Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs.

Online News, Why Is It

Important?
Stephen Lerch
75310052
ETEC 53 66a
UBC
Dr. Francis Feng
July 30th, 2015

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

This is Albert Oldvative, he is 50 years old and he has been

reading the newspaper since he was a little boy at home. He began
reading newspapers because his father always had one at home in the
mornings and it became a tradition for him to leave the paper for
Albert after he was finished. Albert began by reading the funnies, and
evolved to current events as he got older.
Albert feels that his knowledge about the world and current
affairs is well balanced; he reads two different newspapers regularly,
one that he subscribes to every day and the other, which he gets on
the subway for free on his way to work. He sometimes watches the
news, but usually only has time to read, and is uncomfortable enough
with computers that he does not read news online.
Myla Youngberal, is fifteen years old and hasnt read a physical
newspaper for many years. Like most modern young teenagers, she
prefers to get her information online. Her first source is Facebook,
where in the morning, she scans through a newsfeed that Facebook
has customized to her. As Facebook puts it:

The stories that show in your News Feed are influenced

by your connections and activity on Facebook. This helps
you to see more stories that interest you from friends
you interact with the most. The number of comments

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

and likes a post receives and what kind of story it is (ex:

photo, video, status update) can also make it more likely
to appear in your News Feed.

There are often articles posted by her friends or by

Facebook pages that she has Liked, some are silly, such as
cute cat videos, controversial, weird and some push causes
that she may or may not be interested in.
When Myla sees an article she can like it and follow links to it,
now the new article is added to her newsfeed and she will begin to
receive more posts that are similar. Some Facebook articles also lead
to blogs, where an author has written extensively about an issue; these
can include videos, feedback forums, links and pictures.
When Myla has a few minutes waiting in line at a store or for the
bus, she uses her phone to check up on Twitter, which also has a mix of
entertaining tweets, events happening around town, and news.
Both of these people are getting the news in a way that seems
legitimate, but who is getting a better cross-section, with less bias,
objective examinations, multiple perspectives, and accurate facts?
Why is this important and what does this have to do with Education?
Historically, people in North America report that they trust
newspapers because they have been around a long time and develop
reputations. A reader can hold the author of an article accountable

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

because the author or journalist works for the paper and can be
tracked down. Actually that was the case when online news sources
were new fifteen years ago, but longitudinal studies have shown that,
as people become familiar and comfortable with online news, they
trust it more. Currently, people trust online sources as much as
newspapers (Payne & Dozier, 2013).
Maybe this is because the interactivity of the Internet allows
writers to place links to references to back up their claims. You can see
this when you look at a Wikipedia article, just scroll to the bottom and
follow the links.
If Myla Youngberal wants to have the skills necessary to determine
the legitimacy of reference links, how will she learn them? Does Albert
Oldvative even have the ability to check the sources of newspaper
articles he reads? If he wanted to, he could call the newspaper to
check their sources, but most people dont because it takes too much
effort; Myla can check sources by clicking a button.
In online blogs, articles and news items, often the author is
directly accessible by the reader who can write a comment and receive
a reply, because everything online is interactive. This adds legitimacy
to online and social-media news by opening them up to criticism.
There are some problems with that too. If you read comments on
news sites, blogs and YouTube, they can number in the thousands, and
overwhelm the author. If people dont like the article, the anonymity of

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

the Internet allows them to write very nasty comments leading to the
need for comment moderation.
Teens such as Myla Youngberal interact with news like this every
day, including writing their own content and replying to comments.
This strengthens the justification for educating about online safety and
critical thinking.
Another problem with newspapers is that a reader might be
reading one with an intentional political leaning (Liberal or
Conservative), or built in biases (Burgess & Harrison, 1993), with the
intent of convincing readers of their value judgements or the values of
the owners. This can leave the reader with a one-sided view of an
issue. Someone using online news is capable of reading many articles
on topic, which may give several perspectives. They dont just get two
sides of the story, but rather as many sides of the story as there are
opinions.
If Myla has access to so many points of view, how does she form
a well-balanced opinion? If she has learned from an early age through
school, this task presents no problem for her.
With both newspapers and online news, images can be altered to
suite the needs of the writer. There have been several high profile
cases where photojournalists were fired for altering their pictures and
the Internet is rife with false images. Try visiting the website

