Developing Critical News Consumers

“Students can explore the information gathered in context, which means that they examine the information in relation to the medium that produced it and determine the degree to which what they read is affected by interests, perspectives, agendas and worldviews that from knowledge and knowing in particular ways.  Using a lens that combines teaching with, through, and about the newspaper, we offer a conceptual framework for such an engagement by highlighting important issues for consideration and presenting questions that can make the process more meaningful than currently taking place in social studies classrooms.” (92)

Segall, A and Schmidtt, S. (2006). Reading the newspaper as a social text.  The Social Studies, 97, 3, 91-99.

In their article “Reading the Newspaper as a Social Text”, Avner Segall and Sandra Schmidtt argue that educators need to alter the way they use newspapers in the classroom.  They acknowledge that yes, we can promote literacy through newspapers but we should also be teaching literacy of newspapers.  They say we should be teaching our students to read newspapers critically, not merely using them as an unquestioned source of facts.  The authors also claim that many educators do little to dissuade students from viewing newspapers as neutral sources of information.  They argue that we should show them instead that newspapers are “sources of positions” that deliberately include certain details while leaving out others.  The authors urge teachers to explain to students that because the news is written by people and does not write itself, it is influenced by a myriad of choices made by those who gather, write, edit, and prioritize the news.  We should explicitly show students how newspapers are made and ask them to explore, observe, and question those choices made by journalists, editors, and newspaper owners. Many social studies teachers who employ newspapers in the classroom use them to teach curriculum, few teach them as part of the curriculum.  While critical of current trends in newspaper education in social studies classrooms, Segall and Schmidtt offer a straightforward approach teachers can follow to introduce their students to real newspaper literacy. 

I found their suggested method to be thought-provoking and engaging for students.  They recommend that teachers lead their classes through a lesson that analyzes and compares different sections of newspapers and among different papers.  The authors advise educators to start with the front page, asking students to make observations about what stories appear and then push them to make conclusions about the perspectives the newspaper is promoting.  They then propose that students examine stories on the inner pages.  How do they differ from stories on the front page?  Do you think any of these stories should have been placed on the front page?  I love the idea of asking students questions like these.  I believe that the act of thinking about the placement of stories within a newspaper is a very accessible way to start thinking about all of the decisions, opinions, and perspectives that affect newspaper creation.   I also agree with their suggestion that teachers ask their students to compare different newspapers.  They can look at similarities in differences between papers that cover national news or between papers that cover different types of news such as international, national, local, and tabloid stories.  Most of all, I could see myself guiding students through an exploration of newspapers from different parts of the world.  In addition to major American newspapers like The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Christian Science Monitor, I would add English-language versions of Aljazeera, The Times of India, and The Nation from Kenya (http://www.aljazeera.com/, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ , http://www.nation.co.ke/ ).  I agree that it is important that students see that people in other parts of the world make different choices when deciding which stories to write and publish in their newspapers.  I think this would provide a great opportunity to talk about perspective.   I plan to tuck away this article, eager to put its recommendations into play as soon as I can!