What makes a news story?

In this lesson, the students critically analyse a real news story related to animal welfare.

Curriculum objectives

Pupils should learn:

about different approaches taken to a news story by journalists
to consider the effectiveness of different types of media for different audiences
to recognise both bias and objectivity in stories (NSE)
to understand how media stories are tailored to an audience (NSE)
how the media can promote causes and campaigns.

At the end of this lesson:

most pupils: demonstrate knowledge of how significant the media's role is in putting across different views. They know that the media can be used to promote causes
some pupils have not made so much progress and: research the coverage of stories in different media, discussing it and describing how it differs
some pupils have progressed further and: demonstrate advanced research and analysis skills. They are able to explain why the same story may be presented in very different ways by different media.