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

Reddit.coms section called Photoshop battles where members alter

photos for fun as a way to see how easy it is.
Twitter has led to citizen journalism, where ordinary users, who are
close to the event, may take a photo or video on their cellphones then
tweet it. Often these people get to the event before the journalist and
can be the source of breaking news. These news stories spread faster
than traditional news because of the instant nature of the Internet. A
criticism of this is that citizen journalists are not subject to the same
ethics or accountability that a journalist might be. (Goode, 2009).
Newspapers and Television news networks monitor social media
and use it as a source for routine reporting, and as an indispensible
tool for newsgathering (Paulussen and Harder, 2014), which can lead
to problems.
Here is a short clip from the Podcast Canadaland by Jesse
Brown introducing a situation where this got way out of hand.
This is how it happened.
Originally, when Tim Hortons ran ads for Enbridge on televisions
in their restaurants, there was an online petition by environmental
groups with 30 000 signatures to get those ads removed, as a result
Tim Hortons complied.
In response, a handful of oil sector supporters protested the
pulling of the Enbridge ads. A conservative strategist Stephen Taylor,
used the hashtag #BoycottTims on Twitter, getting some support from

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

three federal ministers: Pierre Poilievre (Minister of Employment and

Social Development), Michelle Rempel (Canadas Minister for Western
Economic Diversification) and Jason Kenney (Canadas defence
minister) within 1 hour, it blew up on Twitter, gaining momentum and
becoming the number 1 Twitter trending topic in Canada (McCloud,
2015)(Renzetti, 2015).
In one situation, there were actual people protesting an issue,
the Environmentalists, in another, there was a manufactured crisis
created by political operatives. News organizations, including the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and The Huffington Post,
picked up on what was happening in twitter and reported on it. In the
online world people can manufacture controversy to try to impact
policy (Brown, 2015).
So we cant trust online news either. What can we do as
educators. Which one is better? Maybe a combination of both is the
right answer. Who is getting the better point of view, Myla Youngberal
or Albert Oldvative? Who is the better citizen?
As educators, it is our responsibility to teach our students about
citizenship and balanced media consumption, we cant rely on parents
because they themselves might not be very good at it and are not
accountable to curriculum. Children as young a 5 are accessing the
Internet, and students as young as 8 are actively engaging with other
people online through chat-rooms, games and forums; they need

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

guidance to stay safe online. School boards and the BC Ministry of

Education do encourage this kind of learning, but their policies are slow
to adapt to the online world and barely contain any guidance for
dealing with media consumption (Curriculum, 2015).

References
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Brown,J.(2015,June,07).TheTimHortons"Boycott"Fiasco(podcast).Retrievedfrom
http://canadalandshow.com/podcast/timhortonsboycottfiasco
Facebook.RetrievedJuly29,2015,from
https://www.facebook.com/help/327131014036297/
Friend,D.(2015,July,27).TimHortonsMayDitchTimsTVAfterEnbridge
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Garratt,L.(2014).PulitzerPrizewinningphotographerfiredafteradmittingthathe
doctoredSyrianwarrebelpicturebyphotoshoppingcameraoutoforiginalimage.
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warrebelpicturephotoshoppingcameraoriginalimage.htm

Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?

Goode,L.(2009).Socialnews,citizenjournalismanddemocracy.NewMedia&Society,
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Renzetti,E.(2015,June,05).TempestinaTimHortonscup:Enbridgeaddebaclebirths
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Important?

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Video Assignment Script: Newspapers vs. Online News, Why Is It

Important?
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