eMonitor Learning Guide

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A Media Literacy Approach to News Curation

e-MONITOR is a learning guide to teach news curation.   Written by journalists, journalism educators and journalism students, e-MONITOR teaches news curation by asking three key questions:

• What events and issues are news? e-MONITOR directs users to examine the content of individual media outlets
• Do all news outlets select the same events and issues to feature? e-MONITOR asks users to compare news content in one outlet to that produced–in the same news cycle–by other news organizations in the same region and across the world
• What news stories should be emphasized in one’s own media outlet? e-MONITOR challenges users to make their own choices of what news to feature for their own audiences.

Overview Questions:

MEDIA

What made the news today?
Content is created based on reacting to the days events (obvious stories such as natural disasters) and enterprise stories that are developed over time by reporters working beats. Between those two are much grey area and any and all of it runs on the web. What stories, on your respective topics, appeared in your selected media organizations today? Did you see a discrepancy in the way different sites played the story (if they covered your topic) and were there obvious and not so obvious differences in their “takes” on the given issue? Did the coverage today change from the following day or do you see any trends in how this topic was covered?

How do media decide what to publish?
Media outlets make choices about what to publish online around the clock. Decisions are made about what is news inside of a newsroom — it is assumed that news judgment and ethics are part of this process. What makes up the newspaper, news site and other news organizations online publications can be a mix of these things. Timeliness is key online and as news changes, this news value in particular can become heightened. On your given topic, is there a difference in what was published on one site from the other? Did this issue hold a certain regional value that made it more important in terms of news value? Or, why did one organization choose to not run a story on your topic?

Why does coverage differ among media outlets?
Along the same lines of news value and choices, why would one of your selected outlets choose to run a story while another is not? Why might one outlet cover a story in a different way from another? Doing a systematic comparison of content on your topic can show trends and allow you to make inferences on why certain news judgment may have been applied.

YOU

How do we choose what news to read?
Choices are made on what to read for many reasons. In terms of the web, technology can have much to do with that. What content is being “pushed” to you and what time did you have to interact with that? In reverse, what content did you seek out, browse to, and why did you make those choices? In terms of E-Monitor, the sites you chose to monitor mitigate some of this. But what choices you make in selecting your stories can relate back to choices made in choosing what to read. Does presentation play into this?

How do we connect the news we read to our daily lives?
Resonance is one the most important values when considering whether a story is value to an audience. How much it relates to their lives is a gauge on which news organizations measure their success. Do you talk about the stories you consume? Do you use them as “background” information in the decisions you make? Do they change your mind about things over time? Can you make a direct connection to action you take and information you consume?

How do we build global perspectives through media?
Global issues are shaped through the media and built over time. We learn about the rest of the world through media, either by reading stories about foreign places in our nation’s publications, or by reading the publications of foreign places directly online. When people learn about far away places and see published material on this topic, it starts to shape what this issue means and the global context that surrounds it. What do we learn about the rest of the world from our national and local news media? What do we learn about the rest of the world from their news media, and how they see us? How does our perspective of the rest of the world change as we see ourselves through their eyes?

THE WORLD

How do we understand other cultures through media?
Communication media are windows to the world. Global issues are to some extent defined by the information sphere surrounding them. In these terms, news stories feed the social imaginary citizens have of distant countries. But how limited is this perspective? How might the web allow for improved understanding of other cultures? In what ways is it still limited? How varied are the media perspectives on global coverage? What are the horizons of the media agenda? Why are some countries monitored and other not? What are the political interests behind journalistic geo-mapping?

Can media from different parts of the world tell the same story?
When a story takes place in our home country, we see the story from within our own cultural context. Is that story the same when told from a different cultural context? What kinds of meanings to news media from different parts of the world give to stories when telling them?

How do media report stories beyond their borders?
Many outlets today have closed their foreign bureaus and limited their syndicated content due to budget constraints. As this trend continues, more and more media are running the same wire service content. It’s important, however, to see what outlets are continuing to run international news and how they play that news. If it is “commodity content” (all the same), are the headlines different in various areas? Do they use a different lead into the story? Are there photos and videos and are they played in the same context?  Also, what international stories are news organizations spending money on to send staff journalists and how is this different from the wire service content?

Theoretical Frameworks for Learning

1. NEWS PRODUCTION

• Content
• Context
• Newsworthiness
• Format
• Technology
• Decision-making

Through the e-MONITOR work, students will learn about and learn to think about the process that goes into news production — reporting, writing and the editorial process — as well as the context within which news is produced. Students will gain an understanding of newsworthiness, and how that definition may vary among countries. Students and teachers can also discuss the format of news stories, how they are presented on a web page and what kinds of elements (video, photographs, text, interactive features) are used to tell a story, and how the format can influence the impact of a story. Students will gain an understanding of technology and the influence it has on news production, from the early steps of reporting, to the final stages of presentation on the web. Examining and discussing the decision-making that takes place in each of these areas will help students to understand that news is not simply an objective list of events that have happened that day, but a version of the world shaped by the choices of a group of people working within the frameworks of the available content, their chosen format and technology.

2. CULTURAL CONTEXT

• Comparing coverage
• Bias and perspective
• Framing
• Agenda setting
• Politics & Pressure
• Audience Reception

Students will engage with the idea of the cultural context within which their news is framed, and learn to examine that cultural context through comparison to coverage shaped by different cultural contexts. Comparing the coverage of a story among news outlets and among countries or regions of the world will reveal differences in framing, bias and perspective that will give students a deeper understanding of the influence of bias, perspective, framing and audience in the news outlets they encounter on a daily basis. The political system that governs a particular country may also affect coverage and whether news outlets demonstrate deference to political figures or challenge them. Gaining an awareness of the potential power of political influence in other countries can also give students a more critical perspective in examining the influence of their own political system of news in their nation. Issues of agenda-setting, and an understanding of the influence news media have on agenda will also be raised. Students will become aware of audience and the role audience may play in shaping coverage, learning to examine their own behavior as a member of the news audience.

3. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

• Disintegrating borders of information
• Defining “global” issues
• Connecting Culture
• Sharing Dialog

When a relevant, specific happening occurs in a distant country, how is it covered by media all around the world? What is the impact of having a sort of information “funnels” or filters as Press Agencies which digest and distribute the content or interpretation of this particular event to most corners of the world? What constrasts and parallels could be identified between different media formats such as television, radio, digital news or printing press?  Students will get the opportunity not only to compare and reflect on how our conceptions of distant countries are shaped by media consumption, but also think of possible strategies for bridging representations between communities. Ideally, they will stimulate their curiosity and try to get involved in dialogic experiences which might enrich their own and the others’ perspectives. Questions regarding global versus local identities as well as possible media projects oriented towards cultural interchange are expected to arise. This last point seems crucial for what initally seems as a reflexive exercise can convert at the end into a practical guideline.

4. ENGAGED CITIZENSHIP

• Individual Choice
• Awareness and Understanding
• Crossing Boundaries
• Accountability

As a learning outcome, students will reflect on the fact that democratic regimes depend on citizen engagement in political and civic activities, and that every single representational government relies on mediation, and therefore, communication media play a crucial role in informing the political culture of a particular society. They can discuss their individual approach towards news outlets, compare it with those of their classmates and ponder the reasons behind the information-consumption patterns they possess. The previous exchange will enlighten the importance of diversifying media consumption. In this comparative discussion students will engage in an exercise of self-awareness in relation to their own understanding of the relationship between the media agenda and their own political beliefs. It will also provide insights on the political interests behind different media and the role, either effective or defective, played by these outlets as watchdogs of democratic processes.

EXERCISE(S)

e-MONITOR

1. In groups or as individuals, select topics to explore: The topics to monitor should be selected, along with the media outlets, in a thoughtful way that incorporates multiple sites. Consideration should be given to the news organizations reach and readership. And the topics should be considered as ones of global issue so that converge can be compared in various regions or parts of the world. Along the same lines of monitoring editorial choice of the organizations, it is important to reflect on the content choices of the actual exercise.

TOPICS

• Free expression
• Sustainability
• Justice and Human rights
• Security
• Public health

2. Then, select 5-10 news outlets each to look for stories. Below are a list of global outlets to help you get started. You can add more, choose your own, etc. as you wish.

NORTH AMERICA

• New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/
• Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/
• USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/
• Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/
• Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/home-page
• Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/
• CNN http://www.cnn.com/
• MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
• National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/
• Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

SOUTH AMERICA

NOTE:  Most of the following sources are news outlets produced in Latin American countries for an english speaking audience, and do not necessarily reflect the media agenda of local newspapers. Ideally, if participants of the monitoring exercise possess language knowledge, revising local papers produced in local language would provide a closer notion of the media coverage in that country.

• http://www.emol.com/noticias/ingles/_portada/index.asp http://www.buenosairesherald.com/
• http://english.eluniversal.com/
• http://www.ticotimes.net/
• http://www.guadalajarareporter.com/
• http://alainet.org/index.phtml.en
• http://www.lapress.org/index.asp
• http://www.elpais.com/misc/herald/herald.pdf

EUROPE

• Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/
• Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
• Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
• Financial Times http://www.ft.com/
• BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/
• ITN http://itn.co.uk/
• Reuters AlertNet http://www.alertnet.org/
• The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/

ASIA & OCEANIA

• Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
• Dawn http://www.dawn.com/
• Straits Times  http://www.straitstimes.com/
• South China Morning Post http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/
• Sydney Morning Herald  http://www.smh.com.au/
• The Australian  http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
• China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
• Bangkok Post http://www.bangkokpost.com/

AFRICA

• Mail & Guardian http://www.mg.co.za/
• The Nation  http://www.nation.co.ke/
• The Cape Times http://www.capetimes.co.za/

MIDDLE EAST

• Al Jazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/
• Al Arabiya http://www.alarabiya.net/english/
• Haaratz http://www.haaretz.com/
• Daily Star http://www.dailystar.com.lb/

GLOBAL

• Global Voices  http://globalvoicesonline.org/
• Public Radio International http://www.pri.org/

3. Find the top 2-3 stories on your topic in each news outlet, and aggregate the stories.

4. As a group, talk about what stories you have found in your news outlets. Then determine which story you think is receiving the most coverage around the world.

5. Gather links to the story from different news outlets, comparing the stories and pointing out how the story is covered differently by the various news outlets. Prepare a blog post that summarize the coverage of the stories.

6. Bring the groups together to discuss the stories they chose, asking each group to explain how they arrived at their choices and what differences they saw among news outlets in terms of coverage.

7. Discuss the stories included in each topic category, whether there was any overlap between topics and why each group might have seen that story as falling within their topic area.

8. At the end of the exercise return to major questions, using e-Monitor exercise as a prompt for discussion of learning frameworks.

eMONITOR REFLECTION

When we compare news media and make value choices around the information we think is important, we are

eMonitor Authors

• Susan Moeller, University of Maryland
• Cory Haik, Seattle Times Online
• Pablo Martinez Zarate, Iberoamericana University, Mexico
• Paul Mihailidis, Hofstra University
• Jessica Roberts, University of Maryland

Thanks to the 2009 Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change Participants for their participation in the first eMonitor work in August 2009.