Great Ideas!:
Which Clip Should We Use?

Lesson Objective:

Students will engage in a role simulation and examine the decision-making process involved with television news stories.

Grade Level and Subject Area:

7-12/ Journalism, Language Arts and Social Studies

Activities and Strategies:

Students should be split into groups of 3-4. Students will pretend they work as producers for a national television news program and a story has come into the newsroom about a bear attack in a national park. A mother bear, protecting her cub, killed two people and injured another. Park rangers then killed the bear. There is some videotape available than you can use in the story, and you must decide which tape coverage to air for the two-minute news story. Your objective is to inform your audience, but not upset them so they complain to the station or stop watching the news.

Each group should first list the pros and cons of airing each video clip, weighing the amount of violence and information in each. You may choose to write something for the anchor person to read as an introduction. You may also choose to show tape with or without the accompanying sound. Finally, explain which items you would use in the construction of the news story, the order in which you would put them, and why.

The six video clips from which to choose for the two minute news story are:

  1. An official press conference report by the park's game warden. The language is clinical and inoffensive, describing the attack and the subsequent shooting of the bear. (47 seconds)
  2. An official press conference report by a doctor at the hospital where the dead and injured persons were taken. The doctor describes the deaths and injuries plainly and objectively. (42 seconds)
  3. Professional news coverage of the shooting of the bear by game wardens. The bear is cornered, shot several times, and dies. Her cub comes over and sniffs at her dead body. All action is clear, close and in focus. (26 seconds)
  4. Professional news coverage of an injured tourist being wheeled into the hospital emergency room. The person is wailing loudly and covered in blood. All action is clear and in focus. (19 seconds)
  5. Interviews with witnesses to the killings. The people are tourists and describe in detail what they saw. (33 seconds)
  6. Video coverage of the attack itself as shot by a tourist in the park. The action is a little shaky at times, but clearly shows the attack, the killing of each tourists, and the maiming of the injured tourist. The bear's growls and the tourists' screams are clear. (123 seconds)

George Ventura teaches grades 9, 10, and 12 (Media Literacy and Special Education) at West Toronto Collegiate, Toronto, Canada.

This document was last updated 6/30/97 by Chandra Hawley.
Copyright1996 Indiana University - Center for Adolescent Studies, all rights reserved.
Kris Bosworth - Director