Examining the Mission of Journalism

This podcast by Audie Cornish examines not only objectivity, but also public trust and the “shutting out” of news.  The podcast does include a journalist talking about covering former President Donald Trump. The times listed are when they begin to discuss the item outlined. The link has the transcript of the podcast as well.

A few talking points:

The :10:50 mark, which addresses local journalism. How can student media. Ask the students how they have worked to support the local journalism coverage. What is going well? What needs to be improved?

The :11:59 mark addresses echo chambers. How does your student media work to engage readers in social media? What information is being disseminated in these platforms?

The :15:36 mark questions how the last few years’ political environment with Trump has impacted journalism, and leads into the cumulative effect of media at the :16:00 mark. What is the cumulative impact of your student journalism? And yes, this applies to yearbooks too! Think about its importance as the historical record of the school.

The :17:40 addresses transparency. How could you be more transparent in what you do? Also, how could you work to educate your students about what, how and why you do what you do.

The :21:30 examines the mission of journalism — and the need for news literacy in high schools. This fits perfectly with last week’s media literacy ideas!

The 24:23 looks at the blending of news vs. feature vs. opinion personas of journalists on social media. What are the students’ thoughts on this?

What are three main takeaways to revisit in a week of the podcast? What can we learn from this?

Read in the original Weekly Scroll here.