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Newspaper in the Classroom: Critical Thinking.Hawaii Newspaper Agency, Inc., Honolulu.[73]14p.Hawaii Newspaper Agency, 605 Kapiolani Boulevard,P.O. Box 3350, Honolulu, Hawaii 96801 (write forprice)

MF-$0.75 BC-81.50 PLUS POSTAGE*Class Activities; *Critical Thinking; InstructionalMaterials; Language Arts; *Newspapers; NewsReporting; Persuasive Discourse; Propaganda;Secondary Education; *Teaching Guides

ABSTRACTOne of a series prepared by the Hawaii Newspaper

Agency, this teaching guide offers ideas on using the newspaper toteach critical thinking. It includes suggestions for developingr.aitical awareness of the facts that content differs from newspaperto newspaper, that newspapers contain both factual reporting andopinion, the objectivity in news reporting has limitations, and thatjournalism has earned a permanent place in American literature. Theguide concludes with a list of the 12 most commonly used propagandadevices. (RB)

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CRITICAL THINKING.

The primary sin at a goodteacher is to teach children tothink to anal"e to make uptheir oter minds, not to be afraidto express their opinions.

It is not enough to coverharts; it is impossible. Know-

ledge is increasing so fast that we cannotpossibly give children all the facts about any-thing. If they ar- to be prepared for a worldwe cannot even envizia), then they must be taughtto make judgments based on laiowledge..

How do we do this? Not by going through atextbook rags by page -- not by having a classteed back to the teacher the facts she wants.

The newspaper is the ideal tool for theteaching of critical analysis. It does in itsF:hies exactly what you want your students to do.It presents farts; it. provides opinion; it drawsconclusions; it interprets; it understands theinteraction of writer and reader.

And it provides clues to the perceptivereader to help him be critical.

Sere is what you should teach your studente:

* Be wary of any controversial statementwhen no source is set forth. Wheneversuch a statement is made, you areentitled to ask "Who said so?"

* Understand attribution. Newspapers havevarious ways of attributing infonestion.Unless you understand them, you won't bereading intelligently.

e.g. When you run into such statementsas "it is said," "it is reported," "it isbelieved," you will have to take intoaccount what you know about the reporter,if his name appears, or what you knowabout the newspaper.

The reporter uses such vague phrases forseveral reasons. Be may have received theinformation from someone he trusts but still maybe unsure of it himself. Or he may have beengiven the information on condition he does notreveal the source. If he is positive of theinformation but cannot reveal the source he mayuse such a phrase as "it is reliably understood"or "it is reported on good authority."

* Understand that the first-hand accountis the most deperviable of all It isstill important thet the reader under-stand attributions of statements withinthe reporter'c account, however.

He should not jump to the conclusion that"Jones is a forger" because the reporter hassaid that "Jones has been indicted for forgery."

* The reader must be just as impartial inhis !seediness he expects the reporterto be in his writing. A story is notwrong because the reader doesn't likewhat is in it; the paper is not untrust-worthy because it spells a name incor-rectly once in a while.

Understanding how news is gathered; who makeswhat decisions and the pressures under which theyare made; how reporters are trained and what isexpected from them; the separation of news facts

frma opinion but the desirability and good senseof having interpretation of news by people whohave the necessary background (the reporters) areall essential to intelligent reading.

The editorials are a superb starting-off-point for developing critical thinking. If yourclass is too young for the written editorial,start with the editorial cartoon. Even veryyoung children interpret these very well with alittle helps Have them express their ownopinions; have them convince each other of theworth of their awn arguments; have them writeletters to the editor (or to a class editor) onproblems at their school.

/GHT MAJOR CONCEPTS

Here are eight manor concepts presented bya secondary language arts teacher (but adaptableto the elementary level) for the study of anewspaper with the intent of developing critical.thinking.

I. TEE CRITICAL READER IS AWARE TEAT CONTENTDIFFERS FROM PAPER TO PAPER.

A. Bu sted red).1

1. Compare coverage of one outstandingcurrent news item in a nuaiber ofnational, city, and local newspapers,noting differences in reporting bythe vire services and editing ofthen items.

