“You hear the siren you say, ‘Is it a fire engine or is it a police car or is it an ambulance? Where’s it going?’ And if you don’t care what it is and where it’s going then you shouldn’t be in journalism.” — Jim Lehrer, journalist
Jim Lehrer was a journalist, executive editor and news anchor for the PBS News Hour as well as an author, screenwriter and playwright. He moderated 12 U.S. presidential debates election campaigns between 1988 and 2012.
“Without a free press, according to Jefferson, you are not going to have a democracy,” Lehrer said.
DIRECTIONS
Watch this A Democracy Minute video by Life Stories without taking any notes and reflect on one or two key points that stood out to you (for more background on Lehrer, click here). Then watch it again and write down your response to the following question:
What is the role of a free press in a democracy?
You can make your response as short as the quote above or feel free to expand more. Discuss your excerpt with a partner or together as a class noting the commonalities and differences in students' responses.
Share your response under Life Stories' Instagram post and tag @NewsHourExtra, so we can see it, too!
Check out the following list of topics and accompanying learning resources released each Thursday leading up to the presidential election:
Life Stories is a nonprofit media organization that creates documentary films and educational resources about people whose lives inspire meaningful change. The interview clip was from “The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee,” an HBO documentary.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
News Hour Classroom has several learning resources on media literacy, which you can check out here.
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