IOA – What's in the News?
You will be doing an interactive oral activity, for which each member of your group
will be graded. The marks will be awarded to each student individually.
YOUR TASK:
Your group will undertake a bias/unreliability in the media
research project, the results of which you will then present to the
class in the form of a TV panel discussion roleplay.
Detailed instructions
A maximum of 45 minutes will be allowed for the presentation, and during that time
you should cover the following:



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what your research has suggested in answer to your research question
clips/articles etc. in support of your claims, and analysis of these clips
critical evaluation of your results
class involvement
Specific group instructions
Group 1
Michael
Max
Michelle
Is Fox News still as biased as
Outfoxed claimed in 2004?
Group 2
Niklas
Josi
Emilia
Anna
News in Crisis: Are traditional
news sources maintaining their
integrity in an age of increasing
competition?
The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart
March VII
(Satirical news/interview
programme, airing on Comedy
Central)
Special Report with Bret
Baier on Fox News
Channel
March XI
(Fox's daily 6 p.m.
news/commentary/discussion
programme)
Group 3 How is Obama presented in the
Betsy
US media? Are they critical or
Nina
supportive of him?
Johannes
Question Time
March XIII
Group 4
Philip
Tessa
Albin
Johanna
Hardtalk
March XIV
Has there been a significant
change in how the US media
reports the Israeli-Palestine
conflict in the 8 or so years
since Peace, Propaganda and
the Promised Land was made?
(Long-running BBC panel
discussion show, hosted by
David Dimbleby)
(A BBC interview show, hosted
by Stephen Sackur, and noted
for its hard-hitting questions
and no-punches-pulled
approach to controversial
topics.)
Preparation
You will need to choose roles for each member of the group. One person should chair
the discussion (the host of the show, so to speak), and the others can be guests:
experts, politicians, media analysts etc.
In order to prepare thoroughly, you’ll need to do the following:
 Agree together on how you will research your topic
 Do your research individually
 Reconvene and do the following together as a group
- discuss your results and draw conclusions
- critically evaluate your conclusions
- establish who will be playing which role in your panel discussion
- decide how you will involve the audience
 Briefly watch some clips of the TV programme that has been assigned to your
group, to get an idea of the programme's format, and the style of language
used.
 Finally, it would be ideal if you have a chance to practise with your group
before presenting to the class
In order to get good marks, you'll be expected to do the following:
 Find relevant and revealing examples of media coverage of your issue
 Analyse these clips successfully
 Critically evaluate the role of the media and the results of your research
 Include specific comments on how language is used in news reports
 Be dead good at English, innit
 You won't be graded on how well you do the assigned TV show, that part of the
activity is just intended to make it more enjoyable
Remember to refer to the marking criteria to know what is expected of you, and
please ask me if you have any questions.