Exploring Media: Understanding and Identifying Editorial Perspective in Television and Radio News

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11-12

Exploring Media: Understanding and Identifying Editorial Perspective in Television and Radio News

Project type: Project

Related topic:
Candu: The Canadian Nuclear Reactor

Subjects

History
Social Studies
Media Studies
Political Science
English Language Arts

Summary

Students will research the topics Boat People: A Refugee Crisis, Dr. Henry Morgentaler: Fighting Canada’s Abortion Laws, and CANDU: The Canadian Nuclear Reactor on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site, and expand their research to include selected other resources. Students will keep a research folder and a research log, and use their information to prepare group presentations, which will include:

A clear set of principles, created by their group, for reporters to follow in order to ensure journalistic integrity.
One example from each of the three topics of a news story that illustrates the group’s principles for journalistic integrity.
For each example, an explanation of the ways in which the news report adheres to the group’s principles.

By the end of this project students should be able to identify the characteristics of good journalism and discuss how news reports, in general, shape popular opinion and contribute to the construction of reality.

Duration

2 weeks

Purpose

To conduct Web-based research using audio and visual sources, to organize group findings, ideas, and positions, and articulate these effectively in a presentation, to identify the characteristics of good journalism

Materials

current editorials and news stories on the same topic

television news clips

PDF

exploringmedia2.pdf

Before Exploring

Prepare by reading the CBC’s “Journalistic Standards and Practices” at http://cbc.radio-canada.ca/htmen/policies/journalistic/. Brainstorm student-generated definitions for journalistic standards and compare these with the CBC’s standards.

Consider launching this project in one of the following ways:

Construct a word web around the word “bias” and discuss this concept as a class. Lead a class discussion on the concept of factual versus editorial news reporting. Choose a story from a newspaper that is also the topic of an editorial in the same paper. As a class, read both and create a chart on the board outlining the characteristics of each type of article. Ask: How are they similar? How are they different? Discuss which type of article would be more likely to change public opinion on an issue or event.

View some clips of television news as a class and have the students note such elements as music, reporter’s tone of voice, and other factors that can help create opinions in viewers as they watch a news story.

Outline the Opportunity

Following the project launch, present and review the project outline carefully with students. Be sure that all parts of the task are clear.

This project includes the following worksheets that outline the task and provide tools for students to use as they work. You may wish to use all or only some of these sheets, which you can adapt to suit your needs and those of your students. Be sure that students understand how each sheet is to be used to support their work on this project.

For their research, students can consult the Resources link in addition to the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site files. Encourage students to find other resources as well.

Project Outline
Hand out this sheet before beginning the project and review it carefully with students.
Conversation Guide
Students can use this tool to discuss the results of their research with their peers at the beginning of the project. From the discussion that arises from this guide, each group will create its “Standards for News Reporting” which each will use when exploring the site and preparing the presentation.
Idea Tracker Note Sheets
Students can use these sheets to record their ideas and observations as they view the Web site.
Research and Presentation Tips
Review this simple list of research and presentation tips with students.
Sample Research Log Sheet
Students can use this tool to maintain focus on their work. If you require it, students will include this sheet in their final submission.
Research Folder Checklist
Students can keep this sheet inside their research folder to remind them of the details of the research process.
Model Assessment Rubric
If you are using this rubric as part of your assessment procedure, review it with students early in the project so that they clearly understand how they will be assessed.

Revisit and Reflect

Students can use their reports as the basis of a formal or informal debate about the issues explored: immigration policy, abortion, and nuclear power.
Students can create two different news reports about an issue in their school. One report will show journalistic integrity and the other will not.
Discuss as a class the nature of truth in the media. Can we ever really know the whole truth? Is bias-free reporting ever really possible? Discuss or debate these ideas as a class.
The class can research media ownership and the role of profit and advertising in the creation of media. Does the publicly-funded CBC have an advantage over news agencies that depend on advertisers and profit to stay on the air? Hold a debate about the importance (or lack of) maintaining a government-funded media outlet.