Just because a story is on the news doesn't mean it's being presented fairly. Analyze news broadcasts with a lesson focused on evaluating television journalism. At home, kids watch a news show and note the stories presented, including their order, the minutes used for each story, and the reporters' mannerisms. Next, they watch clips from different sources in class and discuss what they observe, and discuss whether the content or delivery of a story is more important.

Concepts

broadcast journalism, news broadcast, news reporting, news media

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• With some slight changes to focus on the content, rather than the delivery, the lesson is a great addition to a language arts lesson about analyzing the validity of the presentation of informational text
• Compare and contrast different perspectives of the same news story with class members, and discuss the intended audiences for each broadcast

Classroom Considerations

• In order to focus on the bias of the news broadcasts, choose stories to share that are more innocuous and less political; learners may be distracted by the content of the message and their own opinions
• You'll need to locate the clips on your own, as there are no links provided (though there are examples of broadcast channels that you can choose from)
• This is the fifth in a series of 10 media literacy lessons

Pros

• Prompts kids to think critically about what they are told from different sources
• Comes with the worksheet to use at home, along with space for writing longer answers

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.7.2 SL.8.2 SL.9-10.2 SL.11-12.2