What is media role
during election campaigns?
What is the role of media during election campaigns?
Description
Students will design ethical guidelines they can use this fall and in later coverage (reporting and viewpoint) of elections, candidates and issues.
Students will work on the following questions:
- What makes comprehensive reporting about an election, a candidate or political issues?
- How would students achieve these comprehensive stories?
- What processes would students use to build comprehensive coverage?
- What resources would students use to build comprehensive coverage?
- What ethical principles could they apply to their coverage?
Objectives
- Students will investigate the best processes to investigate and verify political claims and issues in terms of print, broadcast, visual and online platforms.
- Students will develop ethical standards and questioning and verifying political issues.
- Students will create their own procedural processes to apply these ethical standards.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7 | Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 | Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 | Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6 | Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. |
Introduction
Journalists and citizens have independently raised concern this election year, seemingly more so than other years, about the verification process for what candidates say in campaigns, what “facts” are raised with issues and who is the most honest. Similar concerns exist about information passed on by state and local candidates, including those running for school board and community offices.
This lesson will enable student journalists to create ethical guidelines or processes, or to sharpen existing ones, enabling them to better fulfill their social responsibility of getting accurate and complete information and presenting it in context.
One note: If more current questions of a particular candidate’s action occurs, please feel free to replace, or add, resources.
Length
150 minutes (three 50-minute classes)
Materials / resources
Balance, fairness and a proudly provocative presidential candidate
Mirror and candle theories of the press
Social responsibility of media
Ethical guidelines and procedures model
Lesson step-by-step
Homework/preparation
- Student discovery — 40 minutes
Have students go to Balance, fairness and a proudly provocative presidential candidate and 5 types of fallacies for historical perspective and current thinking on media roles during elections and with political issues. After reading the links and in Day 1 of the exercise, students will share their findings in a list of key points with others on their team. Each group will be ready to discuss them in small discussion.
Discussion points could include:
- Is the role of media to report is said or to try to show perspective of what is said?
- Do media have an ethical obligation to show context and background of information in political campaigns?
- What is the best was to ethically serve the reading and viewing publics about information presented in political campaigns or on political issues?
- What is the social responsibility of media in election campaigns and issues?
- Do these approaches also apply to scholastic media?
- Assignment — 10 minutes
For homework, assign each student to prepare a beginning list of ethical guidelines for approaches that would exhibit social responsibility in covering election year candidates and issues. This will aid them to compile a working list of ethical guidelines for their teams.
Day 1
- Group breakdown (5 minutes)
Students will be divided into groups representing print, broadcast, visual and online media (depending on class size there might be more than one group of each).
- Student work time (35 minutes)
Students will compile ethical guidelines in each of their areas for covering political elections, candidates and issues for their platforms. Such guidelines might overlap.
- Large-group discussion/reports (15 minutes)
Each group should report briefly on what it discussed, focusing on unsolved issues or approaches.
- Homework/practical application
A student (or team of students) will take their group’s work home and shape it into a poster for class discussion and acceptance the next day.
Day 2
- Presentation — 35 minutes
Each team shares its concepts, sources and presentation attempting to reach class consensus.
Teams will discuss the ethical issues raised in the coverage and well as the news principles and judgment of story and card selection and prepare to adapt agreed upon suggestions into the staff manual and ethical guidelines.
Alternative/additional activities
Consider these additional questions:
- In verifying information, do journalists/can journalists step outside the traditional role of objectivity?
- Should they do so in their reporting if they feel they have enough facts and feel it is their social responsibility? How do they know what is a fact?
- Should opinion writers, in particular, follow the same criteria as content reporters and verify sources they use in their pieces?
- Why or why not?
Extension
Students could write ethical guidelines addressing political coverage.
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Political Correctness and Free Speech
Political Correctness and Free Speech
Description
Students examine the gray area between political correctness and free speech through peer discussion and real-world examples.
Objectives
- Students will understand the meaning and connotation of “politically correct” in different contexts.
- Students will examine the relationship between offensive language and free speech.
- Students will evaluate the power of language and what considerations are important when considering the offensiveness of speech.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 | Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1 | Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1 | Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. |
Length
45-60 minutes
Materials / resources
CD Political Correctness and Free Speech Materials
- Individual Student Statement Check
- Group Real-Life Scenarios
- Student Scenario Resolutions
Lesson step-by-step
(5 minutes) Begin lesson by passing out the opening sheet “’Political Correctness’ and Free Speech” to all students and explain that charges of political correctness versus free speech have heightened during the current election season and that they will be investigating the relationship between political correctness and our First Amendment free speech rights. Read the introductory paragraphs at the top of the sheet aloud (or have students read them to themselves.
(5 minutes) Have the students (individually) score their level of agreement or disagreement with the statements on the sheet. Remind them that they will be tasked with talking with other students and should be prepared to defend their thoughts to others.
(5 minutes) Have students form into groups of 3-5 (or turn to groups already formed) and discuss their answers. Their goal should be to compare answers and agree AS A GROUP which statement they AGREE WITH THE MOST and which statement they DISAGREE with the most. Say and/or post the following instructions somewhere in the room: “As a group, CIRCLE the statement your group AGREEs WITH the most, and UNDERLINE the statement the group DISAGREES WITH the most.”
(5-10 minutes) Call on groups one at a time to explain which statement they agreed with most and which one they disagreed with the most, with some brief explanation (depending on the time you have, some time can be provided for students in other groups to raise hands and comment or chime in). It is also helpful to score the statements on the board to see if the class, as a whole, mostly agreed with and/or disagreed with the same ones the most (write number 1-6 on the board for the statements and write “A” next to one any time a group agreed with in the most and “D” next to any one a group disagrees with the most).
