HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR NEWS

WARM UP
Answer the following questions.

 1. Where do you usually read or watch the news? Newspapers? Social media?
Online news?

 2. How much time do you usually spend reading news articles and watching
videos about news on TV or the Internet each week? Is it something that is
important for you to do? Why/Why not?

 3. What are the main sources for news in your country? What is your opinion
about each of those sources?

 4. Where did your parents get their news from when they were growing up? Is it
the same as where they get it now? If it has changed, how is it different?

 5. How much do you trust your news sources? What steps if any do you take to
make sure you are getting a true and full picture of current events?
 Understanding the introduction
Number the extracts from the introduction to the video in order from 1 - 9. The first one is done for
you.

 (_6_) and three or four TV networks where trusted newscasters delivered the day’s news at the
same reliable time every evening.
 (_9_) a series of scandals showed that democratic governments were also misleading the public,
often with media cooperation.
 (_7_) But the problems with this system soon became apparent as mass media spread.
 (_1_) How do you know what’s happening in your world?
 (_2_) The amount of information just a click away may be limitless, but the time and energy we
have to absorb and evaluate it is not. All the information in the world
 (_4_) this idea would have sounded strange. Only a few decades ago, news was broad-based.
 (_8_) While it was known that authoritarian countries controlled and censored information,
 (_3_) won’t be very useful unless you know how to read the news. To your grandparents, parents
or even older siblings,
 (_5_) Your choices were limited to a couple of general interest magazines and newspapers of
record
Video – Part I

Now watch the first part of the video (00:00 - 01:04) to

check your answers.
 Vocabulary
Find words in the text which mean the following.

 1. to listen to and understand something over a period of time: absorb

 2. to decide how good something is after studying it carefully: evaluate
 3. covering a lot of different subjects, not limited in what it talked about: broad-
based
 4. people who present a news program and deliver the news: newscasters
 5. not difficult to understand: apparent
 6. governing in a strict way where it’s very important to follow the rules:
authoritarian
 7. governing in a way where the people decide who works for them in government
through free and fair elections: democratic
 8. giving the idea that something is true when it isn’t, or the opposite: misleading
 Focus on vocabulary 1. A
5. F
2. E
6. B
3.H
7. C
4. G
8. D

 1. assassination (n) a. an organized murder of someone in a powerful

position, usually for political reasons

 2. undermine (v) b. information that people are discussing which is not

supported by evidence
 3. chaotic (adj.)
c. not acceptable or very rude

 4. accusation (n) d. to carefully choose or collect a number of things

 5. refute (v)
e. to make something weaker or less effective

f. to say that something is incorrect or not true

 6. rumor (n)
g. when someone says they believe a person acted
wrongly or illegally
 7. outrageous (adj.)

h. with no organization at all

 8. curate (v)
 Focus on vocabulary
Now complete the following sentences with a form of the word in parentheses.

 1. At the time of his arrest, he was working as an ASSASSIN and had been involved in a number of high-profile
murders. (assassination)

 2. Three men were killed when the roof MINE of the collapsed, leading to rescue workers working through the night
deep underground. (undermine)

 3. The entire company has been without Wi-Fi for two days, so it’s been absolute CHAOS . (chaotic)

 4. She didn’t directly say I’d done anything wrong, but her tone was very ACCUSATORY. (accusation)

 5. He was sentenced to ten years in prison after the prosecution presented IRREFUTABLE evidence of his guilt. (refute)

 6. His children loved him and said he was a good father, despite his RUMORED affairs with various women
throughout his life. (rumor)

 7. Daniel caused OUTRAGE with his sexist comments at the sales conference and was fired within a couple of
weeks. (outrageous)

 8. Pedro was working as a CURATOR at the Natural History Museum when I met him. He’d always had a deep
fascination with the past. (curate)
 Focus on vocabulary

Answer the following questions.

1. Do you prefer to work in very organized situations, or do

you like it if things are a little chaotic? Why?

2. Have you ever made an accusation about someone doing

something wrong? What happened?

3. If someone accused you of not being a good person, how

would you refute this accusation?
 Video – Part II
Watch the rest of the video (01:04 - 04:46) and choose the best answer to
the following questions.

 1. What caused the public to stop trusting mainstream media?

 a. Revelations that the government waspaying the media to report them in a good light
 b. The invention of the Internet, which showed there were other ways to look at the news
 c. Evidence that they were working with democratic governments who were not
operating honestly

 2. What is the problem with the increase in media sources due to the
Internet?
 a. Too many differing views which may not always have the same opinion or even agree
on what is a fact
 b. It has become expensive to get the full range of opinions due to subscription charges.
 c. If there is a connection problem with the Internet, then it’s very difficult to find out the
news
 3. What does the video suggest as a good way to get to the truth?
 a. Subscribe to a high-quality news show or blog which will interpret the news
honestly.
 b. Locate the source of the news story rather than an interpretation of the event.
 c. Find out what politicians are saying about the event and listen to their words,
not what you are told they said.

 4. What does the video suggest in situations where you can’t get
direct sources of the news?
 a. Check social media and find out what people are saying as it will often be
discussed there more quickly than in the media.
 b. Get news from different places and compare what they are saying and what
they agree on to get a full picture.
 c. The main news channels are usually the best source in this situation as they
will have reliable access to the story.
5. What does the video warn that news reports should not
contain?
 a. Information from people who are not named, as this could be people
trying to change the story to one which benefits them
 b. Information from several different sources, as they will not be clear and
may confuse the situation more
 c. Information which is based on a news blog, as blogs are often paid for by
politicians

6. What does the video suggest about sharing news on social
media?
 a. Avoid using social media for news as it’s nearly always false.
 b. Check news items before sharing by finding other sources.
 c. It’s the fastest way to share news, so that’s the first place to go.
 Talking point
 Discuss the following questions.

 1. What makes you choose the sources where you get your news stories
from? What do you like about them?

 2. Which sources of news do you not use? Why?

 3. Can you give an example of a news story that was reported in different
ways by different sources? What did they say? Why were their versions
different?

 4. Now you have watched the video, will you do anything different in the
way you choose your news? Why/Why not?