Post #6

Rationale for Teaching the Concept of Real versus Fake News

I developed two assignments appropriate for high school students aimed at generating thought about the credibility of news broadcasts. These assignments are based largely on the findings mentioned in the article, “When Fake Is More Real: Of Fools, Parody, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” by Ana Kothe. One major discussion point made by Kothe is that younger audiences are basically not interested in traditional newscasts. She explains that one of the reasons youth are less interested in the newscasts has to do with how credible they believe the shows to be (Kothe). Kothe goes on to describe why The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (TDS) draws in these younger viewers based on its humor and credibility: “TDS is a valid news source, one that has the advantage of engaging a broader and younger audience. In fact, the real fake news is not the one claiming to be such (TDS); instead, it is the broadcast news that is a sham, parading as something it is not. Younger people’s disillusionment with official news reporting is not entirely unfounded” (Kothe).

Assignments encouraging students to see the truth about official news reporting certainly have their place in the English classroom. Actually, Minnesota Language Arts state standards require that students evaluate the credibility and persuasive techniques used by different media. Therefore, in order to encourage youth interest in news and equip all students with the skills necessary to be cautious consumers of media including news, English teachers should use “fake” newscasts to expose truths and realities in their lessons.

For Kothe’s full article, use this hyperlink: http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/fall_2007/kothe.htm.

Assignments for Encouraging Students to Think About Real versus Fake News

Assignment #1 –Credibility of News Broadcasts

Students will watch a mainstream news station’s coverage of a certain topic and compare it to The Daily Show’s coverage of that same topic. Students will chart their reactions to these two broadcasts side by side and respond to a list of questions aimed at encouraging them to critically analyze what they saw.

Some of the questions will include:
· What was the purpose of the story?
· What information was new information to you? In other words, what did you learn?
· How much of what you heard/saw was filler or unimportant information?
· Who reported the information? Why do you think this person/group of people were in charge of reporting the information?
· What was left out of the story? Or, what questions do you still have?
· What didn’t seem believable or completely true?
· What is the audience supposed to believe as a result of watching this news story?
· How do you know that the audience is supposed to feel a certain way about the topic of the story (the persuasive devices used)?

Next, students will discuss their answers in a small group setting before reporting findings to the class. It will be interesting to see which newscast students felt they learned the most from and which newscast they found most credible. As an extension activity, students could to choose to write to the mainstream news station or to The Daily Show explaining their findings. Students would practice composing a professional letter, summarizing their experience and findings, and practice writing conventions at the same time.

Assignment #2 – Broadcast Parody Writing

Students, after studying a local news station’s coverage of a story for perhaps a week, will write and perform a parody of their coverage exposing any inaccurate information, purposeful exclusions of information, misrepresentations, persuasive techniques, or previously unchallenged roles, attitudes, or mannerisms of the anchors. After choosing a story to follow, students will create a viewing log for each time the story is covered. Students will also be asked to respond to a list of questions for each segment that they see (many of the same questions from above would be relevant). Working in small groups, students will decide which element(s) of their story’s coverage should be challenged through parody and write and perform a parody segment exaggerating their findings. For example, students might notice that in a co-anchored newscast, either the male or the female anchor is more often assigned to report updates regarding this story. If the finding is that a female anchor is often charged with telling a highly emotional story, for example, students might hear that anchor use the same emotional words over and over again such as, “that’s too bad,” or, “how sad,” coupled with animated facial expressions of pity or sorrow. Using the above example, students would use those phrases and facial expressions in their parody to point to the effect they have on the audience. The groups will perform their parodies and conduct a debriefing discussion with the class to explain their findings.