media representation in the news - appalachian state university · 2008-04-28 · media...

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Introduction: In today’s world our media often shapes and influ- ences what we think about our surroundings. The media is pervasive and we both see it and hear it eve- ryday, even if we often think we do not. We see and hear media content in the most unusual places, and in today’s world of constantly updated and new technol- ogy, one can only imagine what the media will be like even five years from now. Today’s media is dy- namic and it responds to every type of new technol- ogy it can get its hands on. With me- dia all around us, it is impor- tant to able to analyze media con- tent and media rep- resentation. After all, the media is a representation of our society, so how do we want to be represented and remembered? Does our media representation help or hurt the way others view us from different parts of the World? One of the main places where many of us view media is in the news, and more specifically, in the news on television such as the daily local news or world news. Many citizens rely on the daily local news for the in- formation and news relevant to their local commu- nity. In this teacher’s guide to Media Representation in the News, we will analyze two local 30-minute news broadcasts from Charlotte, North Carolina. The first broadcast is from WBTV - Channel 3 - Charlotte, and the second is from WSOC - Channel 9 - Charlotte. We will also take a look at the commercial segments that aired during each broadcast to see what type of products were aimed toward the target audience. This guide is intended for use at the college level, but certainly teachers and professors at various academic levels may be able to cater this guide toward their needs and the curriculum standards for different age groups. Media Representation in the News & Media Literacy: “Our Founding Fathers understood that a democratic republic could not survive without an informed and participatory citizenry….It is essential in our citizen- ship role to view critically, analyze, ask powerful questions and draw our own conclusions. Media Lit- eracy then, is essential to the citizenship role” - Denee Mattioli, President for the National Council for the Social Studies, 2003. This statement from the President of the National Council for the Social Studies shows us the impor- tance of Media Literacy skills in today’s world. In fact, a few states have already begun instituting Me- dia Literacy in the 21st Century Skills framework. This framework stresses several different areas where students should focus in order to ensure their success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. North Carolina has already committed to this program as one of five states to lead the nation in incorporating 21st Century Skills into the public education curricu- lum. Within this framework Media Literacy seeks to accomplish the main points listed below: teach an understanding in how media messages are constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions. Examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influ- ence beliefs and behaviors. Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information. Image courtesy of WSOC - Charlotte 1 Media Representation in the News ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ M. Trivette

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Page 1: Media Representation in the News - Appalachian State University · 2008-04-28 · Media Representation in the News & Media Literacy: “Our Founding Fathers understood that a democratic

Introduction: In today’s world our media often shapes and influ-ences what we think about our surroundings. The media is pervasive and we both see it and hear it eve-ryday, even if we often think we do not. We see and hear media content in the most unusual places, and in today’s world of constantly updated and new technol-ogy, one can only imagine what the media will be like even five years from now. Today’s media is dy-namic and it responds to every type of new technol-ogy it can get its hands on. With me-dia all around us, it is impor-tant to able to analyze media con-tent and media rep-resentation. After all, the media is a representation of our society, so how do we want to be represented and remembered? Does our media representation help or hurt the way others view us from different parts of the World?

One of the main places where many of us view media is in the news, and more specifically, in the news on television such as the daily local news or world news. Many citizens rely on the daily local news for the in-formation and news relevant to their local commu-nity.

In this teacher’s guide to Media Representation in the News, we will analyze two local 30-minute news broadcasts from Charlotte, North Carolina. The first broadcast is from WBTV - Channel 3 - Charlotte, and the second is from WSOC - Channel 9 - Charlotte. We will also take a look at the commercial segments that aired during each broadcast to see what type of products were aimed toward the target audience.

This guide is intended for use at the college level, but certainly teachers and professors at various academic levels may be able to cater this guide toward their needs and the curriculum standards for different age groups.

Media Representation in the News & Media Literacy: “Our Founding Fathers understood that a democratic republic could not survive without an informed and participatory citizenry….It is essential in our citizen-ship role to view critically, analyze, ask powerful questions and draw our own conclusions. Media Lit-eracy then, is essential to the citizenship role” - Denee Mattioli, President for the National Council for the Social Studies, 2003.

