Press freedom and journalistic independence are values that democratic societies cherish. Unfortunately, too many countries do not respect these values. Today we will look at press freedom in the world. Each group will be allotted a country. Spend the rest of the lesson doing research on this country’s treatment of the media, and condition and status of free press.
In the groups make a Prezi or Google presentation of media usage in the country you have been researching. Use the websites Reporters Without Borders (https://rsf.org/en and https://rsf.org/en/ranking) and Committee to Protect Journalists (https://cpj.org/). You may use other sources as well. If you come across specific stories about journalists/bloggers/ others who have somehow been punished for their involvement in and use of media, tell us! Be ready to present your findings at 14:00 today.
Group Erika: Hong Kong
Group William: Brazil
Group Victoria: Russia
Group Verner: Egypt
Group Dejen: India
Group Øystein: South Africa
Find out:
- do they have a free press or any kind of censorship? Why/why not?
- do they have state media or not? What could be the importance of this?
- What are the biggest newsproviding media in this country?
- Who owns these media?
- How many use these?
- Are they politically minded – liberal, conservative etc? If so, how is this seen?
- Find at least two of the biggest newsproviding media in this country and look at their frontpages: compare headlines, choice of causes, focus, read a story from each and comment on the journalism. Also, find them on social media; check out their Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram account. How are they on social media? Many followers? What kind of profile do they have here? What kind of cases are their fronting on their social media?
Hanna
English 1 