WHAT IS THE REAL STORY?

A news media comparison WebQuest
Click To Download

 for high school students

 

Introduction

Different news media organizations around the United States often report the identical news story in very different ways. Depending upon an individual writer’s background, agenda, or source, a story can have a very different meaning.  When reading a news story from a single source (like your daily local paper), it is often quite difficult to detect which parts of the story are “true”, such as facts, and which parts are “interpretations” based on what the writer intended to convey.     

The best way to sort out this confusing information and find out what the real story is, is to examine and read several different news sources accounts of the same story.  By doing this type of comparison and contrast the “real story” will soon emerge.     

Your job in this lesson will be to assess several different online news sources and compare/contrast the ways that the different news stories have been written and message that each unique story conveys.

The Task

In the resource section below, select at least three online news sources to research a recent national story that is of interest to you.  The story you pick can be about any issue, but it must be covered by each online paper that you read.

As an example look at how FOX NEWS, the LA TIMES and CNN reported on the recent (May 2nd, 2002) 6% unemployment report.  The three accounts of the same story are quite different. Here are some quotes from each:

FOX NEWS said:

“On a positive note, the report also showed that U.S. companies added jobs for the first time in nine months”

LA TIMES said:

“Criticism of the "jobless recovery" was used to good effect by Bill Clinton in his successful campaign to defeat Bush's father in 1992.“

CNN said:

“Though the number took many economists by surprise, they also urged that it was no cause for alarm, since unemployment is a lagging indicator that typically rises even as the economy recovers, as employers are unwilling to hire workers until they're convinced of the recovery.”

 

In reading the example, note how completely different the three accounts of the same story are.  FOX NEWS and CNN didn’t even mention Bill Clinton (who wasn’t part of facts of the story).  The CNN account was the most upbeat and the LA TIMES was the most pessimistic.  By reading all three accounts, you can begin to see what the real story is with the unemployment report.

Resources

Use at least three resource links below to research a recent story that interests you. 

The Process

After reading three separate accounts of the same story from the resources selected above, answer the following questions using a word processing program of choice (i.e. MS Word).  Responses should be between 2-3 paragraphs each:

1.      What were the facts of the story? (Data, place, time, people involved, etc.)

2.      Did all three news sources include and use the same facts or were some omitted/added? (Explain if you answered NO)

3.      Were all three stories the same, or did they give different “spins” on the same topic (Explain your response)  

4.      Finally, based on your answers to the above questions, did some of the sources appear biased in their reporting? If some did, what were they biased toward?

Turn in a copy of each story (printed from the online news source) as well as your responses to the above questions to your instructor.

Conclusion

When reading a single account of a news story it is often difficult to perceive if a bias exists in the reporting.  One way to detect this is by examining multiple accounts of the same story.  It is only by using this method that the facts of the story can be deciphered and the real story told.

Now that you have completed the above lesson, complete a group discussion (lead by you instructor) discussing what you and others in the class found.  Some questions to consider in this discussion should include:

·        Were some news sources more dependable/reputable then others?

·        Were some news sources less dependable/reputable then others?

·        If some sources were biased, how were they, and in what ways?

·        If you had to get information from just a single news source who would it be and why?

Enjoy the discussions, and remember to always be looking for the “real story”.

This WebQuest written by Ken Gibson
Last updated: May 13th, 2002

This page was adapted from Bernie Dodge 's WebQuest_Template1.html by Tom March