Anyone can snap a photo. But taking one that captures the heart of a story? That takes more effort and care. Here’s some advice to get you started. A photojournalists takes a shot. Photo courtesy of Mobile Stories. In News Decoder’s Top Tips, we share...
If democracy depends on the support of an informed public what does it mean when people distrust what they read and hear in the news? Democracy as a form of government relies on an informed public. The founders of democracy in the United States, which became a model...
The 24/7 news cycle turns every news item into a headline without context. The more we consume the news the less we understand. Can we break out of that cycle? A TV screen fills with the words “Breaking News” while headlines scroll over. (Illustration by...
In this article, ND correspondent Tom Heneghan explains the tension between the immediate and the eventual in journalistic reporting. In this vein, what is “urgent incrementalism”? Help boost students’ media literacy skills with this text and accompanying classroom activity.
Exercise: Read the article and define “urgent incrementalism” as a class. Then, have students scan today’s headlines and each pick one story to read. Does their story lean “urgent” or “incremental”? How might that change the way a reader understands the issue at hand?