MEDIA CLUBS IN SCHOOLS

MODULE 2
Know your Newspaper



















































Activities for September


1. Historical Timeline of Newspapers(Autobiography of a newspaper)

2. Know your Newspaper ( Newspaper anatomy)

3. News value

4. Writing for Newspaper ( Five Ws and an H)

5. Working in a newspaper office & Who does what in a newspaper

6. Our School Newspaper












































Activity1 : Autobiography of a Newspaper


Introduction:

History of newspaper as a topic might not interest students. They will be least
interested in digging out facts unless they are motivated with some interesting
activity to do so. Considering this, part of an autobiography of a newspaper is
written. Media club students making use of the resources mentioned and after
consultation with their history/ language teachers are expected to complete this
autobiography.

Purpose: To make students aware of the history of newspaper.

Procedure:

1. Divide students into four groups
2. Read out the piece of autobiography for them
3. Discuss the Newspaper Historical timeline:
Early years ( acta diurna) (Already covered in the given
autobiography)
Origin of newspapers world over
Early years of newspapers in India ( Hickeys gazette and others)
Newspapers during pre independence period, Newspapers in freedom
struggle
Newspapers in post independence era, newspapers as we see today.
4. Resources: http://www.wan-press.org/article2822.html
http://presscouncil.nic.in/home.htm
http://www.exchange4media.com

5. Ask groups to complete the biography based on the facts discussed.

Discussion & Action points

1. Ask each student to make a presentation on the part of biography they
worked on.
2. Collate all the four pieces and complete the story.



Autobiography of a Newspaper

I am a newspaper. Well you all know me isnt it? Yes, I come to your home every
day early mornings, yes at few places in the evening too. But except few holidays I
greet you every day. You are familiar with me but you dont know me as much as
adults do. They are the ones who lay their hands on me before you kids touch me
but I know some naughty ones who get hold of me in the morning before anyone in
the house and I love those kids.
I like mornings and the reason are many and the biggest one is the way I flyvroom
to Mr. Mehtas house and room to Mrs. Dixits house. Have you ever seen me flying?
Well its a treat to eyes how newspaper vendor while riding on his bicycle makes me
fly and also very meticulously condition me to reach my destination. Though, I have
heard the stories of landing at someones head and breaking through the window.
But then these stories are very rare. Even in such stories I am always a hero and the
vendor becomes villain. Whatever way I reach, I really appreciate the way people
wait for me. The moment I land with a thud I could feel the people running towards
me to pick me up. I like the smile and twinkle when they see me and above all the
satisfaction as if I have brought the world to them. But thats true ,, I in a way do
take the world to them. So this is story of me the newspaper. Your newspaper.
You all know me but do you really know me? Well, I am not sure. I often see all
adult faces in front of me reading me paragraph by paragraph, line by line and word
by word. I could sense the strong hands holding me every day flipping my pages
impatiently. But I rarely see small cute faces in front of me. Even I love to see the
young faces with innocent smiles in front of me. I dont mind getting dropped on
floor as your hands I know would not be able to handle all pages. I know you will
pick me up page by page and again put me together. I want to make friends with
you with kids. I want you to know me and be my friend. Let us get on to the journey
called making friend with newspaper..Bon voyage

My Roots
Early years in Rome

I have a long history. How Long? Well, it dates back to 59 B.C The place was Rome.
That was the time when Julius Caesar, politician and general was extending the
Roman empire by invading into other countries. He was the best general of Rome
and made many changes like the new calendar and the starting of a daily
newspaper. It was during his period first News sheet Acta Diurna was created. Acta
Diurna in Latin means daily acts.News were carved on stone or metal and presented
in message boards in public places like the Forum of Rome. They were also called
simply Acta or Diurna or sometimes Acta Popidi or Acta
Publica
.





Activity2 : Know your Newspaper -Newspaper Anatomy

Purpose: To make students aware of various part of newspaper.

Procedure:
Discuss various parts of the newspaper with students
Divide the students into groups.
Each group can be asked to identify the following their newspaper:
Masthead
Slogan
First lead
Second lead
Feature
Editorial
Advertorial
Info graphic
Briefs
Brights
Sidebars


Discussion & action points:

Newspaper is divided into various sections and parts. This activity will introduce
students to the terms which are used for different parts of the newspaper.










