Teachingmedialiteracy.com: A Web-Linked Guide to Resources and Activities

 Chapter 9: Studying the News

[9.1] Studying the News and Documentaries

[9.2] Newspaper or Print News

[9.2a] Teaching Analysis of the News

[9.2b] Analysis of Newspaper Sections and Functions

[9.2c] Differences in Types and Uses of News

[9.2d] On-line News

[9.2e] Student Units on Analyzing the News

[9.2f] Blogs

[9.2g] Political Uses of Blogs

[9.2h] Editorial Perspectives

[9.2i] Newspaper Ownership

[9.2j] News Bias

[9.2k] Different aspects of news bias

[9.2l] Studying and Producing Classroom / School Newspapers

[9.3] Television and Radio News

[9.3a] Characteristics of Television News

[9.3b] Selecting News Stories

[9.3c] Accuracy / Completeness of News Coverage

[9.3d] Television News Development

[9.3e] On-line Television News

[9.3f] Sports Coverage

[9.3g] Coverage of Political Issues and Campaigns

[9.3h] Creating television news broadcasts and podcasts

[9.3i] Documentaries

[9.4] Teaching Activities

[9.5] References

Powerpoints

Chapter 9

[9.3g] Coverage of Political Issues and Campaigns

[9.3g.1] In her essay, "On party, gender, race and class, TV news looks to the most powerful groups," (Power Sources, May/June, 2002), Ina Howard reports on an analysis of the sources used on the big three networks' evening news shows in 2001.

[9.3g.2] A study of 122 stations in the top 50 markets in October and November, 2002, by the Lear Center for Local News at the University of Wisconsin found that there were four times as many political ads as there was coverage of candidates.

[9.3g.3]

[9.3g.4] During the filming of the Local News documentary, a veteran African-American female reporter loses her job, for reasons that are not made explicit in the documentary.

[9.3g.5] One analysis of news anchors in the top National Public Radio stations found that 73 out of 83 were non-Latino whites (88 percent

Lots of sites on demographics of news people:

[9.3g.6]
[9.3g.7]

[9.3g.8] Click here for an interview with Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes about his journalism career.

For further reading:

Torres, S. (2003). Black, white, and in color: Television and black civil rights. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

[9.3g.9]

[9.3g.10] They could also go the Newseum site on "War Stories."

[9.3g.11] A Project LookSharp publication, Media Construction of War, contains 49 full-color covers and photographs from over 40 years of wars starting with World War II from Newsweek Magazine (available from the Center for Media )

[9.3g.12] In the PBS program Media Matters, the issues of coverage of the war in Afghanistan is explored in terms of the tight government control of information provided to reporters.

[9.3g.13]

[9.3g.14] BBC teaching activity on reporting on war

[9.3g.15] Articles on war coverage [ FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) ]

[9.3g.16]

[9.3g.16a]  Diane Farsetta: The Wages of Spin, The Pentagon's Media Contracts

[9.3g.17] Many school districts provide students with daily 12-minute broadcasts of Channel One news broadcasts that are beamed via satellite to 12,000 schools.

[9.3g.18] The Commercialism in Education Research Unit at the Arizona State University reports that commercialism in schools is due to the lack of funding.

[9.3g.19] Use of Channel One has increased as much as four times in the past decade often due to a lack of school funding. An analysis of the news content, Mark Miller ( "How to be Stupid: The Lessons of Channel One," EXTRA! May 1997) found that the "news" content is just as superficial as local television news, consisting of headline summaries of factual information that serves as "content" for commercials.

[9.3g.19a] CNN Student News

[9.3g.19b] MSNBC streaming news

[9.3g.20] Students could view examples of Channel One, as well as teacher lesson plans, and examine the quality and nature of the stories.

[9.3g.21] Progressive groups who object to the intrusion of messages and images into the school.

[9.3g.22] The PBS NOW broadcast on the topic of Channel One identified the following pros and cons related to use of Channel One.

For further reading:

McChesney, R. (2003). The problem of the media: U.S. communications politics in the 21st Century . New York: Monthly Review Press.

Spring, J. (2003). Educating the Consumer Citizen: A History of the Marriage of Schools, Advertising, and Media . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

 

 


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