Committee hears testimony on media literacy pilot bill; sponsors call for pilot to develop best practices

Representative Jim Murphy introduced House Bill 116, the Media Literacy Critical Thinking Act, urging the committee to pilot approaches to teach students critical consumption of media in the digital age.

The nut graf: Murphy said children now receive an enormous volume of media and must learn critical-thinking skills to evaluate sources, recognize persuasion and protect mental health. He described the bill as a pilot to discover effective, evidence-based instruction rather than a statewide mandate on specific content.

Representative Murphy said, "Media literacy is an art, and it's not about brainwashing our children. This is about process." He told the committee that since 2012—when smartphones became prevalent—youth mental-health indicators and youth suicides have risen and that teaching critical consumption skills is a practical response.

Committee members asked whether DESE should administer the pilot and whether districts have capacity to implement it. Representative Loy pressed whether the department could take another task; Murphy and other backers said the bill is deliberately a pilot to test approaches in a small number of districts that volunteer, with training and sharing of results. Representative Smith asked about alignment with ELA standards and a fiscal note mentioned in committee discussion of approximately $250,000 for the pilot; Representative Smith and others said librarians, school psychologists and media specialists should be involved.

Witnesses for the bill included Julie Smith, a media literacy instructor at Webster University, who said, "Media literacy is not partisan. It is not political. It is critical thinking." Sarah Colbert, a certified library media specialist and vice chair of the Missouri Association of School Librarians' legislative advocacy committee, told the committee school librarians are already teaching components of media literacy and that a uniform pilot would help scale effective practice. The Missouri Press Association and Missouri NEA also testified in support. A witness opposing the bill raised concerns that media-literacy efforts could be framed as partisan or ideological; the witness cited press accounts from other states and urged caution.

Ending: The committee concluded testimony on HB116; no final committee vote on the bill is recorded in the transcript. Members emphasized stakeholder collaboration and suggested parent engagement and cross-curricular approaches would be essential if a pilot proceeds.