- Using a range of newspapers from a single day, the pupils select a current event or issue to focus on. In small groups, they look at headlines and articles concerning the event/issue from two tabloids and two broadsheets. They discuss how the headlines from the different papers differ, and where the story appeared in that paper (ie was it the first/second/third/fourth, etc most important story that day?).
- Pupils could follow this activity by looking at coverage of the story in different media - television, radio, the internet. How and why does coverage differ?
- Pupils consider how different newspapers present an event or issue in different ways, and identify reasons why this might be so, eg the political views of the paper, the seriousness of the story. Pupils review their four articles from the first activity, considering questions such as: What is the focus of the story? How do the different newspaper stories compare in terms of length, language, style, use of terminology, presentation, use of images? How easy is it to distinguish fact from opinion? What is the proportion of fact to opinion? Whose opinions are quoted? Is it a one-sided view of the event/issue (ie one showing bias) or does it offer a balance of views? Which story do I find most persuasive, and why? What else do I want to know about the event/issue?
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- understand that a range of opinions exist, and that this affects media news coverage
- realise that not all coverage of an issue/event will offer a balance of views, and that coverage may contain bias
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