Summary
In an April 19 speech, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, denounced a campaign email from Republican state Sen. Lana Theis that suggested she was a “groomer,” a term that describes how sex offenders make contact with their victims. Directions : To watch the feature story, click the video above. You may also wish to read the article, " ‘We will not let hate win,’ Michigan lawmaker says ." Or skim the segments from the latest NewsHour by clicking on the image below, and choose the story that works best for your class. Then answer the questions below.
Five Facts
Discussion questions using the Journalist’s Five Ws plus an H:
- Who is State Sen. Mallory McMorrow?
- What issue is McMorrow responding to?
- Where did McMorrow give her speech?
- When did she give her speech?
- Why would Sen. Lana Theis say such hateful things about McMorrow in her email to Michigan voters?
- How might you feel if you were in McMorrow's shoes and heard such gruesome lies being said about you? What steps could you take toward "not let[ting] hate win"?
Media literacy: What would you do if you wanted to find out why there is such a deep division in the country right now that would prompt an elected official to send such a grotesque email?
If choosing another story, use this set of questions:
- Who are some of the individuals or groups of people mentioned in the news summary?
- What stories are covered?
- Where do some of the stories take place?
- When did those stories occur?
- Why did the event(s) take place?
- How do you think the NewsHour’s producers decided which stories made it into the news summary?
Focus Questions
See, Think, Wonder : What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What story would you want to find out more about? Where would you go to learn more? What are a few questions you might want to ask Democratic State Sen. Mallory McMorrow about her speech? What about Republican State Sen. Lana Theis?For More
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