How well can your students
recognize sponsored content?
by John Bowen
Title
How well can your students recognize sponsored content?
Description — third in the sequence
Because of the rapid spread of sponsored content, students may have to decide whether to accept sponsored content in their student media. How well can they recognize it and what would they do once they recognize it?
Objectives
- Students will critique a piece of sponsored content and specify issues in the article that help identify it as sponsored.
- Students will demonstrate their knowledge of journalistic standards by suggesting changes in the article that could make it more acceptable.
- Students will defend their suggestions showing how they apply their ethical guidelines for sponsored content.
- Students will reexamine their student media advertising guideline.
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.CCRA.SL.4 | Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.5 | Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8 | Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. |
Length
50 minutes
Materials / resources
Blackboard or whiteboard
Teacher laptop and digital projector
Internet access
Evaluating information: The cornerstone of civic online reasoning
Slideshow on Skeptical Knowing
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1 — Warm-up (5 minutes)
Teacher should ask students to define sponsored content and to explain concerns about it.
Step 2 — Large group discussion (45 minutes)
The teacher will introduce the lesson by telling the students they are going to get a chance to identify, and then call for correction of, problematic issues. The teacher could also note the Stanford study that indicates students have a difficult time identifying fake news, sharing findings with students.
The teacher should make links to four sponsored content examples available. Students should then evaluate the articles and identify ways to make the story more acceptable. Students should read the articles, identify points that could be problematic and suggest journalistic corrections that could also be linked.
The articles can be found here:
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/sponsored or http://reviveusa.com/category/sponsored-news/ or http://www.eonline.com/news/sponsored or
Students should also be able to refer to the Slideshow on Skeptical Knowing (based on information by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in Blur) to get insights to the type of information they were seeing and questions to ask about that information. We encourage teachers to purchase Blur for more complete context and a look at new approaches in journalism.
Students will be able to share their work with peers in class.
Students should then use this knowledge to revisit and possibly rewrite their advertising guideline.
Assessment
The teacher will critique each student’s evaluation based on a rubric of the sponsored content answer form.
Differentiation
Instead of completing a written evaluation, students may choose to do the assignment using a podcast or short video report.
Read More
News v. public relations
by Kristin Taylor
Title
News vs. Public Relations
Description
The community gets information about what is happening at school through different publications, but not all of these publications are journalistic. In this lesson, students will differentiate between student reporting and school public relations by comparing and contrasting student publications with school public relations content such as newsletters, school-created magazines or school websites created and maintained by adults in the community.
Objectives
- Students will be able to explain the difference between public relations and student reporting.
- Students will reflect on the purpose and importance of both types of content.
- Students will analyze how they can maintain a relationship while remaining independent from school public relations content-creators.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.C | Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D
|
Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.8
|
Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.2
|
Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source. |
Length
60 minutes
Materials / Resources
Whiteboard and markers
Teacher laptop and digital projector
Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics
School generated website, publication or other content
Lesson step-by-step
- Warm Up (5 minutes)
Written on the board: “What is the difference between public relations and journalism?” After taking some initial responses to the prompt, teacher asks, “If our school newspaper and yearbook are student-run journalism, who runs its public relations, and what forms does this PR take?” (The school may have formal or informal public relations publications content, such as newsletters, a school website, etc.)
- Teacher-led discussion (5 minutes)
Teacher reads a definition of public relations: “the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other organization or a famous person.”
Have students look at the “Be independent” section of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics (or their own, if they own it) and read through it. Ask, “How does this conflict with what you might do if you were a public relations professional?”
- Small group activity (15 minutes)
Teacher hands out a recent adult-created school publication or piece of content or has students access the school website’s news section. Students look through the content and consider what it has in common with their own student news publication (focus on the school, writing may be journalistic [depends on publication], may use infographics and strong images, shouldn’t include false information) and what might be different (no differentiation between news and opinion, no articles or photos that cast the school in a negative light, use of adjectives/adverbs or exclamation marks).
- Class Discussion (20 minutes)
Teacher draws a Venn diagram on the board with “School Public Relations” on one side and “Student Publication” on the other. The class fills in the circles to synthesize their conclusions about similarities and differences in small groups.
Discussion questions:
- What is the audience and purpose for public relations? Why is it important for a school to have a public relations team?
- What is the audience and purpose for scholastic journalism? Why is it important for a school to have a journalism program?
- Is journalism better than public relations? Worse? Just different?
- What should the student publication staff’s relationship be with the school’s publication relations staff? How can you remain independent? Should you ever collaborate with them?
- How does this give you insight into your own student publication policies to not use school staff’s photographs — even with permission — unless there is no other option?
- What would your response be if the school requests the use of student work created for your school publication? Do you have a policy in the staff manual for this situation?Assessment (15 minutes)
Students will go through a recent editing of a student publication and find two stories that probably wouldn’t be featured in school public relations publications and discuss why they are good journalism stories, but not good public relations stories. They can share these stories verbally or write about them.
Extension
Discuss how these same principles apply to professional media outlets as well. Can students identify when what they read takes a PR slant? What are the dangers of media outlets running a press release word for word
Read MoreIntroducing Tools of Truth package
focusing on preventing fake news
To introduce the SPRC’s new Tools of Truth package that examines approaches to cope with fake news, please go here for a sample lesson. The package consists of more than 20 lessons on dealing with fake news in four categories: censorship, satire, sloppy reporting and deceptive news.
This lesson on “How people interpret the news and why it matters” was developed by Maggie Cogar of Ashland University and JEA’s Ohio state director and is from the deceptive news category.
