There has been heated discussion of fake news in our election cycle, but propaganda and misinformation are not new.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the newly invented forms of broadcast media--film, radio and later television--were harnessed by leaders to communicate with the public, but also for harmful propaganda. The new technologies of our age, the internet and mobile devices, are opening new realms of accessibility, but also new levels of misinformation. Students will examine the standards journalists work by in order to fulfill their vocation of providing accurate information to the public. This will prepare them to examine the rise of totalitarian regimes and the power of information or misinformation to influence society. Students began the unit by reflecting on why 'fake news' is believable using the example of pizzagate. Student responses included
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Students will examine the importance of journalism by reflecting on the following questions:
Students reflected on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to understand how they remain reliable sources of information. Students then created their own list of guidelines by completing the sentence "Newspapers are unfair when..." |
The class began with an NPR discussion between journalists on what vocabulary is appropriate new coverage. We get an insight into the decisions journalists make everyday and also how journalists try to maintain accountability with the public.
While no one can avoid bias, journalists are asked to put that in check. Students will examine news sources from across the political spectrum and from outside the US (NPR, Fox News, Huffington Post, BBC, and Al Jazeera) to examine how news sources are similar and different. Students will bring those different articles on the same headline story in order to examine how they present information to the public. (For groups that did not bring a headline story, one was provided on the decision to allow the Dakota Access pipeline to continue.) For students who used the Dakota access pipeline story, the news outlets stated in common that 1. the decision was to create jobs and 2. it was controversial because of the environmental concerns and . While all the sources mentioned the issues, they tended to emphasize one side of the issue or the other and used different sources in their reporting. |
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Students will summarize their learning by writing newspaper headlines. The primary purpose of a headline is to get people to keep reading. Headlines therefore should
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A test will be given on Friday, February 10 on the contents of Unit 7. This will cover not only the historical events surrounding the rise of totalitarianism, the holocaust and World War 2, but also their ability to apply their understanding of propaganda. Students should therefore know the materials in their notebook: propaganda (35), Vocabulary (36), Timeline (38), and the Vocab supplement (40). The test will be multiple choice. "Guilty" (39) is the form questions will be asked to evaluate their understanding of propaganda.
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