Evaluating a News Literacy Intervention for French Middle School Interns: A Pilot Study of the Media Pathway Platform and Newsroom Internships

This pilot study evaluates an innovative news literacy intervention combining a short-term newsroom internship with an online news literacy platform designed for French ninth-grade students completing such internships. Using a pretest/posttest design with 121 participants, we examined changes in motivation, knowledge, critical questioning, and engagement with news, and assessed socioeconomic disparities in these changes. Results show significant gains in knowledge of news production and in self-reported critical questioning. Initial knowledge gaps linked to socioeconomic background disappeared post intervention. Findings suggest that combining a short newsroom internship with interactive formats can foster equitable news literacy development and support civic education among adolescents.