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THE NEWS MEDIA UNDER FIRE is onein a series of NEWSMatters programs.Each 12-15 minute video in theNEWSMatters series examines an issueor topic in the news. The video is sup-ported by a poster pertaining to thetopic, a teacher’s guide, and regularlyupdated information on the topic on ourWebsite (http://www.ku.com). TheNEWSMatters program is designed topromote discussion and critical thinkingin the classroom. NEWSMatters videoswill rarely if ever provide clear-cut con-clusions about an issue. Rather, eachvideo’s goal is to leave more questions inviewers’ minds than answers. The extramaterials are designed to help focus anddirect these questions, and to generatethought and debate about the topic. Theextra materials are designed to be flexi-ble; that is, the teacher can control thepace and length of each lesson and canuse any, all, or none of these materials.
This activity guide is designed to encouragestudents to question and contemplate the role ofthe media in America today. Students will learnabout different facets of the news and decide forthemselves what the purpose of the news mediais. Nine of the activities may be reproduced,giving your students the opportunity to organizeand complete the exercises on their own. Theother activities are designed for classroom participation and teacher presentation.
NEWSMatters The News Media
Under Fire
Introducing NEWSMatters
NEWSMatters Teacher's Guidefor
The News Media Under Fire
media
responsible
sensationalism
Bill of Rights
bias
Vietnam War
freedom of the press
television ratings
Thomas Jefferson
cynical
public opinion polls
dramatic re-creations
circulation war
technology
Internet
Readiness Activity(An activity to be done before viewing the video)
This activity will help your class become familiar with some of the important terms andthemes in THE NEWS MEDIA UNDER FIRE before they watch the video. Divide the class intofour or five groups. Assign each group three of the names, terms, or events listed below. Onemember of each group should record the agreed-upon definition or description of each nameor term and then present these definitions to the entire class for discussion.
NEWSMatters is produced by Knowledge Unlimited®, Inc.copyright © 1997 by Knowledge Unlimited®, Inc., all rights reserved.
ISBN 1-55933-222-0
NEWSMatters, P.O. Box 52, Madison, WI 53701
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Discussion Questions
These questions will help you review important points made in the video with your class andgive some structure to discussions about THE NEWS MEDIA UNDER FIRE. After viewing thevideo, ask your students to comment on these questions. Some questions have specificanswers and others are more open-ended. You may wish to use these questions as a spring-board for further discussion.
■ Why do you suppose the video is called THE NEWS MEDIA UNDER FIRE?
■ Do you agree or disagree with the title — that is, is the news media under fire?Explain.
■ Name different information sources the video defines as “the news media.”
■ What role do you think the media plays in a democracy?
■ Which amendment to the Constitution guarantees “freedom of the press”?
■ Name some innovations that have helped spread the news to people.
■ Describe one of the most important changes experts say has taken place in thetelevision news industry. How has this made today’s TV news different from thenews of 15 or 20 years ago?
■ Name some reasons many people don’t trust the news media today.
■ Do you think criticisms of the media you saw in the video are justified? Why orwhy not? Which criticism is the most valid? Which is the least? Why?
■ Many journalists and broadcasters say they should not be blamed for the newsAmerica sees or reads — they are merely reporting facts and holding up a mirrorto our society. Do you agree with them? Why or why not?
■ In general, do you think it’s right or wrong for journalists to go undercover andperhaps misrepresent their occupations in order to get a story? Explain youranswer.
Examining the Purpose of the News Media
What is the news media? To provoke more discussion about what the media is, write theshows listed below on the blackboard or overhead projector.
■ Local evening TV newscast
■ National TV network nightly news show
■ Nighttime news magazine shows like Nightline, Dateline, 20/20, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and so on
■ Morning TV shows like Today, Good Morning America, and The Early Show
■ Late-night shows like The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman, andThe Daily Show
■ Daytime talk shows like Live! With Regis & Kelly, The Oprah Winfrey Show, TheView, and The Tyra Banks Show
■ Shows with an entertainment focus such as ESPN SportsCenter or EntertainmentTonight
■ Shows like Rescue 911, America’s Most Wanted, and Cops
■ Science shows such as National Geographic specials and NOVA
Now ask your students these questions:
■ Which of these shows are part of the news media? What, if anything, makes thempart of the news media? What, if anything, prevents them from being part of thenews media?
