ACTIVITY INTRODUCTION

In this activity, students discover the topic of citizen media. They will learn to understand for themselves – while remaining under teacher supervision – the similarities and differences between traditional and citizen media. To do this, they will work in groups to compare different types of media.

Each group reads and analyses a type of media provided by the teacher (a daily newspaper, a URL to news programme, a website, a blog, etc.). One group should be assigned a traditional media outlet to analyse, such as a daily newspaper, and the other a citizen media outlet, such as a blog.

Students can do quick web searches on computers and/or on their smartphones.

The aim of the activity is to ensure that the two groups work together to come up with their own definition of citizen media.

Afterwards, teachers can delve deeper into the subject of citizen media and their impact on the world of information.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

1. Set up the room: Divide the students into groups and seat them at computers.
   
   
2. Students analyse the suggested media outlet (print newspaper, episode of a news programme, news website, blog, etc.).
   
   
3. Students answer questions.
   
   Example: ‘Describe the media outlet: Do the articles have bylines? Whose name? What type of news does it provide? How is it covered? What type of news is prioritised? Does it have ads? What kinds? How is the information presented (analyse headlines, text, images, etc.)?’
   
   
4. Class discussion of what students have found and creation of a common definition based on students’ suggestions. Answers to the questions will lead the teacher to talking about ‘citizen media’.

Note – Definition: Citizen media is media – meaning outlets such as radio, TV, and the internet sources – that are used to provide information to a large audience. The adjective used to modify it – ‘citizen’ – means that the people creating the articles and investigations are not journalists, but rather average citizens who are looking to lead debates on specific issues or problems that affect all of society.

DOING THIS ACTIVITY ONLINE

1. The teacher sends students a Zoom link (or any other platform).
2. Once students are in the meeting, the teacher puts them into ‘virtual breakout groups’ and assigns them the media outlet to analyse by sending them a link.
3. Students can discuss the outlet using the separate ‘rooms’ offered by videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom.
4. The teacher sends the link to the list of questions (created online, for example via the website https://www.dragnsurvey.com/en). Students respond in groups.
5. Class discussion happens remotely on a videoconferencing platform. The teacher can use an ‘online Post-Its’ website, such as https://note.ly as a whiteboard and then lead the discussion.