This statement from the President of the National Council for the Social Studies shows us the impor-tance of Media Literacy skills in today’s world. In fact, a few states have already begun instituting Me-dia Literacy in the 21st Century Skills framework. This framework stresses several different areas where students should focus in order to ensure their success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. North Carolina has already committed to this program as one of five states to lead the nation in incorporating 21st Century Skills into the public education curricu-lum. Within this framework Media Literacy seeks to accomplish the main points listed below: • teach an understanding in how media messages

are constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions.

• Examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influ-ence beliefs and behaviors.

• Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information.

Image courtesy of WSOC - Charlotte

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Media Representation in the News ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

M. Trivette

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• Accessing information efficiently and effectively,

evaluating information critically and competently and using information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand.

This guide is meant to be a discussion based guide where you can get your students actively involved in discussion and debate about news programming. Not only will this get them excited about being able to analyze the news on television, it will also give them skills to be able to analyze all forms of media. By having your students listen and write down informa-tion they see within these broadcasts, they will begin learning how to train their brain to intuitively pick up on these sort of cues during future screenings. Your students will begin learning 21st Century Skills and Media Literacy skills by participating in the activities highlighted within this guide.

Media Representation in the News & AIME: This television guide will follow Gavriel Salomon’s theory of AIME (Amount of Invested Mental Energy) to assist instructors in the selection of short scenes throughout each broadcast for the purpose of facilitat-ing active discussion among the class and creating enhanced activities to help students learn from the content they view. When instructors give students directions prior to screening and allow time for dis-cussion and feedback after the screening, the students are more mentally alert, as result of which they com-prehend and retain more ideas than students who re-

ceived little guidance or direction from their teachers. In short, for learning to occur the focus has to shift from what they watch to how they watch. By select-ing certain clips from each broadcast, professors will assist in guiding students through the discussions and activities to allow students the opportunity to learn about media representation. Instructors will direct students to what to look and listen for while watching the selected clips. This will help students to compre-hend and retrieve the information from each segment in the broadcasts. It also allows students the opportu-nity to process the information since they are only given a few minutes of each selected clip, rather than the entire broadcast. Students then reflect on the news/commercial segment and process that informa-tion through the discussions and activities in class. Research suggests students who are cued to the se-lected clips in this way will be able to give more at-tention, recall more information, and comprehend more of the information from each broadcast.

Media Representation in the News & ONDCP: In 2001, the Office of National Drug Control Policy released its findings of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign during the Media Literacy Summit at the White House in Washington, D.C. The Sum-mit was host to 15 experts in the fields of media liter-acy, substance abuse prevention, and adolescent de-velopment. The purpose of the Summit was to ex-plore the topic of media literacy specific to illicit drugs and to identify challenges and opportunities to advance this approach. The Campaign acknowledges the power and influence of the media on America’s youth, and it believes it is both important and appro-priate to help young people develop critical think-ing skills by further investing in media literacy. This guide will seek to incorporate some of the Sum-mit’s findings by using several best practices to in-crease the effectiveness of work with youth in rela-tion to media issues.

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Media Literacy Curriculum Project Media Representation through News

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21st Century Skills Framework

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Don’t bash the media - acknowledge that the media are a powerful and amazing influence that can be used for positive and healthy ends. Media literate people more fully appreciate media’s complexity, creativity and potential. They do not blame the me-dia for society’s problems.

Many times in our society news is blamed for in-creased problems in society. We do not seek to blame media or news for these problems, rather we seek to analyze the content of these news broadcasts to learn more about the media and the affect it has on all of us.

Acknowledge Context - young people will be ex-posed to different messages as a result of geographic environment, socio-economic class, race and culture. Not all young people are influenced by media mes-sages in the same way.

It is important for you to realize that each student will respond to these news broadcasts in a different way. It is impossible to tell each student’s back-ground and what may influence their opinion on each news and commercial segment. This is why it is im-portant to value each student’s contribution while also realizing that each student views each segment a little differently from other students.

