Activity # 5
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Compare
T.V. News Broadcasts |
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Note: We recommend that you print this page for
offline reference.
Here is a great activity
to introduce your students to media issues
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Videotape the first
ten minutes of a television news broadcasts from two or more
local stations or from the CTV and CBC national broadcasts.
Let the students watch
them in class and ask them to compare what each newscast did
differently. |
Here
are some questions to consider in the class discussion, depending
on the age of your students and their level of media awareness
- Make
a List
Ask
a couple of students to make a list of the stories that appeared
in each newscast on the worksheet provided below. Do you see
the same stories on each list? Are there major differences?
- Order
of Stories
Ask
them to look at the order in which stories were read, keeping
in mind that more important stories are usually read first. What
did each station feature as its top story? Was it the same?
- Length
of Stories
How
long did the stories run? Ask one of your students to time the
stories with a stop-watch or the classroom clock. Did some stories
last for 25 seconds while others ran for three minutes? Ask your
students to discuss why they think some stories get more air
time than others.
- Type
of Story. Ask them
to look at the stories that were featured on the newscast. Is
there one type of story that comes up more often than others?
Crime, politics, business, human interest stories? Ask your students
what they think of these choices? Are they interested in the
stories? Would they rather see stories about other subjects?
- Type
of People featured in stories
Ask your students to keep track of the type of people
who are featured in news stories. Are they mostly politicians,
officials, celebrities, and other well-known people? Do regular
citizens make it into the news very often? If they do, how and
when do they appear? What about women? People of various ethnic
backgrounds? Disabled people?
- Act
as Producer
Encourage
your students to act as the producer of a newscast. How would
they organize the newscast? What's their top story? What would
they cut out? Is there a story they would add?
ACTIVITY
5 WORKSHEET
LIST
OF STORIES FROM BROADCASTS
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Order |
Newscast 1- story and length |
Newscast 2 -
story and length |
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10 |
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