Cogar described the lesson as, “Why, and how, can two people be exposed to the exact same news story and interpret it differently? Why should this matter to journalists? People interpret the news differently depending on their cognitive schematic structure, or prior experiences. It’s important for journalists to understand this process so they can better understand how their
audiences are interpreting the content they produce, and so they can ultimately use that information to help shape their content.”
The entire package will become active by Aug. 30.
Read MoreIntroduction to news literacy
by Kristin Taylor
Title
Introduction to News Literacy
Description
In order for students to understand the importance of the freedom of speech and freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment, they must understand the responsibilities that come along with this freedom. It is not enough to have a free press — we must be able to evaluate our news and vary our news diets. This lesson provides a foundational understanding of news media literacy and asks students to reflect on their own news media habits to escape our filter bubbles and avoid fake news. Although this lesson is formatted here as a 60-minute class period, it can be approached in a number of ways. The presentation could happen in specific classes (social studies, English, etc.) or to groups of students (school assembly, class meeting, advisory groups) with the discussion happening immediately or in a follow-up class.
Objectives
- Students will be able to define and explain the difference between traditional news sources, non-traditional news sources, news aggregators, partisan news sources and fake news sources.
- Students will be able to define and explain the difference between objective news, news analysis, opinion and native ads/sponsored content.
- Students will be able to evaluate the importance of news media literacy in a democratic society.
- Students will reflect on and evaluate their own news media literacy to determine how they should continue or change their current news habits.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1 | Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2 | Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6 | Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose. |
| 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.SL.9-10.1.C | Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. |
Length
60 minutes
Materials / resources
Whiteboard and markers
Teacher laptop and digital projector
Handout: TrumpBriefings_newslit.pdf (used with written permission from National Report)
Slideshow: Intro to News Media Literacy
Discussion questions can be projected on the board or handed out to small groups.
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1 — Warm up (10 minutes)
As students arrive, hand out copies of the (fake) news story “Trump to limit all intelligence briefings to 140 characters” (TrumpBriefings_newslit.pdf). Have students look at the article and ask for reactions. Is this a real story or is it fake? How do they know? If students have access to laptops or phones and go to Google this story or site, let them — the internet is the central verification tool for 21st century news consumers.
After a few minutes, of investigation and discussion, have students share why they think it is or is not fake. Then reveal that this is a fake news article and tell students that today’s class will focus on understanding different types of news sources and becoming more news literate consumers.
Step 2 — Lecture and class discussion (40 minutes)
Use the framing slideshow (with instructor notes) to discuss how the media frames the news.
Step 3 — Small group discussion (10 minutes)
Questions for small group discussion
- What did you learn from today’s presentation that you didn’t know before? Will this new knowledge affect the way you think about or consume news?
- Why do you think so many teenagers are fooled by fake news and images?
- Have you ever reposted an article without reading it? What is the danger of relying on headlines or assuming someone else has verified the content before you share it?
- Part of being a responsible citizen in a democracy is being informed. What is your media diet? Do you consume credible news sources? Do you read local news (student-run school publications, local news sources)? Why or why not?
- Evaluate your own news media literacy. What are you doing right? What else do you need to do to be more news literate?
Assessment
Students should create a ticket-to-leave with one concept they understand about the news that they didn’t understand before and one question they still have. The teacher will collect these as they leave to plan for follow-up and clarification as needed.
Extension
Students could watch this 10 minute 2011 TED talk about “online filter bubbles” by Eli Pariser — he predicted our online experience would become more and more polarized as sites like Facebook and search engines like Google use algorithms to personalize our digital experience. Do you think his predictions have come true? What can we do to get outside our own filter bubbles?
Additional Resources
- Fact-checking sites: Factcheck.org, Snopes, Politifact, The Washington Post’s Fact Checker
- Tips for analyzing news sources from Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts: “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources”
- Zimdars’ work-in-progress list of false, misleading, clickbait-y and satirical “news” sources
- NPR’s article about the Stanford study: “Students Have ‘Dismaying’ Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds” By Camila Domonoske
- A four-minute NPR audio interview with one of the researchers who conducted the study: “Stanford Study Finds Most Students Vulnerable To Fake News”
- “Fake news, real violence: ‘Pizzagate’ and the consequences of an Internet echo chamber” by Brian Stelter (CNN Money)
- An article in the Washington Post about the fake news generated from Russia with the goal of affecting the election: “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say” by Craig Timberg
- A New York Times article about fake news creators in the nation of Georgia: “Inside a Fake News Sausage Factory: ‘This Is All About Income’”
- A seven-minute NPR audio story about a fake-news creator in suburban Los Angeles: “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned”
- A 2011 TED talk about “online filter bubbles” by Eli Pariser — he predicted our online experience would become more and more polarized as sites like Facebook and search engines like Google use algorithms to personalize our digital experience.
Read More
Loyalty Day is May 1.
Let’s reaffirm OUR principles
by John Bowen
Loyalty Day is Monday, May 1.
First observed in 1921 because of threats from subversive influence, it has been a legally designated holiday since 1958 and observed by every president since then, reports Esquire.
President Donald Trump said its purpose, according to Mic, was to protect against those who would do the United States harm, and according to Fox News, “to recognize and reaffirm our allegiance to the principles” that are America’s heritage..
For journalists, groups that do harm might include:
• Those who perpetuate fake news
• Those who lie to newsmedia and to the public
• Those who interfere with the news media’s quest for truthful, accurate and thorough reporting
• Those who would censor journalists, at any level, and thus misinform or disinform citizens’ rights to know
Journalists are not enemies of the state. Not May 1 or any of 364 other days.
Read More