PBS Teachers™
Thematic Teaching
covering the news media: related resources
Activity Ideas | Related Resources
Find Below: PBS Web Sites, Other Recommended Links, Recommended Books
pbs online
NewsHour Online: Media Watch
Visit this Web site for a selection of media issues examined by the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
NOW with Bill Moyers: Media Consolidation
Learn how "Big Media" keeps on getting bigger.
Culture Shock: The First Amendment
What is and isn't protected by the First Amendment?
Crucible of Empire: Yellow Journalism
Learn about the origins and impact of "yellow journalism."
PBS Teachers: Media Literacy
Find lesson plans and student activities on media issues.
Local News
Take an inside look at how news professionals interact with the communities they serve.
Frontline: Why America Hates the Press
Explore the animosity the public holds toward the news media.
Disconnected: Politics, the Press and the Public
Are Americans getting the campaign coverage they want, the coverage they deserve, or coverage that's out of control?
recommended web sites
Journalism.org
http://www.journalism.org/resources/tools/students.asp
Above all else, we should expect truthfulness from journalists. This is just one of several Citizen Bill of Journalism Rights. Students will understand more about the news media after reading about the variety of jobs found in a newsroom and a newspaper. There are resources for print, online, TV, and radio journalists related to reporting, writing, and ethics. The section on Living in the Newsroom discusses diversity, time management, mentoring, and training. Advice for students who plan to study journalism is given by the Chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
HighSchoolJournalism.org
http://www.highschooljournalism.org/
Presented by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, there are resources for students and teachers interested in journalism. The guidance section provides resources on journalism scholarships and colleges. Lesson plans cover advertising, copyediting, critical thinking about media, ethics, first amendment issues, libel, and photography as well as writing for the media. The glossary is titled "What Is That?" and covers job titles and terms like actual malice, sniff, slug, and payola.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
Poynter Online
http://www.poynter.org
The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists, teachers, and students of journalism. The main themes covered in the site are leadership, photojournalism, tv and radio, writing and editing, ethics, diversity, and design and graphics. Most topics have articles, tip sheets, and bibliographies which are also housed in the Resource Center. In addition, the Poynter Extras are features on election coverage, September 11, and journalism and business values.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
First Amendment Handbook
http://www.rcfp.org/handbook/index.html
The First Amendment, in part, guarantees the right to freedom of speech and of the press. This handbook first published in 1986 by The Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press provides a basic primer on the laws affecting reporters' rights to gather and disseminate news. The ten chapters go into detail on the topics of libel, invasion of privacy, surreptitious recording, confidential sources and information, prior restraints, gag orders, access to courts, access to places, freedom of information acts, and copyright. Most sections provide notes giving examples of court cases where the topic was in question.
Subject: Social Studies
More Recommended Social Studies Links
New York Public Library Picture Collection Online
http://digital.nypl.org/mmpco/index.cfm
The Picture Collection Online can search by keyword or browse by image title, subject, creator, and source. There are classroom ideas in arts, language arts, social studies, and science that will help integrate the collection of over 30,000 images representing New York City history and culture, historical clothing, insects, Native Americans, dragons, and snakes. The library has also created some Webquests found in the Help section. Activity sheets in the Webquests are in .pdf format. You can also create your own gallery of images.
Subject: Social Studies
More Recommended Social Studies Links
recommended books
Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life
By Carolyn Moorehead
Published October 2003
Grades: 6-8; 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts
Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998) journalist and novelist covered every major war from the Spanish Civil War to the end of the Cold War. She knew Eleanor Roosevelt, H.G Wells, and Robert Capa, the combat photographer, and many others. She endured a brief marriage to Ernest Hemingway. She excelled in a profession dominated by men.
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Books
Best Newspaper Writing: The Nation's Best Journalism
By Keith Woods, editor
Published August 2003
Grades: 6-8; 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts
Examples of commendable writing appear in sections covering deadlines and non-deadlines, short pieces, diversity, editorial, commentary, and photojournalism. Each section includes the winner of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Competition and two finalists. A Journalist's Toolbox is an index that cross references the pieces to aspects of the writing process. A CD-ROM containing winners and finalist entries in the photojournalism category in included.
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Books
Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq
By Bill Katovsky and Timothy Carlson
Published September 2003
Grades: 6-8; 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Embedded journalists accompanied U.S. and British troops during the Iraq War. This book collects more than 60 accounts of the war related by men and women shortly after returning home. Their recollections are personal and frank descriptions of reporting under fire. An appendix includes the Department of Defense Embedment Manual.
More Recommended Social Studies Books
Simpson's World: Dispatches from the Front Lines
By John Simpson
Published August 2003
Grades: 6-8: 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Simpson's career with the BBC started in 1970 with an attempted doorstep interview of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson punched him in the stomach and hissed that he didn't do that sort of thing. Simpson has learned when to ask questions but still gets threatened. Osama bin Laden offered a paltry sum to have him shot. This is a witty insider's view of journalism and current events.
More Recommended Social Studies Books
Reporting America at War
By Michelle Ferrari, Compiler
Published October 2003
Grades: 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
The men and women in this book who are spoken for and who speak for themselves covered wars from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) to the Iraq War. Chapters present outstanding correspondents like Edward R. Murrow, Martha Gellhorn, Homer Bigart, and Gloria Emerson. The book examines the issues of censorship, propaganda, and ethics, and reveals the friction between journalists competing for the frontpage.
More Recommended Social Studies Books