■ Some people say that news and entertainment are two different things and shouldbe kept separate. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Other people say entertainmentshould be part of newscasts because it raises viewer ratings and thus makes moreinformation available to more people. Do you agree or disagree? Why? What is thedifference between news and entertainment?
■ What is the purpose of the media? Is the media fulfilling this purpose?
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Ethics and the News Media reproducible activity
Most journalists and media organizations have ethical codes. These codes generally statethat journalists should be honest, fair, and courageous in gathering, reporting, and inter-preting information. Many groups believe the media has a special responsibility to be a “vigilant watchdog of the public’s interests,” and should serve as a “constructive critic of allsegments of society.”
■ What does it mean here to be a watchdog, and why is this the press’s role?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
■ What do you think a journalism code of ethics is? Why do you think one exists? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
■ List some characteristics that you believe the media SHOULD have. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
■ List some characteristics that you believe the media SHOULD NOT have. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Case Study: Dateline, 1993In 1993, Dateline ran a report on the dangers of a particular truck exploding if it was in acollision. During that report, film showed the truck catching fire in a test crash. However,the report did not reveal that NBC had rigged the truck with devices to help it blow up onimpact. After a public outcry, the anchors on Dateline issued an on-air apology for notrevealing that the show had rigged the truck.
The show’s producers said that safety experts had already demonstrated that this truck wasmore likely to explode than other trucks. They said they wanted to show an explosion anddidn’t want to keep smashing up trucks to get one to explode. Do you think NBC was wrongto rig the truck without telling viewers? Why or why not?
Further thought: Answer the following question either on a separate piece of paper or in agroup discussion.
• Do you think “dramatic re-creations” like the Dateline truck explosion are propertools for the news media to use to tell a story? Why or why not?
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Cynicism and Skepticism reproducible activity
One definition of a skeptic is a person who doesn’t accept at face value what another personsays. A skeptic doesn’t necessarily believe someone is lying when he or she makes a state-ment, but asks questions to find out the full story. A skeptic believes that everyone has hisor her own personal point of view and filters everything they say through that point of view.One definition of a cynic is a person who is inclined to assume people are always lying or nottelling the whole truth. Good reporters are skeptics. But some people think too manyreporters today are cynical. Critics charge this is especially true of reporters who cover poli-tics. But one prominent political journalist says that cynicism “is the only sane and prudentanswer to the world around us.”
■ You are a reporter at a presidential press conference. The president has justannounced he will be sending U.S. troops to a small foreign nation to help keep thepeace there. The nation has been suffering through a long civil war and the twosides in the fighting have just signed a ceasefire. The U.S. troops will not engage infighting, the president says. They will only enforce laws and make sure fightingdoesn’t break out. On a separate piece of paper, write out a list of questions youwould ask the president about this action. You might ask how many troops aregoing and for how long, and what their exact duties will be. You might take into con-sideration the political climate — is this a popular or unpopular move on the presi-dent’s part? Does the president have a hidden motive for the action? And so on.
■ Now make up answers you think the president would give to these questions. Usingthese answers, write two stories about the press conference. The first will be from askeptical reporter’s point of view. The second from a cynical reporter’s point of view.Keep in mind that the basic facts you get from the president should be the same forboth stories.
Further thought: Answer the following questions in a group discussion.
• Compare the stories you and your fellow students have written. What difference, ifany, do you see between the cynical and skeptical versions of the stories? Does onemake a better story than the other? Why?
• Do you accept what people tell you at face value? How do you decide what is true ornot? What is your frame of mind if you find out someone has lied to you? Do youtrust that person in the future?
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Investigative Reporting reproducible activity
The way in which the news media gathers information is currently under attack by somecritics. Specifically, the ethics of certain investigative techniques are being questioned. Inthis activity, you will review different ways reporters gather information and decide if youthink these practices are right or wrong.
