Journalist for a day

No reporting is purely objective, and it is important that the students and you realize that. However, we should aim for our media diet to be varied enough that we do not blindly believe in one subjective point of view.

Objectivity in media is important because it helps ensure that the information presented is accurate, unbiased, and fair. When media outlets present information objectively, they are less likely to present information that is misleading or serves a particular agenda. This allows the public to make informed decisions based on the presented information. Additionally, objectivity in media helps promote trust and can contribute to a healthy democratic society. While this is a worthy and noble goal, you can observe that we are using many hedging words. This is because even facts can be presented in different contexts and given different emphases – that skews our perception of them.

Subjectivity in media can be problematic in certain contexts. Media outlets that subjectively present information may be more likely to present biased or misleading information, which can lead to confusion or misinformation among the public. However, it is worth noting that media subjectivity is not always problematic. Some media outlets may subjectively present information as part of their editorial stance, which can be a valuable way to provide unique perspectives and insights on current events. Additionally, some forms of media, such as opinion journalism and editorial pieces, are inherently subjective and are intended to express the views of the writer or the publication. In these cases, if the media labels and presents the information as opinions, it is not inherently problematic. This is why your discussion with your students should rise above the banal level of “subjectivity equals bad”, but rather inspect the reasons, motivations, and goals behind a subjective piece. An objective piece with misrepresented facts can do more harm than a well-presented opinion piece.

The students should write a short, 2-paragraph article about an event that recently happened in their environment – they must be well aware of the event so they can write about it.

The teacher should encourage the students to write about the aspect of the event that was most interesting to the group, but they should all answer the basic questions that form context – who, what, why, and where. As the recommendations state, this part can easily be set as homework, but then you risk some students “forgetting.”

You should allow students ample time for reading and reflecting – if your students are slower readers, maybe shorten writing time. Keep in mind students will have to read all the texts, and with some degree of concentration - maybe even make a short note of reflection after each so they can discuss them in detail. Forty minutes might read as a lot, but given that the average class size is often over 20 students, this only gives students just over a minute to read and think about each article, if we want them to have a quality discussion about ranking the objectivity of each text.

The teacher should number or mark the articles in some way so that the students can rank them.

1. Which article was the most interesting and why? Which article was the most informative? Most believable? Most trustworthy? (They are probably not going to pick the same; give them time to argue why.)
2. Is objectivity important, and why?
3. Is subjectivity wrong?