Do not talk down to students - media literacy is most effectively taught when teachers respect the intelli-gence of youth and use a co-learning approach. The growing emphasis on technology in the classroom has helped changed the role of teachers from being a “sage on the stage” to a “guide on the side” in media literacy instruction.

By respecting the intelligence of the youth we are working with in this project, we all gain valuable in-struction by furthering our skills in analyzing media. You will find that many of the segments in this exer-cise simply require you to be a “guide on the side” and students will see more freedom to explore their

own thoughts within these exercises. Both the stu-dent and the teacher will work together to form a co-hesive learning environment.

Treat students as decision makers - young people should be recognized as active participants in the construction of their own values and beliefs, not as vulnerable dupes who are victimized by powerful media messages.

Going into this project, each student will have their own values and beliefs and it is our job as instructors to get them to exercise these values through the vari-ous activities within this guide. By learning how to critically analyze and evaluate the media messages within these broadcasts, students will learn valuable skills in viewing various forms of media.

Instructions for your students: Before you begin this project with your students, please provide a steno pad for each student to use during the screenings. Each student will be able to use the steno pad as a way to write down their notes while also meeting your requirements for each screening. It will also provide a logical and orderly way for them to formulate their thoughts on paper, and it allows them to be able to draw information from their notes in order to participate in class dis-cussions.

Inform each student to take notes on each screening. It is also helpful for students to label which broadcast segment (both news and commercial) they are view-ing and the order in which they see the news stories and/or commercial ads. Students do not necessarily have to write a lot of information for each different segment, just enough to have a paper copy of the main news stories. Please allow your students to take home their steno pads in order to give them time for additional work. Allowing them to take their notes home will give them more chances to be able to reflect on the viewed material and make additions/revisions to their notes. If you would rather your stu-dents keep the steno pads in the classroom, set them

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aside to use during the next class period assigned for this project.

Lastly, inform your students that they may never be the same after completing this project. They will now begin looking at their local and global media through a different lens, and they will begin to dis-sect everything with more detail than ever before. Instruct your students to have fun with this activity because this should be a rewarding project in which they gather more appreciation for their skills and knowledge of how to analyze and interpret media.

WBTV - Channel 3 *Instructor’s note: At the main title screen for the DVD, select Channel 3 to go to the WBTV main menu. Once you are at this menu, simply follow the selected clips in this guide that correspond with the WBTV menu screen. Each clip will automatically return to the WBTV main menu after it has finished playing.

Channel 3: News Segment 1 Activity: Before viewing this segment, break your class into groups of about four to five students. Have each student within the group write down on their own sheet of paper what they believe the lead news story will be, or what they imag-ine the lead news story will be re-lated to. After you have given them a few minutes,

have a few students tell the class what they believe the lead news story will be. Once you get a few sug-gestions from the class, go ahead and instruct your students to take brief notes during this first news seg-ment to identify what the story is about, and who are the key players within the story. After you have given your students these instructions, go ahead and play this news segment. Play News Segment 1 from the beginning to 02:20.

News Story: SWAT situation in a Charlotte, NC neighborhood.

Post Viewing: This segment is considered to be the lead news story since it opens the 5:00pm broadcast. Typically, this is considered to be the top news story of the day. Now it is time for you and your students to discuss this news story. Pose these questions to your students and facilitate a discussion amongst your class:

-Why do you think WBTV decided to lead their broadcast with this news story? -Do you personally consider this to be “newsworthy” content and how would you define “newsworthy” in your own terms?

At this point, go ahead and develop a working defini-tion for newsworthy that your entire class can agree upon. This will help in following news segments.

Activity: After you have reviewed these questions with your class, instruct your students to take notes on the following news stories within this first seg-ment. You want your students to be able to locate each news story within this first news segment. Play News Segment 1 from 02:20-07:34.

News Stories: Man on trial for shooting a police of-ficer, fire destroys home, guns and animals found in a abandoned home, car crash kills one driver, snow and weather report.

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WBTV’s lead news story

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Post Viewing: Have one of your students write out the news stories on the board in the order in which they played from the opening SWAT story to the closing news story. After the student has finished writing this information on the board in front of the class, pose these questions to your students:

-What do you feel was the most important news within that entire first news segment, and why? -If you were the Executive News Producer and you had to make a decision to leave out one news brief from that first segment, which one would it be, and why?

