CLASSROOM:
Student / Teacher Activities | Student
Links | Teachers
| Get
the News You Want |
Go
to a web site such
as www.crayon.net.
- Here you can subscribe for free to create
your own newspaper.
- Now, simply build your paper, selecting
information you like.
- Choose the towns and cities you want weather
information for—in addition to your hometown, why not get
the weather where your grandparents live (they love talking
about the weather, and now you can email them when you see they
are suffering through a storm!)
- Select the professional sports
teams you root for, and ask for headlines on a variety of topics.
- If you are into music, select some news about the music and
entertainment industry; if you are a fitness buff, you can tell
your page to offer nutrition and health tips.
- Don’t forget
to select local headlines from the city closest to you as well
as a few world headlines so you can keep abreast of international
happenings.
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| Do
a Comparison Study |
Read
the front page of your local newspaper for a few days.
At the same time, watch your local television news and/or listen
to radio news. Compare the stories and information presented
in the two media. Here are some things to look for:
Compare the first
story on the television or radio news to the story on the top
of the front page.
- Are they the same?
- If not, is the same topic covered elsewhere in the newscast/newspaper?
Where? Compare how the paper and the TV/radio cover the same
story.
- What background information is given on this story?
- How does the photo, if there is one in the newspaper,
compare to the footage shown on TV?
- How much detail is provided? How long does the newscast spend
on the story? How many words does the paper devote to the story?
- How does each format cover the who, what, when, where, why,
and how of the story?
- What is the point of view or bias in the story in each format?
Analyze your findings.
- Which medium provides the most relevant information?
- What is
absent in each of the media?
- Which do you think is more reliable
as a source of news?
- Why do you think each format chose to present
the story the way they did?
- Is the television or radio newscast
an effective information provider?
- An effective entertainment
provider?
- What about the newspaper is it an effective information
provider?
- Entertainment provider?
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| Create
a Newscast for Your Audience |
Conduct
a focus group of your own.
- Ask friends or people
in your neighborhood what types of news stories are important
to them.
- Find out how they feel about television reporters,
the length of time spent on stories, and the subject matter
covered.
- After compiling a report of your results, get together
with some friends and, using a video or digital camera, create
a newscast based on the news in your neighborhood.
- How do you
decide what to cover?
- Think about what types of sponsors might
want to support your program.
- Construct a half-hour newscast
with the same components as your local news.
- Include topical
stories, information on school happenings, little league scores,
and local weather.
- Don’t forget to close with a human interest
story.
- Invite family and friends to watch your newscast, and
email copies to relatives out of town.
- What issues arose when
you were deciding what stories to include?
- Were you able to
meet all the needs expressed in your focus group?
- Did your viewers
have the same opinions as you, the producer/director, as to
what should be included in the newscast?
- How did you reconcile
any difference of opinion?
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Other great activities:
See
No TV, Hear No TV
Turn down your TV volume and study the
visuals or blindfold yourself and listen to a newscast.
News by the Numbers
Record
the minutes and seconds devoted to local news segments.
Create the Perfect
News Team
Create a collage of the perfect news team
from old magazines.
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