Case Study: PrimeTime Live, 1992In 1992, the ABC news show PrimeTime Live sent reporters undercover to investigate theFood Lion supermarket chain for alleged unsafe food handling. In order to capture this onfilm, reporters applied for jobs and lied on their applications, saying they were experienced,enthusiastic deli and meat department workers. Once they were hired, they captured on filmwhat they alleged were “stomach-turning food handling practices.” After these findings weretelevised, Food Lion sued ABC — not over whether the reports were true, but because thereporters lied to get their jobs. In 1997, a jury ordered ABC to pay $5.5 million in damages toFood Lion.
■ Do you think it is ever right for reporters to lie in order to get information? If so,give some examples when you think it is all right. If not, explain why not.
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Research question: Most members of the media were shocked at the Food Lion decision.They pointed out that going undercover is a tactic journalists have used for at least 100years in order to get a story. Using outside sources, research one of the following: UptonSinclair and The Jungle; Ida Tarbell and Standard Oil; Lincoln Steffen and The Shame of theCities; Lewis Hine and child labor laws; Watergate and Woodward and Bernstein; thePentagon Papers case. Write a paper about the topic you chose and compare it to thePrimeTime Live-Food Lion case. What similarities and differences did you find between thetwo cases?
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Timing TV Newscasts reproducible activity
Time your local television newscast to find out how many minutes and seconds are devotedto each part of the show. Determine what category each segment fits in on the list below.Using a watch with a second hand or a stop watch, time how many seconds each segmenttakes up and keep a record by category on a separate sheet. At the end of the newscast, cal-culate how many seconds were devoted to each category and write your findings on theappropriate lines below. There are 1,800 seconds in 30 minutes, so when you add up all ofthe categories, it should come close to 1,800.
________ Titles/Credits: The part of the newscast that has titles, logos, and credits of thepeople that worked on it.
________ World news: Stories that pertain to nations other than America. If a story is aboutU.S. relations with another country, consider it world news.
________ U.S. government news: Stories that pertain to the president; Congress; federal andSupreme Court rulings; the making, debating, and passing of national laws; and so on.
________ National news: Stories about people and events in America that are not governmentrelated.
________ Local news: Stories about your state or community.
________ Entertainment
________ Sports
________ Weather
________ Advertisements
________ Don’t know: Any part of the newscast that you can’t categorize.
Further thought: Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper or in a groupdiscussion.
• Which category received the most on-air time?
• Which category received the least on-air time?
• What percentage of time went to ads?
• What, if anything, do these findings tell you about what is important to the producersof your local newscasts and to your community? Explain.
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Bias in the News reproducible activity
One of the most important jobs of the media is to try and present stories so the public bothbelieves its reports and learns different sides of issues. But many critics say that the mediais biased — that is, it presents stories more from one side of an issue than another. In a polltaken recently, 67 percent of all those asked thought the media was biased. In this exercise,you will learn about bias by writing the opening of the same news story from two perspec-tives. This is a quote from a news story published in USA Today on June 3, 1997. It waswritten by reporter Tom Curley.
“The release of about 10,000 minks from an Oregon farm is being called the largest case of‘eco-terrorism’ of its kind. Police in Mount Angel, Ore., 30 miles south of Portland, are work-ing with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the incident, which took placeover the weekend. Vandals, thought to be militant anti-fur activists, bypassed the farm’ssecurity system in a nighttime raid and used bolt cutters to break open cages. The break-inis a violation of federal law protecting animal farms and research labs. With mink pelts sell-ing at $35-$60 each, the loss is expected to reach hundreds of thousands of dollars for minkfarmer Rick Arritola. . . .”
■ On a separate piece of paper rewrite this paragraph from the perspective of themink farmer who lost 10,000 of his animals. Show his anger and frustration.
■ Now rewrite the opening paragraph from the perspective of an animal rightsactivist. Make sure you address the activist’s passion for saving animals.
■ Now read the original USA Today text again. Look for any words or phrases that indicatethe reporter is not objective. Underline them in the text. Do you think this article isbiased? Why or why not? Which side is it biased toward?
