The pen might be mighty, but in war it isn’t much protection

The pen might be mighty, but in war it isn’t much protection

With the 156,000 allied troops who came ashore at Normandy on D-Day were 500 news reporters armed only with pens, paper, cameras and recording equipment. While hundreds of others move towards the beach in landing craft, American assault troops, with full equipment,...

Accompanying the 156,000 allied troops who came ashore at Normandy on D-Day were 500 news reporters armed only with pens, paper and recording equipment. Correspondent Tira Shubart looks at what it was like to be a war reporter in 1944.

Exercise: Read the article and discuss the dangers journalists faced in the Second World War, the reasons why they chose to report and the difficulties they might have had in reporting. Imagine you are a WWII reporter. Write a journal entry describing a snapshot of what you experienced on a given day. For inspiration, search for photos or articles by Robert Capa, Martha Gellhorn or Lee Miller and use them as a starting point. Think about what happened before and after the article or photo. Keep in mind how the events you experienced had wider, cross-border importance and how your chosen event impacted the world.

How we know about our past and present

How we know about our past and present

Historians dig up stories that document our past the way archeologists sift through relics. The more they learn the more we realize how much we don’t know. A stack of books in a bookstore that tell only one version of the world. (Illustration by News Decoder)...

Historians dig up stories that document our past the way archeologists sift through relics. The more they learn the more we realize how much we don’t know. News Decoder’s Editorial News Director Marcy Burstiner examines history and the versions of history that we’re told.

Exercise: Explore the idea of stories being told from different perspectives and of certain histories being silenced or underrepresented. Choose a current topic and have students look at it from different perspectives. What kinds of histories might be forged through telling the story in different ways?

Evidence: Photos document the brutality of a dictatorship

Evidence: Photos document the brutality of a dictatorship

Photojournalist Enrique Shore captured the work of a commission investigating the disappearance of tens of thousands of Argentine dissidents. Human rights protesters wearing white masks representing the disappeared march in silence in Buenos Aires in 1985. (Credit:...

Photos tell stories. Sometimes they speak louder decades on. Photojournalist Enrique Shore spent time capturing the work of a commission investigating the disappearance of tens of thousands of Argentine dissidents. We take a look at his exhibition, ‘Evidence’, in photos that are as relevant now as ever.

Exercise: Choose an iconic photo or a photo that you like of a current or historic event. What does it represent? Why is it important? Why do you like or dislike the photo? What themes does it deal with? Why is it an important photo? Finish by discussing the difference between writers and photographers. Is how they report on events different? Which role would you prefer?

History