Divide your participants in groups of two or three people and distribute one newspaper to each of the groups. Ask them to work on the groups and analyse the following:

PRODUCTION

• Examine and discuss the news content of the selected newspaper. Notice the % of news to other content, eg sport, entertainment, opinions.
• Discuss the selection process that prioritises certain news over others.
• Select a new ordering of news priorities. Lay out new front page.
• Consider what choices you are making, and what consequences will they have?
• Can you sense that you are bringing your own values to bear on the process?
• If for radio news, write up the running order for the news reader.

LANGUAGE

• What are the most effective ways of getting your message across
• Can you use well-known conventions or genres, or do you need to do something new?
• Can you avoid rhetorical, inflamatory or divisive language?
• Are you reinforcing a ‘common sense’ view of the world?

REPRESENTATION

• What ideas or values are you trying to convey?
• How do you want to represent the world?
• Are you using stereotypes, and what are the consequences of doing so?
• Can you see the value and the dangers of using the representation approach?
• Do you sense that you are creating a ‘reality’ out of random events?

AUDIENCE

• Who are you communicating to, and why?
• What assumptions are you making about your audience?
• How are you going to persuade them, or get them to believe your story?
• Can you identify at least two preferred readings by your audience?

Finally, ask your participants to present their front pages or audio bulletin to the whole group, and to explain their choices.

A room or rooms with chairs and table

Laptop to produce running order (if preferred to handwritten)

newspapers, paper, pens

The task of your participants is to create a new front page for a newspaper or a bulletin for a radio news programme. You might want to explain mainstream news values to your participants ahead of this activity (see attachment for information).

» Handout Galtung and Ruge.pdf

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