Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: Movie Sparks Debate over Diamond Trade, 12/04/06
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec06/diamonds_12-04.html

For an in-depth lesson plan on conflict diamonds click here.

Initiating Questions:

1. Where do diamonds come from?

2. What do diamonds symbolize in our society?

3. Are movies a good way to teach people about problems in the world?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1.What is a conflict diamond?

Conflict diamonds, sometimes referred to as blood diamonds, are gems that are illegally sold to fund civil wars and rebel conflicts.

2. What is the movie Blood Diamond about?

"Blood Diamond," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou, is set in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, when rebels took control and profited from the country's vast diamond mines. The movie includes graphic images of violence, child soldiers and victims of rebel mutilation.

3. According to human rights groups, are conflict diamonds still a problem today?

The war in Sierra Leone ended in 2002, but human rights groups say the problem of diamond-funded conflicts persists in other African countries, such as Liberia and Cote D'Ivoire.

4. What actions did the World Diamond Council take before the movie's release?

The World Diamond Council (WDC) launched a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign in anticipation of the movie's release. The group has taken out full-page ads in major newspapers and launched a Web site describing strides taken to reduce the impact of conflict diamonds, as well as the economic benefits of the diamond trade to African countries.

The WDC also appealed to the movie's director, Edward Zwick, asking him to add information to the movie on changes in the industry, in particular a regulation system called the Kimberley Process.

5. Which country purchases the greatest amount of diamonds and which continent produces the most?

The United States purchases about 65 percent of the world's diamonds, and 60 percent of the world's diamonds originate in Africa.

6. What is the Kimberley Process?

The Kimberley Process, put in place in 2003, requires diamond shipments to be accompanied by certificates stating they were not mined in countries at war.

7. Why is it hard to determine how successful the Kimberley Process is?

While everyone involved agrees the Kimberley Process is a step in the right direction, problems arise in measuring its success, in part, because of diamond smuggling.

A panel of United Nations experts reported in October that a significant number of diamonds are smuggled each year from the war-torn country of Cote D'Ivoire into Ghana, where they are certified as legitimate.

Tom Zoellner, a journalist and the author of a book on the diamond industry, says the Kimberley Process has not really affected how diamonds are smuggled across national boarders. "It is a really superficial process," he said.

8. What does the director of Blood Diamond hope the movie will do?

Zwick said he welcomes the opportunity for the movie to raise questions among consumers.

"What I wanted to create in their minds is consciousness," Zwick told National Public Radio. "A purchase of a diamond just has to be an informed purchase."

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. Do you think the movie will change the way consumers think about diamonds? Will it make some people stop buying diamond jewelry? Why or why not?

2. Who do you think is responsible for keeping conflict diamonds off the world market? Is it the industry, world organizations or governments? Why?

3. Do you think movie makers have a responsibility to be historically accurate, or are they just making entertainment?
How might a director's concerns about plot, characters and dialogue conflict with complicated political and historical issues?

Write a 300-500 word essay on any of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.