1. Students worked, once again, in the SCN room to get information for their handouts. The search to compare different articles about the Jeff Toews tragedy in Mexico should be completed. On the opposite side of that handout is a two-part net search assignment. Find information about both Conrad Black and the Asper family of Canada. Once you have that information, go back to May 11’s homework blog entry for MdSt 20 and read the challenge. There is an interesting twist to be found that somewhat relates Mr. Black and the Aspers. Also, have you discovered the connection to the newspaper site you have been accessing?  Who will be the first to point out the catch? Leave a comment if you think you know.

       Bonus: Who is this man?

2. If you think you are finished everything, talk to me and hand in your two assignments. I’ll give you back another activity you had begun and give you time to complete it. The Front Page Comparison activity is to be handed in once you have completed it.

1. Students were given class time in the SCN room to continue the net searched we began last Thursday. Look back to Thursday’s blog entry to get the newspaper site URL and log in information to continue.
2. Friday’s blog entry was written before class but as the principals came in to talk with students and our class time was used up, we never got to go through the activity written on the blog. Go back to May 11, Friday, and read the blog. Consider the questions there and post your response to them on Friday’s blog entry.
3. Tomorrow we will also continue with the net search time. These will be handed in for marks before Friday.

1. Students here this afternoon continued presenting their Bias in the News posters. Those who were not here and made no other arrangements will receive no mark for the assignment.
2. The rest of the class (and following notes) was postponed because of a discussion Mr. Ausum and Mrs. Hiltz had to have with students. They wrote on the board the requirements for graduation and discussed some of the options in classes next year. 

   The following will happen on Monday…

3. Students are to continue with yesterday’s newspaper comparison. This is a hand-in assignment.
4. There is also another assignment on the backside of that handout. They are to investigate thoroughly who Conrad Black is, what his background is, and why there is such controversy over him in the media currently.
5. Once finished that, they are to also investigate the Asper Family. They have a great deal of influence over media and students are to research this, find the extent of it, and be prepared to discuss why it may or may not be dangerous to have that amount of control.
6. There is a trick question in all this somewhere. Something intruiging is there to be discovered. We will see if anyone picks up on it and brings it to the attention of the class. If not, I will discuss with them towards the end of their searching.
7. Here are some things to compare if you want to write a Media Log Entry focusing on news. If you look through section A of yesterday’s Star Phoenix, you will find an article about a man in Saskatoon found guilty of owning child pornography that was fighting to maintain access to the Saskatoon gymnasium building to watch gymnists. Read that article and see what tone is has in reporting that news. Then compare it to the article found in section A of the National Post this morning. See if the tone and story matches up.
   Next, while looking at the National Post, there is a story about a young soccer player who was critically injurred at a match game yesterday. His parents, however, do not want to see charges pressed against the boy who hurt him because they think enough harm has come of the accident. Read the first portion of that story and then look inside section A for the rest of the story. Look at the way that story has been placed on the page. Is there anything unusual about it? Post your response on the blog for today’s entry if you can figure out what is odd about how the editors laid out the story.

newspaper-comparisons-conrad-asper-net-search.doc

1.  Students presented their Bias in the News posters. There are a few groups who will have to present tomorrow to receive a mark for their work.
2. Students were given a handout (see attachment above) for their new assignment. We read through it together and I explained further what I am asking of the assignment. There is a new conflict in the news with an Alberta man, Jeff Toews, dying in Mexico. The causes of his death are suspicious and his family is crying foul. For this assignment, students will have to look through newspapers and find different news reports about this one incident. They have to find information and fill out the handout questions based on two local papers (city papers) and one national (The National Post) to compare how the story was covered and what detail was put into it.
3. Use the following link to access the newspapers for comparison. We went to the projector room and I gave students the link and password to get into the site. From there I showed them where on the website to access the digital newspaper version. They have to look at the paper in its paper format in order to locate where in the paper the articles were posted, such as top right hand corner of A5.

http://digital.leaderpost.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

email: waldner.marcy@prairiesouth.ca 
Password: SCHOOL1   (Please be responsible and only use this for school purposes.)
                                         (And Levi, please do not change the password. Thanks!)

1. Students continued reading through the handout given yesterday. I read to them a Letter to the Editor I had written in University that was published in The Shief, the University paper. We discussed the use and function of editorials and such.
2. An interesting fact we read in the handout was that Advertisements are placed first when laying out a newspaper for print and the reports and write ups are added later, if there is room. Publication costs for a paper rely on advertisements for 80% of their overhead.

1. Students worked in groups of three or four to do a study of a Front Page of a newspaper. Several were given for them to each use a different one. They completed that assignment and started on the Assignment on the last page. This was handed in at the end of class to see who had been productive and who had not.
2. I gave a reminder to students, as well, that presentations of the Bias posters will be done either Thursday (tomorrow) or Friday.

front-page-news.doc 

1. Today we began a look at the front pages of newspapers and the consideration and politics that goes into its organization. There are several newspaper front pages posted around the classroom and I had other examples to share placed on the board with magnets. What we are looking at are types of news (hard or soft), facts vs opinions (not as easy to locate as when you were in grade three), the reasons things are discussed in the news (proximity, conflict, novelty, etc) and the idea of Freepress articles, not being censored or swayed by politics.
2. We read through several pages of the handout and for the last few minutes of the class students were each given the same edition of the Regina Leader Post and in their groups had to find examples of some of the concepts we have discussed in class, such as an article highlighting soft news, one that focused on novelty and another that was news because of proximity.
3. We will continue with the discussion tomorrow.
4. Students also negotiated that Thursday and Friday will be the days groups can present their Bias in the Media posters. After Friday, your group will not receive a mark. (With grad being the focus last week and attendance ‘iffy’, some groups were not able to present the posters they created.)

1. There was no class today due to the clean up duties of the grade eleven class.

1. Students who attended class this afternoon watched the end of the movie they started watching yesterday. (This was pretty difficult for some of them who’d been out last night to the grad bbq that lasted quite late but I do appreciate their attendance and effort to stay awake!)

1. With so many students missing and two classes left this week, students watched the video Man of the Year that we have been talking about in class. It falls in line with the discussion of political comics becoming a greater source of information for the general public. The reason for this is that their bias or opinion is usually blatantly expressed, whereas news programs have a bias but do a fairly good job of camouflaging it.
2. Students who come to class tomorrow afternoon will finish watching the movie.

   [youtube]wVlyaKPvFmA[/youtube]  This is a critical portion of the movie where Tom Dobbs (Williams’ character) participates in the Presidential Debate but does not do it quietly.

   [youtube]jdWt1w1C2Ps[/youtube]  Robbin Williams reiterates what we discussed in class yesterday about how more people get their political news on America from Stephen Colbert or John Stewart.

1. We began class with a discussion of the general findings of the internet searching students have done the last two days. We compared the way CBC, CNN, Al Jezeera (English), Fox News, and CNN relay the news. There are no concrete facts or notes to take from this activity other than the process of just looking at news sources and investigating them critically / analytically to see whether they are giving news reliably or whether they have a bias or perspective to share with their readers.
2. We then moved into the projector room and talked about how a lot of people are getting their political news, now, from political comedians instead of news broadcasts. The general public is somewhat aware that the news given through mainstream media is slanted / biased / infused with a certain perspective. By watching comics joke about the news sarcastically, they’re getting information but through a source who is blatant in their personal views and opinions.
3. We then had a bit of fun watching clips of Bushisms. This guy really ‘is’ the President of the Free World. Surprising, I know. lol