Checking your sources, evaluating and verifying them
Part of JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission’s Constitution Day lessons and activity package:
4. LESSON PLAN: Quick hits: Checking your sources, evaluating and verifying them
In this lesson, students will complete a quick exercise in which they attempt to check a publication’s sources, evaluating and verifying them.
The discussion will lead toward the development of a process for a staff manual.
Summative evaluation tool: Student created product
Primary Common Core: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2
Secondary Common Core Standard(s) Addressed: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3
21st Century Skills Incorporated: Critical thinking, collaboration
Supplies, Technology, Other Materials Needed: Handouts, software for desktop publishing (online or computer installed), examples of magazines, yearbooks and newspapers
Length of the Lesson: 45 minutes
Evaluation tools:
Appropriate for Grades: 9-12
Created by: John Bowen, MJE
Brief description of lesson:
Students will access the following article online, reading it, evaluating the information and sources and attempting to verify the information.
Article: Government caught paying protesters after Trayvon Martin shooting to create racial division
http://intellihub.com/2013/07/17/government-caught-paying-protesters-after-trayvon-martin-shooting-to-create-racial-division/
Lesson details:
Individually, give students the article and have them read and begin to evaluate the information and the sources.
Once they have done that, have them see if they can verify the information. That process should lead students to critique not only the information but also the sources and the websites.
As they try to verify the information, have them keep track of the types of sources, the links and their credibility.
The can also consider questions like these:
If they were going to publish this information, what would they do to:
• ensure they were accurate and had reported verified, reliable information
• accept responsibility for reporting the information
• being accountable to their audience
What should a journalist do if/when s/he finds information:
– Provably false
– Non verifiable
– Non existant or misapplied sources
What additional sources might they use to help them evaluate this story and its information?
What ethical considerations should they take if they were to publish the information
How does this exercise help them establish a process for reporting their stories, one they can include in their staff manual
Possible additional exercise: Find a story they feel has information that should be evaluated and verified and do the evaluation.
Resource:
The good, the bad and the ugly
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html
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Effective and complete use of sources
Part of JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission’s Constitution Day lessons and activity package:
2. EFFECTIVE AND COMPLETE USE OF SOURCES
Judges of all types of scholastic media platforms report a definite increase in the lack of sources – and not just appropriate ones. These lessons can help students understand the importance of identifying sources and how to assure their audiences that their stories have the right sources – people or other resources.
Summative evaluation tool: Student task performance and created product
Primary Common Core: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2
Secondary Common Core Standard(s) Addressed: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2e
21st Century Skills Incorporated: Communication and critical thinking
Supplies, Technology, Other Materials Needed: Handouts, online resources and computers
Length of the Lesson: 90 minutes (2 class periods)
Evaluation tools: In-class and homework assignments
Appropriate for Grades: 9-12
Created by: John Bowen, MJE
Brief description of lesson:
Students will critique existing stories for use of appropriate and relevant sources and then apply what they learned to an existing story of their own or a future assignment for their student media.
Teachers may want to use a coaching writing model for this activity, which an explanation can be found at: http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/chip-on-your-shoulder/11214/the-coaching-way/
Read MoreEthics in the eye of the storm
Keep your live coverage error-free
Queens, N.Y., Nov. 1, 2012 — FEMA Community Relations (CR) team members moved through Breezy Point and Rockaway, NY, after Hurricane Sandy. The CR members talked with disaster survivors about FEMA assistance and assessed the situation on the ground. Photo by Walt Jennings/FEMA
by Megan Fromm
When Hurricane Sandy hit the United States early last week, citizens turned to Twitter for a constant stream of information. The hashtag #Sandy provided hundreds of live perspectives each minute, including photos of the impending storm and subsequent devastation.
For those covering the story live, the storm spawned an entirely new lexicon of descriptors (“Frankenstorm” among the most widely-used) and created an ethical dilemma all-too-common in today’s instant media environment: How to sort the fact from the fiction?
Even today, a week out from the storm’s landfall, fake images from New York and New Jersey are still making the rounds on social and professional media outlets.
Would your students know which photos were real, and which were fake? Have your students take this quiz, and then use the following information to further consider the importance of verifying information as it is shared in real-time.
This Atlantic article is among the best sources we found for updating Sandy images as they are verified (or debunked) and is a great starting point for a larger discussion with your journalism students and scholastic journalists:
• Did your students retweet or repost any of these images? Which ones?
• How many followed the Hurricane Sandy hashtag? Did they make any attempts to verify the information they were receiving? Why/why not?
Don’t let death derail your publication
by Mary Kay Downes
The loss of any student is a tragic event either through sickness, accident or suicide.
Often times staffs are shocked when events such as this occur and frozen into either inaction or precipitous action. They ask, “Do we cover this?” They ask, “How do we cover this?” They ask, “Should we call the parents?”
All of these are questions which can be taken care of by establishing a policy by the editorial board for inclusion in the staff manual having to do with death. We have a policy in our yearbook staff manual and it precludes any type of memorial page.