Channel 3: News Segment 2

Activity: This news segment contains only one news story, and it deals with what it calls “Risky Teen Behavior”. The segment talks about a recent survey-study conducted within Charlotte Mecklen-burg Schools that focused on the percentage of stu-dents that participated in drinking, smoking, and drug use. This news segment also discusses the amount of minority students that fell victim to these issues, and the field reporter interviewed a few stu-dents to get their take on these issues. Go ahead and play this segment for your students. Play News Seg-ment 2 from the beginning of the clip to the end.

News Story: Risky teen behavior Post Viewing: In the first ten seconds of this news story, lead anchor Paul Cameron says something that many people might consider offensive. He states “here is something that might surprise you, white students at CMS more likely to drink, smoke, and use drugs than black stu-dents”. After students have viewed this seg-ment, poll your students to see if anyone picked up on something alarming during the first ten seconds of the lead-in to this story when the anchors are prep-ping the news brief. You may want to hint to the language and the words the anchors used just to get their minds thinking. Now let us put this in context.

Go back to the beginning of this news segment (News Segment 2) and play the first ten seconds of the clip. Question your class to see if anyone picked up on Paul Cameron’s remarks. Ask your students the following questions:

-What do you think about the statement Paul Cam-eron made at the beginning of this news segment? -Do you think a minority person would be offended by this statement? -If you are a minority, were you offended when you heard this statement. -How could Paul Cameron have reworded his state-ment to make it more acceptable for all people? -Do you see the importance of language usage within the media after reviewing this clip?

After you have reviewed over these questions, ask students about the news segment and whether they

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Risky Teen Behavior

Segment 1 news story

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thought this topic was important. If students found this to be interesting, ask them specifically about what stood out to them as being important?

Channel 3: News Segment 3

Activity: This news segment is close to six minutes in length and it features a few news stories. In this activity, inform your students to take notes on the headlines within this news segment. Discussion will follow after they view this segment. Play News Seg-ment 3 from the beginning to the end of the segment.

News Stories: earthquake in London, former cop sentenced to life in prison, health alert/flu & lemon bacteria, weather report.

Post Viewing: After students have viewed this seg-ment, again have one student go to the board and write down the news briefs or the headlines of the news stories within this segment. We are going to set this segment up to be a debate amongst the stu-dents. Once the headlines have been made, poll your class on which news story they felt was the most im-portant. Write down the responses to the corre-sponding news story on the board. Obviously there will be differences of opinion within this activity so

your job as the educator will be to facilitate an active discussion between the students about the impor-tance of each news story and why students chose one particular story over another.

After the debate comes to a close, ask your students these questions before moving into the final news segment (News Segment 4).

-At this point, what conclusions do you draw from this news broadcast? -What is your overall feeling of this news broadcast so far?

Channel 3: News Segment 4 Activity: This will be the final news segment of the WBTV broadcast. This news segment is just over two minutes in length. Before you play through this segment, instruct your students to once again take notes on the headlines of each news story within this segment. Once students are ready, go ahead and play this segment. Play News Segment 4 in its entirety.

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Media Literacy Curriculum Project Media Representation through News

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Segment 4 news stories

Segment 3 news story

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News Stories: elderly man attacked at repair shop, teen heart attack in high school class, basketball players visit elementary students, preview to news stories at 5:30pm and 6:00pm.

Post Viewing: Allow students to jot down any final notes they may have about this segment before you review. Once everyone is ready, decide to select a student at random and ask them about the news sto-ries they observed within this segment. Ask this stu-dent what he or she felt was the most important news story within this segment. Feel free to ask other stu-dents about their opinions on this news segment.

After this discussion draws to a close, give students a few minutes to review over all four news segments to look at the different headlines from each news story. While students review over their notes, you may want to draw this table on the board:

After students have had ample time to review their notes, ask them to place themselves inside of one of the boxes on the left-hand column. Ask them whether or not they felt that this was either a good, average, or bad broadcast. If students felt one way or another because of different factors, please allow them to describe their reasoning.