2. Discues there varations and theirpossible causes, and why content endcoverage differ from paper to paper.

a. localityb. type of papere, frequency of publicationd. time of distribution

3. Analyze the entire content of thelocal and national papers, noting:

a. inclusion/exclusion of itemsb. placementc. treatmentd. headlines

Be IminEWLivullemapall

1. Clip examples of a particular newsevent covered by several papers.

2. Write aecomranying enalysie innotebook.

II. THE MITI= mum IS AWARE THAT THENEWSPAPER CONTAINS ROTE FACTUAL REPORTINGAND OPINION.

A. Suggested Approach

1. introduce chart of analysis of neva-paper content.

News Current informationInterpretation

Editor .1F.24 OpinionVA Argument

Ada Specia1.0105

2. Explain chart:

a. Current information: ."More thanthree billion hot dogs wereconsumed by the American peoplelast year." This is a statementof fact. Such statements areprimarily but not exclusivelyfound in news columns.

b. Interpretation: "The popularityof the hot dog makes it virtuallyan American institutic ." Thisis a legitimate deduction fromfacts. It coulok appear in newscoltImns, on the editorial page,and in writings of comzentators.

c. Opinion: "The hot dog is deli-

cious." This is not an objectivestatement of fact but rather asubjective judgment. Opinionssuch as this are found on theeditorial page and in thewritings of critics and commenta-tors.

d. Argument: "Since hot doge arean excellent source' of proteinand their manuf-cture givesemployment to thousands ofpersons, everybody should. eat atleast one hot dog a day." Suchstatements arguing a point or acause lie midway between opinionand special pleading. They belongin editorials and cosimentators'columns, but net in news columns.

I

e. Special pleading: "Eat Zilch'hot dogs. Scientific tests provethat they are smoother, morefirmly packed and easier on thedigestive tract." Advocacy of aparticular product, service,,cause or institution appears,:the advertising columns, andoccasionally on the editorialYaSm

III. THE CRITICAL READER IS AWARE TEA NEWWAPERSCAN CONTAIN "HIDDEN PERSUADERS"

A. Iwieutedameeh - Find examples ofslanting

1. By use of emotionally-toed words.Examples: "Corapany SnoopthdExplaineSitdown" -- "The workers WON a wage'boost."

2. By playing a story down or up.3. By selection or suppression of

certain news items.

B. Suggested Assignmerte

1. Clip examples of each kind ofslanting.

2. Clip examples .of slanted headliner.3. Clive students copy of a slanted

news am.icle and ask them to dis-tinguish between fact and cptnion.

4. Nave students write Cescriptions ofan incident in a literature bookAsses various points of view, butkeeping to the facts.

F

IV. THE CRZTICAL READER REALTIES THATOBJECTIVITY IN HEWS REPORTING HAS MC:CATIONS.

A. SagELRted Approach - Cover the followingpotato in a Idiscussion that precedes,follows, wilts alternated with theactivities listed below.

1. The very procers of reportinglessens objectivity because allperception is selection.

a. The reporter as the firstselector is affected by theunconscious influence of hisexperience, bactground, attitudeand associations.

b.. The reporter's presence mayaffect the person or the event.

2. Point of view of the news sourcemay be slanted.

3. The very selecti'n entailed inorganising facts implies that thereporter has already judged therelative eigaificance of the facto.

4. Interpretive reporting depends ona writer's special knowledge, butit is that writer's specialknowledge.

B. ftrluttAcyllf.imL.Ite

1. Neva Selection: List in randomorder news that Ilse broken on asingle day. Have students indicatewhere they would place the stories -front pogo or inside paps.

2. Give. students list of facts frayan actual news story. Cc pore thestories written by the studentswith the original. Stories writtenin the newspapers.

3. Provide a lecture, movie, or anassembly fcr the students. Ravethem write an account. Note andaccount for differences in thereports.

4. Have students examine the Canons ofJournalism to determine bow editorsand reporters attempt to guardagainst subjectivity.

V. THE CRITICAL =DER DEW= n;CREASIEG=TR IN ICEWS REPORTING.

A. Discussion

1. He knows that TV and radio haveusurped the freshness of news; he,therefore, asks newspapers to presentthe news in depth.

2. He is an increasingly more sophis-ticated reader, demanding full inter-pretive reporting.

3. Be knows that since the newspapeisperform a service, they may beinfluenced by the interest andattitudes of the readers.

B. SufasIsted AssIments

1. List topics of news items discussedon radio and. TV. Locate stories innewspapers.

2. rind interpretive coverage innewspapers.