Further thought: Answer the following questions either on a separate piece of paper or in agroup discussion.
• Do you believe the press is biased? If yes, identify some examples of bias you havenoticed in news reports. If not, why not? Give examples.
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Abbreviating the News reproducible activity
Many times, television newscasts cover a story in 15 to 60 seconds. This is a difficult task.Newspapers can afford more space for a story than television. Walter Cronkite, one ofAmerica’s most famous television newscasters, wrote that “the number of words spoken in ahalf-hour [TV] broadcast barely equals the number of words on two-thirds of a standardnewspaper page. That is not enough to cover the day’s major events at home and overseas.”
■ In this exercise, find a news article that interests you in your local newspaper.Make sure the story is relatively long and not simply a paragraph or two.
Now pick out the points in it that you want to incorporate into a 30-second televi-sion newscast. In the space below, write your report. Decide how you want to lead,or start, the story to draw viewers in. Because you have only 30 seconds, choose therest of your story carefully.
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Further thought: Answer the following questions either on a separate piece of paper or in agroup discussion.
• Do you think you covered the story completely in your 30-second rewrite? Why orwhy not?
• Read carefully the summary that you wrote. Do you think it reflects any particularbias? Give examples of why your presentation is or isn’t biased.
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The News Media in Editorial Cartoons reproducible activity
Editorial cartoons are an enjoyable way to examine serious concerns. Each of these cartoonsillustrates a different opinion about the media. Use the space below to explain the point each cartoon is trying to make. Do you think the cartoonists make their points effectively?Why or why not? What do these cartoons tell us about the role and problems of theAmerican media?
Further thought: Answer the following questions either on a separate piece of paper or in agroup discussion.
• Of these two cartoons, which one do you think makes the most important pointabout the media today? Explain and support your answer.
• What do you think makes a good or successful editorial cartoon?
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Great Deal Only Some Hardly Any Don’t Know
TV
Press
Public Confidence in the Press and TV News reproducible activity
The following pie graphs show how much confidence people have today in newspapers (thepress) and in television news. Use these graphs to answer the following questions.
■ Why do you think the public has more confidence in television news than in thepress?
■ Do you have more confidence in television news or the press? Why?
■ Why do you think nearly 30 percent of the public has “hardly any” confidence ineither television news or the press?
Take your own poll to see if your results are similar to the results from the national poll. Askten people the following questions. Read the two questions exactly as shown. These are thesame questions that the pollsters used to get the information found in the graphs above.Record the answers you get in the chart below.
“As far as people in charge of running television news are concerned, would you say you have agreat deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in them?”
“As far as people in charge of running the press are concerned, would you say you have a greatdeal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in them?”
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How much confidencedo you have in thepress?
How much confidencedo you have in television news?
29%
58%
2%
11%
28%
54%
1%
18%HardlyAny Hardly
Any
GreatDeal Great
Deal
OnlySome
OnlySome
Don’tKnow Don’t
Know
Deciding What News Is Newsworthy reproducible activity
Editors choose from hundreds of potential news stories for their papers or telecasts. How aresome of these decisions made?
■ In this exercise, imagine you are the editor of a weekly newspaper. It is your job tochoose which stories are going into the paper and where they will be placed. For oneweek, read as many newspapers and magazines as you can. Also watch your localand national newscasts. Keep track of the different stories that are being discussed.
Now decide which stories are going to be in the paper. You only have room for 12,and you must include at least two world, two national, and two local stories. Decidewhich will be your lead, or most important, stories. These will probably go on yourfront page. Where are you going to put local, world, national, and other news sto-ries? Before you lay out your paper, determine who your paper is for. Decide whatstories you think are most relevant and important for your readers.
Local 1
Local 2
National 1
National 2
World 1
World 2
Other 1
Other 2
Other 3
Other 4
Other 5
Other 6
Which stories would you put on your front page?
Further thought: Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper or in a groupdiscussion.
• Who is your paper designed for?
• What stories did you leave out and why?
• Compare your newspaper with other students’ papers. How similar or different wereother students’ choices?
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