Submitted by on November, 2014
This key lesson examines how to “deconstruct” news stories from different outlets, including print, TV, and online to judge their credibility and reliability by asking a series of key questions. The class reprises previous classes on evidence, sourcing, and fairness, but also explores context, transparency and thoroughness. The lesson concludes with a look at the new opportunities—and responsibilities—for news consumers to not only find news, but to participate as “citizen journalists” in news production in the digital age.
Key Concepts Include:
- This seven-step deconstruction process uses News Literacy concepts to analyze and dispassionately judge a report's reliability:
- Summarize the main points and check if the headline and the lead support the main point(s) of the story
- How close does the reporter come to opening the freezer? Is the evidence direct or indirect?
- Evaluate the reliability of the sources using IMVAIN.
- Does the reporter make his or her work transparent?
- Does the reporter place the story in context?
- Are the key questions answered?
- Is the story fair?
Objectives of this Lesson:
- Judge the reliability of news stories using the seven steps of deconstructing the news defined in the news literacy course.
- Apply the IMVAIN, VIA and levels of Fairness and Balance concepts, among others, in evaluating news stories to determine if they are reliable and actionable.
Lesson Vocabulary:
- News Deconstruction
- Headline
- Five W’s (and an H)