Modern World History
Ms. Portman
International Current Event Journal Activities
Newspaper Literacy
- How did you choose your newspaper publication?
- How can you tell what kind of news story was being covered (local, state, national, etc)?
- What makes something newsworthy?
- What kinds of stories grabbed your attention first? Why?
- How is reading the newspaper in print different from reading it online? Which did you prefer and why?
Categorizing News Stories
Political- Issues relating to how a group of people is governed; having to do with politics, that is, with the government, control, and/or leadership of human societies and territories
Economic- Issues relating to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and their management
Social- Issues relating to human society and interaction between its members
Review the four stories you summarized from different regions in the world. Decide whether or not each article is primarily a POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, or SOCIAL story. There will be some overlap, but choose one category.
- Choose one of the articles and explain below why you categorized it as POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, or SOCIAL.
- Which kind of article interests you the most, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, or SOCIAL stories? Why?
Discussion Questions for International Current Event Assignment
- Have you noticed any pattern in the kinds of stories that are covered in different regions of the world?
- Do you think that journalists do a good job explaining the facts of a story to a reader who may not be familiar with the region’s history?
- Do you think newspapers cover the entire globe evenly?
- Do newspapers follow up on stories from one day to the next? What about one week to the next?
- What is your prediction for what will happen in the story that you tracked over several days?
- Did any of these news stories affect you personally? Why or why not?
- What did you learn about the world from reading and discussing current events?
Writing Assignment
Choose one of the discussion questions to develop into a one-page typed essay. Make specific reference to the articles you have analyzed on your own over the summer, or ones brought up in class. You need to include a bibliography that should be attached on a separate sheet of paper.