Also allow a time for personal reflection to deal with emotional feeling toward this broadcast. Ask stu-dents about how they felt in terms of personal mood as a result of viewing these segments. Ask students the following questions and have them write their responses in their steno pads:

-Describe if this news broadcast caused you to feel happy, sad, or indifferent. -Do you think the representation of this local com-munity is an accurate representation of our society in general? -Describe this news broadcast in relation to your lo-cal news broadcast from your hometown. What similarities and differences do you notice between this broadcast and your local news broadcast? -Why is this news broadcast important in terms of media representation?

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Media Literacy Curriculum Project Media Representation through News

M. Trivette

Good

The broadcast left you feeling very upbeat and you feel that the quality of the news was good.

Average

You felt that the broadcast was a nor-mal news broadcast, and you are indif-ferent to your feelings after viewing this broadcast.

Bad

The broadcast left much to be desired in either the quality of the broadcast or in the selection of the news stories.

Media Representation in WBTV

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WSOC - Channel 9 *Instructor’s note: At the main title screen for the DVD, select Channel 9 to go to the WSOC main menu. Once you are at this menu, simply follow the selected clips in this guide that correspond with the WSOC menu screen. Each clip will automatically return to the WSOC main menu after it has finished playing.

Channel 9: News Segment 1

Activity: Just as in the first news segment from WBTV, we’re going to see if students can form an educated guess about what they believe the lead news story will be from this WSOC news segment. Break the class back into their original groups from the first news segment activ-ity from WBTV. These groups will also students to dis-cuss their reactions to each news segment as we move forward. Again, have your students write in their steno pads about what they think the lead news story will be in the WSOC news broadcast. After you have given them a few minutes to formulate their thoughts and make an educated guess, go ahead and inform students that you will be playing the lead news story. Play News Segment 1 from the beginning to 02:13. Pause the DVD at 02:13.

News Story: Huge brush fire Post Viewing: After students have watched this clip, ask them the questions listed below:

-Typically, when you think of a lead news story for a

5:00pm broadcast, what comes to mind? -Were you surprised by the lead news story? Why or why not? -What was your original guess as to what the lead news story would be related to? Why did you make that guess or what caused you to believe that?

Activity: After students have responded to these questions, instruct your students to pay attention to the rest of News Segment 1 while taking brief notes on the headlines of the different news stories. Play News Segment 1 from 02:13 to the end of segment 1.

News Stories: homes burning due to dry conditions, weather report, toddler death, chop shop related to gangs, domestic murder case, students overdose at school, 16-year-old driver charged for interstate crash.

Post Viewing: After students have watched this clip, set up a dis-cussion to ad-dress this news segment. You may want to ad-dress a few of your own ques-tions for your students while also choosing to address a few of the questions listed below:

-Why do you believe WSOC chose to run the news story concerning the toddler’s death resulting from an accident involving the grandfather? -Can any good come out of a story such as the one concerning the toddler death? -In the news story dealing with the students overdos-ing on drugs at school, you witnessed shots of police cars and rescue personnel rushing to the scene. Imagine yourself as a parent watching this story un-

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Segment 1 news story

Huge Brush Fire

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fold on the news. What type of emotion do you feel this story would invoke? How do you think this would make you feel about sending your child to school? -Would any of these stories alter your feelings about your local community? Why or why not?

Channel 9: News Segment 2 Activity: This news segment is relatively short as it only lasts one minute, 55 seconds. Your students will watch this segment about a man on trial for shooting a police officer. The segment includes foot-age taken from the court room during the proceed-ings. Ask your students to pay attention to this seg-ment in order to get an overall sense of what the story is about. Once your class is ready, go ahead and play this news segment in its entirety. Play News Segment 2 from beginning to end.

News Story: Man on trial for shooting a police offi-cer.

Post Viewing: Begin by asking your students these questions:

-Did you notice anything unusual about this clip?

