Who's the Guest: Learning about Interest Group Politics

Subjects: Government, civics, journalism, communications

Estimated time of Completion: One homework assignment and class time to share reports (latter is optional, this can be done as a written assignment).

Overview: This mini-lesson and activity is designed to help students understand how interest group politics are often played out in the media.

Lesson Objectives

Students will learn how to:

• Identify major interest groups and think tanks
• Better evaluate the viewpoints of guests on the News Hour

Materials

• Research Instruction sheet: Printer-friendly PDF version
• Internet access

Correlations to National Standards

Procedures

Interest group: an organization of people with shared policy goals. Unlike political parties, these groups do not seek to control or operate the government but to influence it usually in one area of public policy.

Think tanks: Privately funded research organizations that examine issues of public policy and often produce policy proposals.

1. Explain to students that the NewsHour makes extensive use of in-studio interviews. The program attempts to select guests with varied points of view. Stress to the students that one of the main tenets of journalism is a pursuit of objectivity by including various points of view in a story, report, or discussion. Often these guests are drawn from public interest groups or think tanks. Learning about these organizations makes one a more informed viewer.

2. Select several Web-based transcripts of interviews with representatives of interest groups or think tanks from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html.

3. After the students select and review the transcripts, hand out the research instruction sheet and assign them to complete Web-based research using the links on this site http://www.pbs.org/now/resources/politics.html or if you prefer they can also use a common search engine such as Google. The advantage of the NOW Web site is that it is well organized and student-friendly.

4. The students should be assigned one particular guest and then asked to obtain the following information about the guest:

i. Name of organization for which he or she works.
ii. Mission statement of the organization
iii. Brief description of history
iv. Source of funding

5. Have the students share their findings with the class.

6. In discussion with the students, push them to make links between the organization's mission statement, its funding, and other attributes, and the positions the representative took in the interview. For example, if the NewsHour had an interview with someone from the Healthcare Leadership Council, an industry group whose mission is to promote a market-based health care system, were the ideas advocated by the guest consistent with the mission of the organization?

Note: Be prepared to help the students with political terms they may run across such as "libertarian," " conservative, " free-market," "deregulation." This lesson is a terrific opportunity for students to be introduced to the common language of politics.

Extension

A teacher who wishes to extend this lesson may do so by having the students identify reasons behind the selection of guest experts on the NewsHour. This may be accomplished by having students expand their research to include obtaining a biography of the guest (usually found on the organization's Web site that they are visiting for their research.) The likelihood is that students will learn that the guests are accomplished and highly educated people. In sharing their findings with the class, students should see links to what they are learning about political participation as well as how interest groups effect policy.

Standards
This lesson addresses the following national content standards found at http://www.mcrel.org

Language Arts

Viewing (Standard 9)
Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media
5. Uses strategies to analyze stereotypes in visual media (e.g., recognizes stereotypes that serve the interests of some groups in society at the expense of others; identifies techniques used in visual media that perpetuate stereotypes)

Government

How Does the Government Established by the Constitution Embody the Purposes, Values, and Principles of American Democracy? (Standard 19)
Understands what is meant by "the public agenda," how it is set, and how it is influenced by public opinion and the media
2. Knows how the public agenda is shaped by political leaders, interest groups, and state and federal courts; and understands how individual citizens can help shape the public agenda (e.g., by joining interest groups or political parties, making presentations at public meetings, writing letters to government officials and to newspapers)

Standard 21
Understands the formation and implementation of public policy
1. Knows a public policy issue at the local, state, or national level well enough to identify the major groups interested in that issue and explain their respective positions

About the Author James McGrath Morris is a member of the social studies department of West Springfield High School, in Springfield, Va. A frequent writer of lesson plans for PBS, Morris has served on the PBS TeacherSource Advisory Group. In 2002, he developed nationally distributed lesson plans on 9/11, conducted teacher training, and was a member of the "9/11 As History" project Advisory Board.