We include a picture of the deceased student in the senior section of the yearbook the year they would have graduated. It is in a box with year of birth and death. If a faculty member dies, we include a similar box in the faculty section of the current year’s book.
Read More#SJW11: A conversation about prior review
by Marina Hendricks and Lori King
Students in “Social Role of the Mass Media,” a Kent State University online graduate course this semester, recently considered arguments for and against prior review. We decided to approach the assignment as an imaginary conversation between a student editor and a principal. The result is a template that journalism students and advisers can use as a starting point to craft their own statements in support of an open forum, tailoring the points to fit the individual situation. The “conversation” also can be used in role-playing exercises to help students prepare for real-life discussions with administrators.
Editor: I made this appointment because we, as a newspaper staff, have a great idea to expand our readership. We already have a good newspaper. As you know, we’ve won quite a few Journalism Education Association awards, but we want to take our coverage to the next level – you know, into the 21st century. We want to put our newspaper online.
Principal: I know how hard the journalism students have worked, and I appreciate how well the newspaper has represented the school. I am concerned about the instantaneous nature of the Internet. There recently have been some complaints from faculty members and parents about stories in the print newspaper. For example, I received a lot of calls about Jane Doe’s story on cheating. Some parents felt their children had been misquoted and portrayed as cheaters. Several teachers were upset because they thought their classrooms were singled out as easy places to cheat.
Editor: First of all, that cheating story was accurate. We double-checked our notes and verified the facts. We also made sure those who were interviewed knew they would be quoted in the paper and that there could be consequences. Cheating is a problem at every school, not just ours, so that story should not be ignored. I think the story portrayed a good balance on why people cheat, how they cheat, and the consequences of cheating.
As far as the Internet goes, we agree on its instant nature. You have to remember that we are student journalists and will make mistakes as part of our learning process. But our newspaper policy is to correct mistakes in the next issue, which we do. The powerful thing about our newspaper being on the Internet is we can correct our mistakes immediately, rather than waiting two weeks, and whatever mistakes we make will not be printed in stone forever. So, I can’t guarantee we won’t make future mistakes, but I can assure you we will be quick to respond to them, as a professional newspaper would.
Principal: Why shouldn’t student-produced content be reviewed to ensure that it contains no factual or grammatical errors? And what about journalistic issues? I have concerns about content that is libelous, obscene and invades someone’s privacy. What about socially inappropriate content? Remember, we have students here as young as 14 years old. The rules and ethics of journalism also must be taken into consideration. Finally, if content disrupts the educational process, then I’m going to have another situation on my hands.
Editor: Our newspaper is reviewed for accuracy and legal issues before it’s printed – by me, the editor, as well as by the other section editors. We have a great adviser and journalism teacher who teaches us what we need to know, but empowers us to make the content decisions. Our adviser participates in journalism workshops every summer and also has worked for a daily newspaper. Her professional journalism experience helps inform what we do. We are quite aware of the importance of factual and grammatical errors. We have weekly training sessions on everything from learning how to write, interview subjects and design pages to what we need to know about libel, obscenity and other legal issues. We discuss ethical issues on a regular basis as part of the production process.
We also have a newspaper staff manual that outlines our common style rules, our students’ rights and our legal and ethics policies. This helps us with our quality control, checks and balances, transparency, stuff like that. I can make sure you have a copy of it.
Principal: Journalism is a class and therefore part of the curriculum. Your adviser’s lesson plans are subject to approval and oversight. Why shouldn’t all content produced in conjunction with the class follow suit? After all, I am responsible for seeing that journalism students have met the assessments/outcomes set forth in your adviser’s lessons.
Editor: Our newspaper tells you how we are meeting the assessments and outcomes. It is living proof that we are learning what she teaches us, and learning it well. Our newspaper class is actually one of the most valuable learning tools in this school.
Principal: True. But stories on cheating and other such topics don’t reflect well on our school. It is my responsibility to ensure that school print and digital publications reflect and represent the school community in a positive light.
Editor: But we have always operated as a public forum, which means students make the content decisions, whether it’s in a print newspaper or online. Our newspaper is not a public relations tool. It’s a forum where we, as journalists, report honestly and openly about what happens in the school community. The stories may not always be positive, but that reflects the reality of the world you are preparing us to enter.
We appreciate and value our First Amendment rights. We also really appreciate the support that you and the administration have given us over the years to practice our First Amendment rights of free speech and a free press. I assure you, we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.
Oh, and one more thing. Did you realize that when students make the content decisions, it takes the liability away from the school? That’s a benefit of our newspaper being a public forum. I’ll be happy to supply more information for you on the matter.
Do have any other concerns or questions?
Principal: Thank you for coming in to talk with me today. You have given me a lot to consider, and I think we can come up with a plan that addresses and respects our mutual concerns. Please keep me informed on the plans for your online publication.
Editor: We will. Thanks for listening.
Marina Hendricks, a member of JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission, is manager of the Newspaper Association of America Foundation and a former editor of a daily newspaper’s program for teen journalists. Lori King is a photographer for The Toledo Blade and an adjunct professor of photojournalism at Owens Community College in Toledo.
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