-When you think of a typical news story involving a court case, what usually takes place within the news story? -Going back to your original definition of “newsworthy”, do you feel like this news story dis-played newsworthy content? Why or why not? -If you felt like this story struggled in the area of newsworthy content, how could it have been im-proved? -If you were the Executive News Producer for WSOC, would you have included this story in your broadcast? Why or why not?

Channel 9: News Segment 3 Activity: This news segment contains a few news stories, but a major-ity of the segment is devoted to the weather report. It is important to men-tion to your students that the weather re-port makes up roughly 3 minutes, 20 seconds of this clip that is close to 8 minutes in length. Play News Segment 3 from be-ginning to end.

News Stories: News preview for 5:30pm and 6:00pm broadcasts, flea market raids on stolen goods, brush fire, weather report, brush fire review, 19 year-old crashes car into a house, robbery suspect on surveillance video, tip call leads to man’s arrest.

Post Viewing: After your students have viewed this clip, ask them to discuss what they felt were the im-portant aspects of this news segment. We will also look at the balance of this segment by reviewing the following questions with your class:

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Segment 2 news story

Segment 3 news story

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-In your opinion, was there an equal allotment of time devoted to both positive and negative stories, or stories of success and stories of conflict? -Why do you think news producers choose to leave out certain kinds of stories? -As a media consumer, which kinds of news stories do you prefer? Do you feel like this news broadcasts offers a fair and balanced approach to what you want in a news broadcast?

Channel 9: News Segment 4

Activity: This is the final news segment in the WSOC broadcast. Just as in previous news clips, we are going to allow this clip to play in its entirety. Encourage your students to take brief notes to get the gist of each news story. Play News Segment 4 from beginning to end.

News Stories: 17 year-old turns himself in after shooting another man, nationwide beef recall, road reopens after deadly crash, news previews for 5:30pm broadcast.

Post Viewing: After students have viewed this final news segment, ask each group to answer the follow-ing questions:

-Look back over your notes from this entire news broadcast. After students have had a few minutes to review over their notes, show the same chart to stu-dents that was shown in the WBTV section of this guide to get a sense of their overall mood following the broadcast.

After students have had ample time to review their notes, ask them to place themselves inside of one of the boxes on the left-hand column. Ask them whether or not they felt that this was either a good, average, or bad broadcast. If students felt one way or another because of different factors, please allow them to describe their reasoning. Which category do most students fall under?

Also allow a time for personal reflection to deal with emotional feeling toward this broadcast. Ask stu-dents about how they felt in terms of personal mood as a result of viewing these segments. Ask students the following questions and have them write their responses in their steno pads:

-Describe if this news broadcast caused you to feel happy, sad, or indifferent. -Do you think the representation of this local com-munity is an accurate representation of our society in general? -Describe this news broadcast in relation to your lo-cal news broadcast from your hometown. What similarities and differences do you notice between

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Media Literacy Curriculum Project Media Representation through News

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Good

The broadcast left you feeling very upbeat and you feel that the quality of the news was good.

Average

You felt that the broadcast was a nor-mal news broadcast, and you are indif-ferent to your feelings after viewing this broadcast.

Bad

The broadcast left much to be desired in either the quality of the broadcast or in the selection of the news stories.

Segment 4 news story

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this broadcast and your local news broadcast? -Why is this news broadcast important in terms of media representation? -What similarities and differences did you find when you compare the news content from the WBTV broadcast to the news content of the WSOC broad-cast?

Commercials/Advertisements

There are many ways to critically analyze and evalu-ate television commercials/advertisements. For our purpose, we are going to use different ways to incor-porate media literacy when trying to evaluate the commercial segments present in both broadcasts.

WBTV - Channel 3

*Instructor’s note: In order to view WBTV - Chan-nel 3 commercials, please selected “Channel 3” at the main menu screen on the DVD. You will then be able to select the corresponding commercial seg-ments on the WBTV menu screen.

