of Newsday, said in an interview. "This is not a media-bashing class. It is not a media cheerleading class. By showing them examples of terrific journalism and bad journalism, the ultimate goal is to have them distinguish between the two."

「這堂課不是為新聞人開，而是為消費者開，」「新聞日報」前總編輯史耐德受訪時說。「這堂課不是為了修理媒體，也不是要當媒體的啦啦隊。經由舉例向他們展示超優新聞報導和不好的報導，其終極目標是希望他們能分辨良窳。」

"You've got to know which stories you can count on if you're going to make decisions based on them," he said, pointing out that understanding how to consume news could help citizens in many ways, from voting to buying medicine. "Our point here is that for the rest of your life, the news media is your biggest continuing education course."

「如果要靠媒體報導做決策，你們必須知道什麼新聞可靠，」他說，並指出，了解如何看新聞，可以在很多方面，從投票到買藥，幫助市民。「我們這門課的重點是：這輩子，新聞是你最大的連續教育課程。」

Mr. Schneider created the course less than two years ago, not long after he left Newsday at the end of a 35-year career there. He and the university have big plans for it. Over the next four years, officials hope that 10,000 Stony Brook students will take the course.

史耐德不到兩年前開這門課，當時他剛離開服務了卅五年的「新聞日報」。他和雪城大學這項計畫企圖心很大，未來四年，官員希望雪大會有一萬名學生選修這門課。

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which works to support journalistic quality, has contributed $1.7 million for curriculum development, including course material that Mr. Schneider and his colleagues are putting together. It will include text, video and audio, and will be available either on a DVD or a Web site.

奈特基金會為了全力支持新聞品質，已投入170萬美元設計課程，由史耐德和同事所收集彙編的教學材料，包括報導的文章、視聽影帶，在ＤＶＤ或網站均可看到。

"This is really a course in critical thinking, about applying critical thinking to the media," said Mr. Schneider, who is dean of the School of Journalism at Stony Brook, which formally opened its doors last fall.

「這堂課其實是要訓練批判性思考，並將批判性思考應用於媒體上，」史耐德說，他目前是雪城大學新聞學院院長，該院去秋才開始正式招生。

"A college that could teach its students to tell quality journalism from junk could, in theory, change the way they consume news," Eric Newtown, a vice president at the Knight Foundation, said in an e-mail message. "At the very least, we expect it to boost student awareness of the value of a free press."

「一所大學如能教學生分辨優質新聞和垃圾新聞，理論上，就可以改變他們看新聞的方式，」奈特基金會副總裁紐頓在伊妹兒上說。「至少，我們希望它可以提高學生對新聞自由價值的認識。」

At the outset of the course, students are required to impose a 48-hour news blackout on themselves. They are not to watch, read or listen to the news, including weather reports and sports scores.

剛開始上課時，學生依規定48小時不能接觸任何新聞報導。他們不能看、讀或聽任何新聞報導，包括氣象報告和體育比賽分數。

Several students said they had been very surprised to discover how much they depended on the news, for everything from how to dress to national political developments.

有幾位學生說，他們意外發現，他們有多依賴新聞，而且從如何穿衣到全國政治發展無所不包。