Activity 2
Some of the common terms are:

Masthead: Masthead is the name of the newspaper which appears at the top and is
written in bold For example Times of India, The Hindu, Dainik Jagran etc.

Logo/Slogan: Most of the newspaper has a logo, a graphic mark or emblem which
promotes instant public recognition. The logo is accompanied by a slogan. For
example TOI has the two elephants with the slogan The leader guards the reader,
The slogan for Indian express and the Hindu is Journalism of courage and Indias
national Newspaper since 1878 respectively.

First Lead: First lead is the main news of the newspaper. This appears on the left
top of the front page. The reason for the place on the top left is that our eye travels
diagonally from the top left to bottom right part of the newspaper.

Features: Stories that require more depth and length, with more room for
description, analysis and interpretation are presented as features. These are usually
found in special sections, or on inside pages, and they often carry illustrative
elements as wellphotographs, tables, charts and graphics. Features can be about
both serious and soft issues.
Editorial: There are also articles that express opinions on issues and events. The
best argued opinions are in fact built on carefully presented evidence, but there is an
allowance for subjectivity. Opinions are expressed in the editorial (the space
devoted to the newspapers voice on issues of current importance), in invited
columns, and in reviews.
Briefs: are short summaries of events, sometimes appear as a list of items along
one side of the front page.
Brights: are short humorous or light-hearted pieces sometimes carried along with
photographs.
Sidebar: A sidebar is an item that accompanies a feature or a news story and
expands on some aspect of the story, such as a timeline or a list of milestones, or
even a short interview or profile.
Infographic: An infographic is an item that combines text and numbers in an
illustrative, informative manner.

Advertorials: Stories in the newspaper and even in magazines vary in length,
style, and approach. Generally, the content of the newspaper can be classified in
terms of the subject matter, the positioning (the location of an article within the
body of the publication) and the style. We know that there are, broadly, two kinds of
content in a newspapereditorial and advertising. Editorial content is what is
generated by the newsroom staff and contributing writers. Advertising is matter that
conveys commercial information, and the space taken by advertisements is paid for
by the company whose product or service is being sold. In recent times newspapers
and magazines also have been carrying advertorialscontent that is paid for, but is
written in the style of a regular news or feature article.

News hole: The portion of the newspaper that is taken up by news and editorial
matter is called the news hole and is usually expressed in column inchesthe
number of inches in length multiplied by the number of columns taken up by text.
The news hole is usually organized according to subject areas as well as geographic
zones. For instance, most national level political and economic news goes on the
front page and a few additional pages close to the front of the paper.





























Activity 3 : News Value


Introduction:

Editors have for many years depended on a set of values that guide their decision making
about news. Some of the most important of these news values are the following: Conflict,
Human Interest, Magnitude, Proximity, Prominence, Oddity, and Significance.

Purpose: To make students aware of the new values.

Procedure:

1. Discuss the News values with students.
2. Divide students into four groups
3. Ask students to go through the front page of four different newspapers and
find out the news based on different news values.

Discussion & Action points

Ask each group to make a presentation.
Analyze what sort of news values are given more prominence












Activity 3

1. Conflict: Conflict is one element that is thrown into stories that usually do not grab a
readers interest. A controversial angle for a story makes it more interesting for instance:
2. Human Interest: A story which highlights the human element and talks about the people
factor in business, or sports, or any facet of life is a human interest story. The feature
supplements of newspapers usually carry such stories.
3. Magnitude: The impact of certain events is so huge that print news media need not think
twice about them. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, the tsunami of
December 2005, the attack on the World Trade Centre, these are all events that affect the
lives of so many people, in fundamental ways, so they cannot be ignored.
4. Proximity: Stories about people and events in the communities of the readers make it
into local newspapers. This is also the same logic by which newspapers cover stories
about Indians in other countrieswe feel psychologically close to people of our
communities even if they are far away. Hence a story about people of Indian origin being
inducted into President Obamas cabinet finds its way into our newspapers, as does a
story about an Indian businessman who makes it big in London.
5. Prominence: Celebrities, people in power, successful peopleall make news, even if
what happens to them is relatively trivial. If Amitabh Bachchan catches cold, the
newspapers report it, and if the Prime Minister holds a special dinner in honour of the
returning cricket team, it makes news, because of their prominence.
6. Oddity: Anything unusual, out of the ordinary, captures the imagination of the public
and therefore makes news.
7. Significance: Something that may influence the way we live our lives or the decisions we
make about daily issues, such as changes in taxes, examination schedules, new train
timings, etc, usually finds coverage.

