Journalism Videos
June 22, 2015 6:25 PM   Subscribe

This fall I'll be teaching a high school level 21st century Journalism class and I've only ever taught elementary/middle school before....

I'm looking forward to the high schoolers and the class although I'm completely unqualified to teach this course (yes, my administration knows and it doesn't matter to them, and no, this is not what my question is about.)

I'm hoping to spice up my assignments with some quick 1-2 minute video clips of journalists from tv or movies that really get at the essence of journalism (you know, kind of like the way Robin Williams gets a the heart of English teaching with his O Captain, My Captain). These could be newer clips or ones from the past, I don't think they necessarily have to be "21st" century journalism at all.

Some things I've thought of already

*John Stewart's video on the Charleston shootings
*Colbert on "truthiness"
*Little Rascals clip--Doesn't one of them deliver newspapers or something? Apologies as I haven't actually seen the Little Rascals, just trying to think of some fiction portrays of the news.
posted by aetg to Education (13 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
This scene from All The President's Men.
posted by SisterHavana at 6:30 PM on June 22, 2015


His Girl Friday.
posted by Ideefixe at 6:38 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


How about a video example of great journalism? For instance, if you're in Illinois, this Studs Terkel documentary about life on Halsted St might make sense. It's an hour long 'human interest story' (as opposed to investigative/headline reporting) that is exceptionally well done.
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 7:18 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Here are a few off the top of my head:

Gilmore Girls. Rory and Paris were both involved in newspapers in both high school and college.
Murphy Brown.
Perd on Parks and Rec for some comic relief.
Superman (when he's Clark Kent)

I couldn't quickly find great clips of any of these, but it will give you some names/shows to search.
posted by whatideserve at 7:23 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Citizen Kane is about a journalist and newspaper publisher, based on the real William Randolph Hearst.
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 7:25 PM on June 22, 2015


Wag the Dog might offer up some interesting moments regarding the intersection of politics, journalism, and marketing fundamentals.
posted by Hermione Granger at 7:36 PM on June 22, 2015


I think John Oliver is phenomenal, and it would be a really great way to introduce social justice journalism and the value of research that questions neutrality. His FIFA episode is killer! Also, suggest FB news fanpages for them to look up, and have them analyze how FB news pages are constructed, especially since 50% of backlinks to news organizations are now from FB sharing.

Actually, just make them watch a John Oliver show or a Jon Stewart show for class sometimes, and have them do a class discussion with a writing reflection. It's really not a terrible way to learn, when I was in high school, I self-taught myself journalism using Stewart/Colbert and learning all of their techniques for destroying logical fallacies. This was during the Iraq War paranoia, and it was so damn hard to figure out how to read anything...
posted by yueliang at 8:11 PM on June 22, 2015


Clips from the movie "Shattered Glass."

Chuck Lane: He handed us fiction after fiction, and we printed them all as fact. Just because we found him entertaining.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:18 PM on June 22, 2015


Maybe make this an assignment and have your students find videos that reflect the essence of journalism to share and discuss with the class. You can use a few of your own videos and other instructional materials, like a reading assignment or lecture, as guidance for the kinds of videos you would like them to find. It could be a way to encourage your students to independently and actively construct their own knowledge of the course material - they'll probably think it's an easy assignment, have it done by the time you finish your lecture, and be all about talking about what they found and why they think it reflects the essence of journalism.

Or, basically everything John Oliver does these days could serve as examples of the essence of journalism, although a lot of episodes have language that might not fly in some high schools. Also, the trailer for Selma could serve as a compelling example of the power of journalism.
posted by Little Dawn at 8:36 PM on June 22, 2015


I imagine you're looking for fictional movies and shows, but there are probably some scenes from Page One: Inside the New York Times that could be equally engaging. The scene where David Carr smacks down the Vice Media bros comes to mind.

More fictional: Almost Famous -- music writing is journalism and sometimes kids don't realize that, and the part where he chooses to write the truth about the band rather than be starstruck is a good lesson about journalism. Season 5 of The Wire focuses heavily on the Baltimore Sun; I can't remember the exact plots, but I'm sure there's some good investigative journalism in there. As bad as The Newsroom was in many ways, I'm sure there are some exciting scenes of them breaking a big story by the skin of their teeth that would be exciting to young folk.
posted by retrograde at 12:48 AM on June 23, 2015


Some scenes of Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter would be fun. The newspaper plays a big role in Harry Potter in general.
posted by TrarNoir at 11:31 AM on June 23, 2015




The documentary Citizenfour "shows the first extensive interviews with Edward Snowden, conducted in his hotel room in Hong Kong when he first revealed his information to reporter Glenn Greenwald: Snowden contacted him under the handle Citizenfour."
posted by Little Dawn at 5:45 AM on July 2, 2015


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