Channel 3: Commercial Segment 1 Activity: It is very important to pay close attention to the commercials that air during this broadcast. Commercials/Ads can give us an indication as to who the target audience may be as we get a sense of who the products are aimed toward. Inform your students to pay attention to the commercials in this first commercial segment and you may want to have them write down the Ads they see in this segment. Instruct your students to simply write down the com-pany that is doing the advertising. An example would be if you see a Subway advertisement, write

“Subway” on your pa-per. This will help your stu-dents when you begin discussing which com-mercials played dur-ing each seg-ment. Play Commercial Segment 1 in its entirety.

Commercials: Queen City Audio/Video Appliances, Scott Clark’s Toyota City (1), Time Warner Cable, Scott Clark’s Toyota City (2), 11:00pm WBTV News Preview, Mazda car commercial, Kentucky Fried Chicken (1), Kentucky Fried Chicken (2)

Post Viewing: After watching this first commercial segment, ask your students the following questions:

-Which commercial stood out to you, or which one out of all of the commercials you just watched seems to be the one that stays on your mind? Why do you think this happens, or what caused this specific com-mercial to stay in your mind? -Was there a particular product that was advertised more than once during this segment? What part do you feel repetition plays in all of this?

*Instructor’s note: You may find it beneficial for your students if you play the commercial segment again.

After your students answer the above questions, have each student write the questions listed below, and also have them write an answer to each question. Students only need to pick one advertisement to an-swer these questions. (You may want to give stu-dents a few minutes to complete this question)

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Commercial Segment 1

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-What is the general ambience of the advertisement?

-What mood does it create?

-How does it do this?

Channel 3: Commercial Segment 2

Activity: In the second commercial segment for WBTV, we notice several local and national com-mercials. Play this commercial segment for your stu-dents in its entirety.

Commercials: “Big Brother” television show promo, Toyota of Lake Norman, Michael A. De-Mayo law offices, WBTV news promo, Rogers Automotive Group (1), Subway Restaurants, Rogers Automotive Group (2)

Post Viewing: After students watch this commercial segment, ask the follow questions. This should be-gin to come easier for students since they had the first commercial segment to warm up to and they are now training their mind to look for certain things during each commercial. -Did you notice any repetition of any certain product during this commercial segment? If so, which adver-tisement was it and why do you believe they chose to have their product displayed twice during this seg-ment? -Which advertisement do you feel did the poorest job of promoting their product? Why do you feel this

way? In your mind, what would it have took to make this advertisement better?

*Instructor’s note: Again, you may find it useful to play Commercial Segment 2 again to allow students another opportunity to view the commercials and look for certain aspects of each advertisement.

Channel 3: Commercial Segment 3

Activity: This segment is the final commercial seg-ment for the WBTV broadcast. Play the segment in its entirety for your students.

Commercials: Brothers Air & Heat, Mike John-son’s Hickory Toyota (1), Medicap Pharmacy, Em-pire Today carpet installers, Arby’s Restaurants, Cadillac automobiles, Mike Johnson’s Hickory Toy-ota (2), Aqua Velva aftershave for men, Catawba Valley Medical Center

Post Viewing: For this commercial segment, we are going to analyze the people featured in the actual commercials. Set up the following questions to cre-ate a discussion amongst your students. Ask the fol-lowing questions and allow each group of four to five students to come up with their own responses to each question.

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Cadillac commercial from segment 3

Commercial Segment 2

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-As you review your list of commercials from each of the past three commercial segments, do you feel like there was any particular group of people or eth-nicity (race) that was left out of the majority of com-mercials? -If you felt that any group was underrepresented, who was marginalized and why do you think this happened? -How can we prevent this from happening in future commercials and advertisements?

After students have enough time to formulate re-sponses to each question, feel free to have each group share their responses to different questions.

Go back to the Cadillac commercial and play this for your students. After it plays, ask the following ques-tions to your students:

-What is unusual about this commercial? -Why do you think Cadillac chose to present this commercial in this particular way? -What appeal do you think it has toward its target audience? -What ramifications, if any, do you feel can result from this commercial? -Do you feel that commercials that take this ap-proach are important in today’s society? Why or why not? -Would a commercial such as this one be acceptable in all societies? Why or why not?

After students have enough time to formulate re-sponses to each question, feel free to have each group share their responses to different questions.

