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Lesson ideas

Focus on the media

In dealing with topics such as cultural diversity, immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, Indigenous issues, crime and the like, news reports sometimes promote attitudes of discrimination and prejudice. Opinions might be disguised as fact, language and images can create or sustain racial stereotypes and biases, and the selection and organisation of material could vilify certain groups of people within the community. And, sometimes, only one side of the story is told. These strategies encourage students to examine media reports critically.

The primary purpose of a news report is to inform. Unlike editorials and other forms of media commentary, which present opinions and are purposely designed to be persuasive or even controversial or provocative, news reports claim to document factual information in an impartial manner. However, there are always certain values and attitudes which influence and guide the way in which news items are put together, and these values and attitudes can be transmitted to the general public. Sometimes these values and attitudes are explicitly or implicitly racist in character.
News reportage can either reinforce or challenge basic political and sociocultural assumptions, or else it can seek to manufacture or manipulate those assumptions.

The information which becomes packaged as "the news" is a socially-constructed text like any other; it is the product of particular narrative versions of what the world is like. First, news publishers make choices about what to report, and about where, when and how it will be reported. Journalists, photographers and reporters, and their editors and producers, all make decisions which affect the way each news item is presented. They select the content to include and leave out of the report, the point of view from which that content will be presented, the way the content will will be organised, and the language and graphics to be used.
Select appropriate current news articles or programs and complete the following checklist:

Analysing a news report
Context
1. Where and when was this report (first) published?
2. Who wrote the report?

Content
3. Write down the title or headline, and any subheadings or captions. Describe any photographs or graphics used in the report.
4. Summarise the first paragraph of the report.
5. What is the topic of the report?
6. What other news items, issues or subjects does the report relate to?

Point of view
7. Are there any quotes used in the report? If so, who is quoted, what and how much do they say, and in what order are the quotes arranged?
8. Are different points of view presented? Are there any points of view which are not represented in the report? Is any one point of view more prominent or more favourably represented than others?

Language
9. Compare the way in which different individuals and groups of people have been identified or labelled in the report. Analyse the noun phrases used to refer to different people or groups.
10. Consider the denotations and connotations of the verbs, adjectives, adverbs and descriptive phrases and clauses which are associated with various individuals and groups of people in the report.

Graphics
11. What aspects of the report do the photos and/or diagrams illustrate?
12. How do the images and graphics relate to each other?
13. What messages do these images convey to the reader or the viewer?

Layout
14. Where is the report situated in terms of the total publication or program? With what news or other items is it juxtaposed?
15. How are the various elements within the report arranged? What draws the reader's or viewer's attention to the report?

Discussion and further research
16. Is there evidence of any racial bias or stereotyping in the report?
17. How was this event reported by other news sources?

For more information on the topic of racism and the media, see the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board's report, Race for the Headlines: Racism and Media Discourse, which was launched in February 2003.

The Australian
Daily Telegraph
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Age
The Courier Mail
The Advertiser
The West Australian
The Mercury
The Canberra Times
Northern Territory News
Alice Springs News

ABC Television
Nine MSN
SBS World News

Radio National