Crime in the News - Lesson
In this lesson students explore the commercial and ethical issues surrounding the reporting of crime in televised newscasts.
In this lesson students explore the commercial and ethical issues surrounding the reporting of crime in televised newscasts.
Level: Grade K to 3
About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts.
Duration: 10-15 minutes per activity
This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.
In this lesson, students consider the meanings of the term “fake news” and learn facts about the news industry that will help them recognize legitimate sources of news. They use an educational computer game to learn how to track a news story to its original source before evaluating its reliability, then practice the same skills “in the wild” with actual news stories.
Level: Grades 7-9
About the the Author: Mathew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Duration: 1 1/2 to 2 hours, plus time for the assessment task
This lesson was produced with the financial support of Digital Public Square.
In this lesson students are introduced to the key media literacy concept that media are constructions that re-present reality and consider how representations of crime in news and entertainment media may influence how we perceive members of particular groups.
This lesson begins with a brief history of citizen journalism and a discussion of just what it is.
In this lesson students consider the meaning of the words “bias” and “prejudice” and consider how bias may be found even at the level of individual words due to connotation.
In this lesson, students will write a news article by developing ‘lede paragraphs’ and by using the ‘inverted pyramid’ model. Once this is done, they will be given time during class to select topics, conduct research, write their articles and proof read and peer edit their own and other’s works.