Debate about media funding: We prefer media funding models that rely primarily on advertising to models that rely primarily on subscriptions

This lesson plan is about organizing a classroom debate. We are not — this is crucial — organizing a discussion. A debate differs from a discussion because it is structured and has clear rules:

• The debate topic is worded as a proposition that some speakers will support and some will oppose. There is no working towards a compromise; one team wins, and the other loses;
• In this version of formal debate (adjusted for classroom use), we have two participating teams (proposition and opposition);
• Debaters cannot choose which side they represent in a debate - the sides (proposition and opposition) are assigned randomly with a coin flip:
• The rules clearly specify who speaks when and for how long.

For a classroom debate, we propose the following format:

• Each team has three speakers, who will each hold a 4-minute speech;
• During the main speeches (but only after the first 30 seconds and before the last 30 seconds of the speech), the opposing team can stand up and offer a question. Every speaker must accept and answer one question from the opposing team. Alternatively, you can have a 1-2 minute time slot for questions after each speech – we recommend this option if you want to engage more students and if your students are new to public speaking and might be intimidated by interruptions;
• The students who are not delivering speeches act as debate adjudicators.

First speakers (on both sides) should set up the debate and provide the initial arguments. Setting the debate means establishing the main definitions and clearing up what the debate is about (for more information, see the lesson plan “Motion analysis”). Second speakers should be bringing in final arguments, responding to the opposing team’s arguments, and rebuilding their first speaker’s arguments. Third speakers should analyze all arguments, respond to their opponents, and rebuild their own argumentation. In other words, they should provide an overview of what happened in the debate and why their team won.

The rest of the class should serve as debate adjudicators. They should be taking notes and weighing proposition and opposition arguments. Instruct them to be objective and to evaluate only the speeches they’ve heard, putting aside their personal opinions and/or arguments and examples they would have used as debaters.

If you want to engage the students more actively, you can always adapt the proposed format to fit more students - have 6 students per team, and have each of them deliver a 2-minute speech. A separate pair of students per team can also be used for asking and answering questions. If you are curious about more classroom debate formats, we recommend you read the chapter “Debate in Classroom” in the Melita Methodological Guide.

After you form the teams, they should have time to prepare. Students who are not debating should also participate in preparing arguments.

Students are allowed to use textbooks and the internet while researching for their arguments. If your students are still struggling, we recommend you pause their group work and do a quick brainstorm as a class, making note of all the reasons to propose and oppose the motion.

To the extent possible, the students should try to build arguments on their own. If they are struggling, use any of the arguments listed below to provide them with an idea of what an argument for or against this motion could look like.

Proposition

Definitions:

Advertising model: media that is free to read but contains advertisement.

Subscription model: media that is hidden behind a paywall.

1st argument: Advertisement-based media are read by more people

Explanation:

1. Most people do not care about news enough to start paying for a subscription. This means that there is very little chance they will actually engage with subscription based media, while there is a much larger chance they read advertising based media, because it is free and requires a much smaller buy-in.
2. They can decide to access stories that they care about without buying the whole package, which means even if they are less interested, they will access more information.

Example:

Advertisement based media have a much larger readership than subscription based media.

Impact:

We want people to know what is happening. If they do not follow the news at all, they cannot be active citizens. If the quality of news is a bit lower, we are willing to trade that for more readership.

2nd argument: Advertisement-based media produce more varied content

Explanation:

1. Subscription based media need to convince a lot of people to sign up in order to produce content. This is why it is more likely that they are going to cover general media, because it is easier to get subscribers if you cover a wide array of topics.
2. Subscription based media makes covering specialized content less likely and also harder, because these niche markets are smaller. On the comparative, advertisement based media can get more income in a niche market as well, because they do not need people to necessarily sign-up, just read. This is so because many people might be interested in reading about the specialized topic occasionally, however they would not subscribe.

Example:

Most big media institutions are general news organizations and not specialized organizations. There are only a few subscription based specialized media.

Impact:

We value the fact that you can write about specialised topics as well — this makes the content accessible by the people more diverse and can allow for higher quality of discussion.

3rd argument: Advertisement based media allow more independent media

Explanation:

1. Subscription based media landscapes have a really high entry barrier. You need a lot of money to kickstart your media if you are going to charge a subscription, because you need to invest a lot of money before you start seeing the returns.
2. Because of this, only the very rich and the media corporations can afford to open new media institutions, while the rest of society cannot — with advertisements, they can, however, afford to start small and slowly build up.

Example:

Most independent and alternative media institutions are sponsored by advertisement, not by subscription.

Impact:

Having more independent and alternative media means that more views are heard by the public, which enriches the discussion and ensures more equitable representation.

Opposition

1st argument: Subscription ensures quality

Explanation:

1. Subscription-based media work on convincing people every month to pay them — this means that the barrier of success is set way higher because you must actually provide quality, as opposed to advertisement-based media, which just needs to provide clicks.

Example:

You can look at most subscription-based media and see they are immensely higher quality than advertisement-based media. One can, in the UK, for instance, compare the Daily Mail, which is based mostly on advertisement and is of immense low quality, and, for instance, The Independent, based on subscriptions, and much higher in quality.

Impact:

We want to have better media — it is not only important how many people read and access the media, but also what quality the media is. People are always going to read the news, the only difference is what quality.

2nd argument: Advertisement based media saturate the media landscape with click-bait

Explanation:

1. Advertisement-based media profit off of clicks more than loyal and returning audiences. Therefore, they will try their hardest to get as many clicks as possible. This means that they will focus on the content that baits the audience into clicking, which usually means more mundane topics and misleading headlines.
2. Furthermore, they will also portray the news in a more scandalous way because they explicitly aim to elicit a certain response.
3. They post so much of this content — because they care about quantity over quality, number of clicks — that they will saturate the media landscape, and people will slowly lose interest in all news.

Example:

One can see many examples of this, for instance, advertisement-based media will often report on “freak accidents”, crime, scandals, and yellow-papers grade material. They will often also mislead with their headlines, for example: “You will not believe what XYZ has said”.

Impact:

People will become more apathetic about the news in general, which is bad and makes citizens less active.

3rd argument: Subscription-based media provides better working conditions for journalists

Explanation:

1. Advertisement-based media are usually less stable in terms of financing, which makes wages usually lower for journalists working there.
2. Advertisement-based media are more reliant on the output of articles — they value quality over quantity — and this means that journalists are put under more pressure.
3. Both points brought together lead to a highly toxic environment, which in turn also drives down the quality of such media: most experienced journalists find other work.

Example:

The turnover of journalists can be much higher in advertisement-based media, signaling that the work conditions are really bad.

Impact:

The low quality of work is bad in itself because it negatively impacts the journalists, leading to less experienced journalists working in the field.

The debate takes place; some students debate, the others take notes and adjudicate.

1. Who do you think won the debate and why?
2. What would you do differently?
3. Did your opinion on the topic change after watching the debate?