- Have your students contribute Op-Ed letters through Student's NewsViews.
- Develop a complete Classroom News Program.
Thousands of Student's NewsViews Letters were received last year from all corners of Ohio. Over 100 students' letters were read on the air.
Producing News Programs in the Classroom
- Investigate the Possibilities!
- Introduce News Vocabulary
- Technical Skills & Technology
- Practice Interview Skills
- Practice Editing Skills
- Facts, Opinions & Editorial Bias
- Enlist Local News Professionals
- Decide on a Show Rundown
- Divide up the Work
- How to Make the Newscast More Visual
- Share your Production with NEWSDEPTH
A hands-on news show project provides lesson material ranging from technology management to editorial bias. Lessons in subjects as diverse as photography, writing, project management, leadership, and civics are possible. If you can find the equipment and facilities, the educational opportunities can be endless. Is there a public address system in your school? What about a closed circuit television system? Is there a televison cable company with a public access mandate, a nearby television broadcast studio or just an available stage in your community? Is there a quiet place in the building where you could tape your program?
Introduce News Vocabulary
| Anchor Scripts Graphics Voice Overs Takes Audio Track |
Interview Technique Human Impact Action Video Lead Story Objectivity |
Writing Style Documentary Magazine Format Story Structure Editorial Bias Depth & Length |
Technical Skills & Technology
If you have video equipment available, the management and application of this technology can provide material for many lessons. At a minimum, some expectation for custodial responsibility should be imparted. Provide some procedure for dealing with lost, damaged or stolen equipment. These things do happen.
Provide ample practice opportunity for the student operators. Let the students gain a "feel" for the technology. If you're not especially skilled in photography, consider asking somebody in your school's art department to present a lecture on the essentials. Practice sessions oriented toward a news show might include evaluation of tapes of presenters and news subjects in different lighting situations, with different backgrounds. Be sure to detail some students to considerations of studio props.
Call a local television station, ask whether a field trip with a strong bias toward camera technique and videography can be arranged. An advanced class with the video technology itself being an educational focus might ask to borrow a television station's production facilities. Real lights, real cameras, real action.
Practice Interview Skills
The interview format attempts to provide a candid, revealing look at newsmakers. Interviews should be live and unrehearsed but the interviewer should have questions prepared for the exchange. Have your student "reporters" role-play to conduct both good and bad interviews. Build awareness of the aspects of a good interview.
Interviews offer excellent news material for the effort of asking the right questions. Lessons to be learned include: "Do you select the interviewee to fit the story, or do you select the story to fit the interviewee?" "Is the interviewee the story (always, sometimes, never)?" "Does the choice of interviewees make a difference to the final story impact?" "Do the questions matter?" "Do the answers matter?" "Is there a method to interrogation?"
Practice Editing Skills
Have students condense a newspaper story for the broadcast medium, retaining basic facts. Write for the ear, not for the eye; write conversationally, not formally. Demonstrate that effective writing is a valuable communications skill. Use this opportunity to select your editorial staffers. Have the students present their own work. Ask them to discuss their editing methods. Reward the most eager and promisingcandidates with important writing tasks for the production project.
Some students will learn more from observing the process from the side than from participating in the middle of it. Assign these students "big picture" questions on the show production process with short essays to be turned in weekly.
Facts, Opinions & Editorial Bias
Teaching students to recognize bias can have life-long value. Lead a discussion on editorial bias using a controversial news item as teaching material. How many sides can there be to a story? Is there a "right" side? Is there a "popular" side? How should this news item be presented? Should the show follow a popular line? Can opinions vary based on personal interest? Can "hard facts" be interpreted in different ways? Should the show have its own opinion? Openly stated as editorial opinion, or hidden in the presentation? Should the show lead the news, become part of the real story?
Advanced classes with civics on the syllabus might consider questions of the news media's role in politics, or the effects of commercial advertising on editorial choices.
Invite Local News Professionals to Your School
A class visit with a professional journalist will help build enthusiasm for your production as well as provide an excellent source of information. Surprise your journalist with a panel of junior journalists loaded with questions about interview techniques! Encourage the questions toward journalism rather than current events. Ask the professional to critique the story ideas the class has been developing, and to offer tips.
Decide on a Show Rundown
Thinking through the look & feel of the final product is essential for the effective presentation of just about anything your students will do in life. Don't skimp on this lesson. Have the class brainstorm the possible topics for the show. Make a lists of stories to be covered and lead a discussion on the order in which they will be presented. Try to mix the stories so interest will remain high, but keep an eye on program scope, logical order and the natural flow of the show, too.
Divide up the Work
Team work and project coordination are significant aspects of news program production. Many excellent lessons can center on this facet alone. List all the jobs, their responsibilities, their relationships to each other. Let the students select their own areas in which to work. Assign deadlines; choose "on-air" and "off-camera" people. Post a large assignment board displaying the names of the stories and the reporters assigned to them. If you've got an advanced and mature class, your editors and production managers may be start to take charge of the process at this point.
Consider How to Make the Newscast More Visual
Variety and pacing are important. Include shots of places as well as shots of newscasters.
Share your Production
While retaining editorial rights, the NEWSDEPTH staff will use segments of some of the submitted student productions in NEWSDEPTH programs.
