Unit #2: News Literacy

The freedom of speech, press, and assembly is defined as the general freedom of the individual and the press to gather together freely and express opinions.

These rights first began when the settlers first came over to the United States from Europe and created the original British colonies.

British speech regulations were severe, and criticizing the government was a crime. It became important for these settlers, and those that came after them, to be able to speak out publicly regarding their political opinions freely and without fear of retaliation. Out of these concerns arose the importance of the freedom of speech, press, and assembly.

It represents that, 'Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.' These freedoms, included within the First Amendment, are applied to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Freedom of the Press: The First Amendment

Video on First Amendment

The news media has often been the source of important information (Watergate for ex., war on Iraq…) but more recently, as digital media has changed our understanding of the press, traditional journalism is changing

It’s important that we are NEWS LITERATE…

The job of the media….

News= information, knowledge, current and relevant facts

Literacy= the ability to read and write, to understand a specific knowledge area, to comprehend information about a subject

SO, NEWS LITERACY is the process of making oneself informed, participatory, engaged and conscious news producers and consumer It means taking an active role in our

democratic rights

What is “News Literacy”

See the “News Literacy Concepts” handoutIn pairs you are going to be assigned a specific

concept from the handout In pairs, you are to come up with a specific, recent

news media example that illustrates that concept (you are not looking for one “article” necessarily, but rather a situation)

Share as a class…… explain/discuss how these examples relate to news literacy concepts For example- for #4, you could put when Twitter

uses posted many tweets with inaccurate information about the Boston marathon bombing

Think-Pair-Share

PoliticalEconomicEntertainmentRecord-keepingAgenda SettingSocial Marketplace Sentry

Functions of the Press/Journalist

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/action-obama-isis-25328036

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-unemployment-aid-applications-fall-304-000-123521260--finance.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/entertainment-world-mourns-at-joan-rivers-funeral/

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/09/01/cool-summer-doesn-invalidate-climate-change/bYAbtgEI4rq4yFQuuUtl5O/story.html

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/09/09/arizona-primary-eletions-things-didnt-know/15357131/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-ralph-lauren-creates-a-hologram-show.html?_r=0

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2468238,00.asp

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/09/10/obama-announces-broader-military-diplomatic-campaign-defeat-islamic-state/yrz7kB85Pj4IiBki8As8XP/story.html

In small groups, look through the articles provided and identify as many functions of the journalist/media as possible

One paper per group, for every article: Title of article:Function present: Why this function is important in this context:

Activity