Curriculum Fostering Journalistic Inquiry and Media Learning
The PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labsis building the next generation of public media with a digital journalism curriculum, as well as local PBS station mentors and the opportunity to tell important community stories to the world. The program creates educational experiences for middle school and high school students in classrooms and afterschool environments. Students engage in journalistic inquiry, media production, and student-centered learning that build critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, news literacy, and communication skills. In the past, students have tackled such topics as the effects of climate change, the need for diversity in the gaming industry, and the impact and perceptions of misinformation. They have produced STEM stories on how engineering is reshaping people’s lives and how health-care innovators are redefining what it means to be “healthy.” By giving youth a voice and the opportunity to reach millions of people via the PBS NewsHour broadcast and digital platforms, the program inspires youth to speak up and be part of the solution.
In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students read or view a literary text, and then identify and discuss examples of propaganda techniques in the text. Students then explore the use of propaganda in popular culture by looking at examples in the media.
PBS affiliate WETA has made available a list of propaganda techniques that make false connections (such as the techniques of “transfer” and “testimonial”), or constitute special appeals (such as “bandwagon” and “fear”), or are types of logical fallacy (for example, “unwarranted extrapolation”).
The Mind Over Media web platform gives students aged 13 and up an opportunity to explore the subject of contemporary propaganda by hosting thousands of examples of 21st-century propaganda from around the world.