(10 minutes) Hand out ONE scenario sheet to each group (there are three scenarios, so there will be some repeats if you have more than 3 groups, but that is fine). Groups should read the scenarios to themselves, discuss the questions, and write down answers to them (and be prepared to explain them to the class).
(10-20 minutes) Call on groups by scenario (say, all groups with the “Graduation Speaker” sheet, first) to explain their thoughts on how people responded to the language and how it impacted free speech rights and what they thought the reaction should be. Once a scenario is covered, read aloud the real-world resolution to the conflict from the “Example Resolutions” sheet and call for some final discussion of each, time permitting.
(5 minutes) Once every scenario has been covered, ask the students to turn their original “‘Political Correctness’ and Free Speech” sheets to the blank, back side and give a quick, written response to the following prompt, which will serve as the exit ticket or final assessment for the activity (read aloud and/or written on board): “For what reasons, if ever, do you think people should alter or remove speech because of its offensiveness or the harm it may cause to others? Explain why.”
Differentiation
- Scenarios could be read aloud to particular students.
- Groups could also be formed purposefully to pair lower-performing students with higher-performing ones to give all students a variety of input and immediate assistance understanding difficult words or concepts.
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Our right to comment
Our right to comment
Description
Since media organizations have moved to online formats, they have struggled with the practice of hosting online comments next to their content. Many news organizations require posters to meet specific standards, moderate the comments, and reserve the right to remove or delete comments and users. Some organizations even require each post be approved by a human before it can be live on their sites. More recently, NPR is the latest news organization to completely remove comments from their news sites. Has the ability to comment on news stories created a more or less informed culture?
Objectives
- Students will explore the best ways to interact with news media
- Students will define the roles of a media outlet
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 | Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. |
Length
60 minutes
Materials / resources
NPR story about taking comments away
Lesson step-by-step
- Have the students read the article linked above
- Break the students into groups of four and choose a current event. Have each group read the comments section of a different media outlet you assign them for the current event you have chosen.
- Have the students complete the worksheet.
- As a whole class, discuss the findings.
- As an editorial board, come up with guidelines for your own media. You can find model guidelines here.
Differentiation
During this activity, Editors who already have had discussions about comments could be exploring the policies that various student media have.
One group of students could also be using the time to look at ways that social media fills the role of the comments section for some media outlets.
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Analyzing how ‘facts’ are used by politicians
during the election cycle
Analyzing how “facts” are used by politicians during the election cycle
Description
Sometimes politicians misconstrue facts during debates and political ads. This lesson examines the “truthiness” of the ads running currently. Students will analyze one from the Democratic and one from the Republican party. Students could look at a TV ad, online ad or print ad.
Objectives
- Students will analyze the facts in political ads.
- Students will report their findings.
- Students will discuss what they find.
- Students will examine the factual nature of the information found in the ad.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7 | Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.4 | Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.5 | Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). |
Length
60 minutes
Materials / resources
Handout: Charting what you find — political ads and election coverage
Computer/internet access
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1 — introduction (5 minutes)
Teacher should survey students on how they get their breaking news on (is it through traditional news venues, online only, social media only, they don’t access, etc.). Tally what you find. Compare this to the following breakdown from the Knight Foundation’s study Free Speech on Campus: almost half of college-age students would access traditional news media to learn of national and international news. Approximately 25 percent use social media while 20 percent would access online-only news sources. How often are these places flooded with advertisements? How are you impacted by these advertisements? How do you know what is true and not-so-true?
Step 2 — Research (10 minutes)
Option 1: Separate students into pairs. Ask them to look at both the major party presidential websites. Have the students comb through the websites and fill out the chart included in this lesson. You may want to show the ads more than once.
Option 2: Project presidential campaign ads. Ask students to fill out the chart included in this lesson. You may want to show the ads more than once.
Step 3:— Research (15 minutes)
Ask students to verify the facts found in the ads. Remind them to log in where they verified the information.
Step 4 — Research part 2 (10 minutes)
Ask students to again verify the information, however this time, use PolitiFact.com to verify.
Step 5 — Feedback (10 minutes)
Students should compare what they learned about the information in the political advertisement. Which appeared to have the most information? Seeing the progression of the research, were the original contents correct? Was the the information first verified really true?
Also, ask students to examine how news media and citizens should deal with the inclusion of partial facts by candidates.
Step 6 — Large group discussion (5 minutes)
What surprised you the most? What was the best source for verification? How as a journalist should you use this exercise in your own reporting?
Step 7 — Assessment (5 minutes)
Have students fill out the reflection form. If time permits, have students share what they learned.
Differentiation
In assigning roles, you may want to give struggling readers the social media assignment.
Extension
You also could see previous breakdowns of “truth-o-meter” from Politifact.
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Model for ethical guidelines, process
Ethical guideline title
This would be the situation or ethical situation. For example, it could be how your student media would handle unnamed sources, takedown demands or sources wanting to read content before publication.
Ethical guidelines
This section would contain the recommended guideline or statement of ethical principle. For example, for unnamed sources it could be under what conditions your reporters would grant anonymity; for takedown demands it could be the consideration you would make in deciding to take down content, or not to do so.
Staff manual process
This section is essential. It would list the detailed process or procedure of how the guideline would be carried out. For example, with unnamed sources it could include:
• Not granting it until talking with editors
• The steps the reporter will take to verify information from an unnamed source
• Granting only to protect the source
• Making sure the source know the agreement and conditions
• and more
Resources
This would be articles online or elsewhere for rationale for the process and the guidelines. Generally, keep the number small unless there is a need for extensive sourcing.