Activity 4 Writing for Newspaper (Sources of News, Five Ws and an H



Introduction:

To have the better understanding of issues the readers of newspaper want answer to
some basic questions like who what when where why and How. The answer to these
questions is found usually in the first paragraph. This differentiates any news feature with
other newspaper content like features, editorials etc.

Purpose: To make students understand significant features of any news report.

Procedure:

1. Discuss the News features : who what when where why and How .
2. Ask students in what sequence these features are used in the news report.
Let each students analyze one news report.

Discussion & Action points

Discuss the inverted pyramid structure of news report in which all the most
important information( 5Ws and H) are placed in the beginning of the story.



Why/How

Who, What, When Where




Activity 5 Working in a newspaper office & Who does what in a newspaper


Introduction:

Making newspaper reach every morning at readers place is no easy job. It requires
lot of hardwork by number of people. Some of the important roles played in the
newspaper office are of a reporter, editor photojournalists, designers etc

Purpose: To make students understand the different roles played in newspaper.

Procedure:

1. Discuss the various roles and responsibilities in the newspaper.
2. Depending on the interest and aptitude of the students form four teams
editorial, designing and marketing to work on their school newspaper.


Discussion & Action points


Once the teams are formed, ask each team to prepare their plan how would they
like to work on school newspaper.
Let each team present their plan







Activity 5
Reporter A reporter is a journalist who gathers information about newsworthy issues
which involves research such as interviews, checking police and public records, looking
for photographs. Reporters consolidate their reports for the media house they work for.
Often reporters have a particular area of specialization.
Journalist - A journalist is a person who gathers, writes and reports news stories, and
may also edit and present news articles.
Editor is a person who forms the editorial policy of the publication. Which means the
editor decides who stories are newsworthy enough to publish and which can be shelved.
Editor also sees that stories are fit onto the page layouts and decide where the ads will go.
Copy editors look at articles sent by journalists and reporters to check whether the article
fits on a particular page. They also check grammar, structure, style and spelling.
Photo journalist a photo journalist is essentially a reporter who presents a news story
through photographs. A photojournalists main criteria for presenting a story are
timeliness, objectivity and narrative (combining news elements with images in a reader
friendly manner)
Some of the other careers that print news media offer are proofreaders, graphic designers,
composers and typists, freelance writers, freelance photographers and printing
technologist.









Activity 5 Our School Newspaper


Introduction:

School newspaper is an activity which will help students to learn about the
newspaper while working on it. It is suggested that the students should work on an
issue based newspaper it could be on corporal punishment, RTE, International year
of mathematics etc.

Purpose: To make students understand the working of a newspaper by actively
participating in the process of making.

Procedure:

Identify the students who will be working in the following groups:
Editorial
Designing
Marketing
Decide the name of the newspaper.
The editorial group should be guided by a language teacher, Designing group
should be guided by the Art& computer teacher and marketing group should
participate in the activities of both editorial and designing groups and also
work on the publicity plan.

Activities for Editorial Group
Editorial meeting
Selection of theme for the newspaper
Decision on number of pages
Allocating work to the group members ( news, interviews, articles, poems
etc.)

Activities for Designing Group
Meeting to discuss the layout
Reading all stories written by the editorial group and finding visuals for the
same.
Designing the newspaper

Activities for the Marketing Group

To publicize about the school newspapers so that maximum students contribute to the
newspaper in terms of articles etc.

To prepare for the launch function of newspaper

To prepare the plan so that the newspaper is read by large number of people.