For educators · Lesson plan

Two sources, one event

Grades 9–12 Duration One 50-minute period Standards DE, NJ, TX, CA, IL
Objectives
  1. Compare two accounts of the same event and identify the framing choices in each
  2. Recognize loaded language, euphemism, dysphemism, cherry-picking, and burying the lede
  3. Reconstruct the plain facts the two accounts share
  4. Explain why identical facts can produce opposite impressions
Procedure

Before class

Choose two reports of one event from outlets with different perspectives. Historical events work well and avoid live controversy: two newspaper accounts of a strike, a sporting incident, a corporate recall, or a scientific announcement. Read the framing entry and the euphemism and dysphemism compare page.

Procedure

  1. Read both (10 min). Students read both accounts silently and write one sentence: what happened? Collect the sentences. They will differ, and the difference is the subject.
  2. The shared facts (10 min). As a class, list only the facts that appear in both accounts. This is the skeleton. Everything else in each account is a choice.
  3. The choices (15 min). In pairs, students mark each account for: the headline and first sentence (what leads); the word chosen for each key noun and verb (Loaded Language, Euphemism, Dysphemism); which facts appear in one account only (Cherry Picking); what appears last or not at all (Burying The Lede); who is quoted and who is not.
  4. Swap frames (10 min). Each pair rewrites the first paragraph of one account in the frame of the other, using the shared facts only. Read a few aloud. The exercise shows that the frame is a choice available to any writer.
  5. Close (5 min). Discuss: is either account false? Usually neither is. What, then, should a reader do with two true accounts that leave opposite impressions?

Extension

Students find a third account, or write the neutral one themselves from the shared facts, and discover how hard neutral is.

Assessment

A marked-up pair of accounts with the shared facts listed and the framing choices identified by technique, plus the rewritten paragraph. Assess for the completeness of the shared-fact list and the accuracy of the technique labels.