WSOC - Channel 9 *Instructor’s note: In order to view WSOC - Chan-nel 9 commercials, please selected “Channel 9” at the main menu screen on the DVD. You will then be able to select the corresponding commercial seg-ments on the WSOC menu screen.

Channel 9: Commercial Segment 1

Activity: Many times in a news broadcast, the first commercial seg-ment can tell us a lot about the tar-get audience for this program. By looking at this first segment, we will try to ana-lyze the commer-cials to see if we can figure out who might be our target audience. Play Commercial Segment 1 from beginning to end.

Commercials: WSOC 5:30pm & 6:00pm news pre-views, Toyota of Lake Norman, Dale Jarrett Ford (1), Value City Furniture, Dale Jarrett Ford (2), Chevy automobiles

Post Viewing: After students have watched this seg-ment, ask the following questions to your class:

-After watching these commercials, do you get a sense of who the target audience might be? How did you come to this conclusion? -What commercial or combination of commercials clued you in to the target audience? -Why is it important for news stations to realize their target audience and why is this also important for advertisers?

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Media Literacy Curriculum Project Media Representation through News

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Commercial Segment 1

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Channel 9: Commercial Segment 2

Activity: This commercial segment will begin to give our stu-dents an idea about certain trends within the commercial segments lo-cated in both news broad-casts. Allow your students to watch this seg-ment in its en-tirety. Play Commercial Segment 2 from beginning to end.

Commercials: Oprah show promo, ABC World News Tonight 6:30pm news preview, KIA Motors of Monroe & Gastonia, Fiber One cereals, Honda Dealer of the Carolinas, Tindol Ford, Toyota of Lake Norman

Post Viewing: Once students have watched this seg-ment, ask the following questions to each group of students:

-What trend are you noticing in the commercial seg-ments located in this broadcast? You can also look at your notes from the WBTV broadcast to see if there are any similarities between the two. -Which types of commercials are most frequent and why do you believe this occurs? -Can commercials tell us anything about the current status of our economy? If so, how? -If you were someone from a different culture and you knew nothing about American culture, what con-clusions could you draw based on all of the commer-cials you have witnessed from both broadcasts thus far?

Channel 9: Commercial Segment 3

Activity: This is the final commercial segment for the WSOC broadcast. Play this segment in its en-tirety for your students. Play Commercial Segment 3 from beginning to end.

Commercials: Scott Clark’s Toyota City (1), WSOC - Channel 9 news promo (1), Toyota automo-biles, local concert advertisement, Scott Clark’s Toy-ota City (2), WSOC - Channel 9 news promo (2)

Post Viewing: We will analyze the production of commercials within this commercial segment by re-viewing the following questions. Allow each group to work together to answer the following questions within their groups:

-Do any particular commercials within this segment stand out? -What causes a commercial to be more appealing than another?

-How does this work to an advertiser’s advantage? -What type of commercials draw your attention, or what does a commercial need in order to keep you focused? -In your opinion, did the advertiser’s within this seg-ment do a good job of gaining the attention of their target audience? How?

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Commercial Segment 3

Commercial Segment 2

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Follow-up Exercises: This guide has taught your students valuable skills in how to analyze media content and dissect the infor-mation that was presented to them. For them to fully appreciate the skills they have gained, it is your job as an instructor to follow up with future exercises that will put these newfound skills to good use.

One exercise that may be beneficial is to have your students go home and simply record one 30-minute news broadcast. Since we viewed two separate local news broadcasts, it may be more practical if they also recorded only a local news broadcast in order to get the local scope. Feel free to let them record it to a VHS, DVD, computer, etc.

Allow your students to bring the recorded broadcast to class and develop the same approach to these broadcasts as you did with the broadcasts in this guide.

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References

“National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign”. (2001). White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Baker, F., Considine, D. “Focus on Film: They Learn it thru the Movies”. (2006). The Journal of Media

Literacy. National Middle School Association, Middle Ground v10 n2 p12-15 Oct 2006.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

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Media Representation in the News

A Curriculum Guide for Instructors

College Level

Curriculum Guide for Media Literacy

Designed & Developed by Michael Trivette