Matthew
Walsh's
EFL ESL website
What is Newsworthy?
Many important things
aren't
in the news. On the other hand, many not so important things
are in
the news.
Many of the stories below were true and important, but not well known.
Why didn't we know
them from the news?
Some reasons for
'newsworthiness':
Near
|
Rare/
Unusual
|
Humanistic/Fun
|
Bad
Acts of Enemy Nations |
vs
|
vs
|
vs
|
vs
|
Far
|
Common/Old
|
Serious/Boring
|
Bad
Acts of Friendly Nations |
Research Project:
Compare
and Contrast
Find
two stories; one that
is
important but not so famous, and another that is popular, but not so
important.
Use
the internet to research the stories.
Take notes with a pen and paper.
Later, in the classroom, each
student will write an article about the
stories they chose.
Some 'Independant Media' links:
'Democracy Now!'
Indymedia
Amnesty International
Tokyo
Progressive
Some news links:
1) In November of 2005, a Vietnamese woman was forced to return to
Vietnam even though her husband (a refugee from Vietnam) and baby
stayed in Japan.
2) The CIA sometimes kidnaps and tortures people in a foreign country.
At least once they got the wrong person and kept him for 5 months. He
had a common name.
3) Before the invasion, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. (Not true)
4) 2.5 million people died from aids in 2005 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
5) Prime minister Koizumi went to see the Kabuki theater in Dec.2005.
6) Most people in Iraq want the U.S. to leave.
7) Iraq helped the people who did the 9/11 attacks. (Not true)
8) University students around the world are protesting Coca-Cola for
killing union leaders in Columbia.
9) In 2003, twin baby pandas are born at Shirahama Adventure World.
10) A Japanese man won the hot-dog eating contest in New York.
11) In 2005, the president of Zimbabwe destroyed the ghettoes and made
close to one million people into homeless refugees.
12) In Japan, some people were locked up for 2 1/2 months for putting
anti-war leaflets into the mailboxes of some members of the
Self-Defense Force.
13) Japanese men are the largest percentage of sex tourists in Asia.
14) In 2004, the Israeli government killed 700 people including 150
children.
15) 1.3 billion people live on less than a dollar a day.
16) Diamonds are mined in African countries like Sierra Leone. When
there is a civil war, armies trade diamonds for weapons. People are
dying for our diamonds.
17) A crazy man killed 2 sisters in Namba, Osaka.
Difficult
Vocabulary:
anti-war leaflets ½ν[tbg
Cambodia J{WA
civil war ΰν
communist €Yε`
East-Timor eB[
ghetto Qbg[AXX
invasion Nͺ
kidnap Uϋ
massacre εsE
percentage
protest Rc
union g
uniqueness Ακ«
refugee πο―
sex tourism ZbNXΟυ
Sub-Saharan Africa Tn»ΘμΜAtJ
torture β
weapons of mass destruction εΚjσΊν
Example Essay:
Steps=
1) Introduction
2) Story 1(Not important)
3) Explanation of story 1.
4) Why it is in the news.
5) Story 2 (Important)
6) Explanation of story 2
7) Why it is not in the news.
8) Conclusion
I researched two stories on the Internet. One was famous but the
other was not so famous but important. The famous story was about a
dress worn in a commercial by Fujiwara Norika, a famous television
personality. The dress showed her belly button. The story was famous
because she is very famous in Japan. The commercial will probably be
famous too. The not famous story was about a bad banker in Africa. He
stole millions of dollars from the government. Because of that, the
country will not have enough money for education. The story is not so
famous in Japan because Africa is far away. Also there are many stories
like that in Africa so itfs not rare. I think stories about problems
around the world are more important that stories about dresses worn by
TV personalities. We need better news. (139 words)