TIC CRITICAL READ MOW, T1L VALI% CPSOUND REASONING IN ARGUMENTATIVE WRITINt.mum 1 TAE EDITORIALS, IZrrERS TO TEC=mons, AleD COLUMNS.

A. EturtfiestedAvroach - Compare and examineeditorials:, letters, and columns foruse of facts, expert testimony, useof analog, valid Induction and deduc-tion, and recognition of propagandadevices.

E. Suggested Assignraentr;

1- Clip and analyze arguments ineditorials, columns, and lotteradealins with the same ;subjectLatter.

2. Write a letter to the editor whichanalyzes and responds to theargument in an editorial, latter,or cclutv.

3. Have a student select a controver-sial topic, collect arti"les onboth rides, choose a side andsup:1=st it, and prepare a writtencr cral assign: rent.

VU. THE CRITICAL IZt KNOWS HOW TO EVALUATET NEVSPAPER 10 READS.

A. *Sx ,jitizetsoach - Set up standardsfor a responsible newspaper.

B. Cuspated Aasirnments

1. Write an analysis of the localncvspaper

1/

2. Compare and analyze the city, andNeighbor Island newspapers.

3. Present a panel on the responsi-bilities of newspaper readers.

4. Or a trip to a local newspaperor host an editor or a reporterfrom a local newspaper.

VIII. TEE CRITICAL. READER REALIZES TEAT JOURNALISMRAS EARNED A PERMANENT PLACE III AMERICANLITERATURE.

A. Considerations - The major distinctionbetween journalism and literature ispermanence. Literature has truth forreaders tomorrow; journalism stressestoday. When journalism presentslasting insists into the human con-dition, it becomes literature.

Here a teacher could examine thewritings of a selected group of authorswho have in some degree combinedjournalistic and literary careers:Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway,John Hersey, R. L. Mencken,John Steinbeck, Robert Penn Warren.The basic premise here is that thesame quaAties are found in all goodwriting.

B. Su sted Sources for Study13.1ian Ross, Retorting; John Updike,

Assorted Prose; James Agee, Lot UNov Praise Famous Men; Jesssayn bleat,

See The Thurber, The Tearsith MGT st..."---;7md others, including

lararons of articles on the deathof President Kennedy.

USE OF PROPAGANDA

ft discussion of the teaching of critical

analysis would be complete without mention of

propaganda devices, not all of Which are as

sinister as they are made out to be.

Opinion-moulders court the citizen in his

roles as voter and consumer. Th.ly come in ail

shapes and sizes - from the advertising copy-

writer to the publicity or public relations man.

The art of manipulating audiences is not

always bad. Take, for instance, the publicity

man for a hospital drive or for raising money

for needy children at Christmas time. In these

instances, and many others, he is using hisconsiderable manipulative skills for the benefit

of others.

Generally speaking, propaganda is the

retailing of a one-sided point of view. In its

worst form, it consists of hel.f-truths or out-

right misrepresentations concerning a person,

cause or institution.

Here are some of the most commonly talked-

about propaganda devices:

* Bandwagon - "It's common knowledge that

our candidate is the best."

* Testimonial - "Johnny Athlete uses only

Sharpedge razor blades."

* Just plain folks- "You people remind meof the friendly honest people in my

home town."

13

Snob appeal appointment to herMajesty"Name.camiug "Red". %Low."Ran Birches'", "rebel".

Glittering generalities - "Absolutelyhonest", %1W American way of lift".

Transfer - Using a picture of the flagto lend patriotism to whatever is beingadvertised.

High-sounding claims - "Scientificallyproved in our laboratories to be the beston the market."

* Card-staking - Use of half - truths whichcannot be d-nie or whole truths notpertinent "..o tile discussion. Deliberateomissions or incomplete quotations.

Misuse of statistics - Twisting figures toprove one's point.

* Oversimplication - "There's no money forcancer research as long we're fiejitingthe war."

* Stereotypes - "A typical American family";"He saves all his money because he'sChinese."

Advertising writers are casters of VersuasionThis is their job. However, an advertisement willonly keep ceiling the product or service if eachlives up to the claim of the adverticing.

Advertisments are a tremendously effectivevehicle for the study of persuasion because theyare designed and written with that specific aimin OAS.