Difference between revisions of "Lesson:Why the News Isn't Really the News"
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
# Do you read blogs often? Which ones? | # Do you read blogs often? Which ones? | ||
# Do you think blogs are trustworthy? Why? Why not? | # Do you think blogs are trustworthy? Why? Why not? | ||
| − | # What gets your attention when you pick something to read on the | + | # What gets your attention when you pick something to read on the Internet? |
| − | # Do you think | + | # Do you think the Internet has a lot of fake information? Why? |
# Which sites/blogs do you usually read? | # Which sites/blogs do you usually read? | ||
| − | # | + | # Some people love to read gossip about famous people. Do you read this type of article? |
| − | # | + | # What's your favorite news source on the Internet? |
| − | # Have you ever clicked on a link | + | # Have you ever clicked on a link to find out it wasn't what were expecting? |
| − | # What do you think about | + | # What do you think about advertisements on the Internet? Are they cool? Invasive? Funny? Boring? |
# Which sites/blogs do you visit everyday? | # Which sites/blogs do you visit everyday? | ||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud. | Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud. | ||
| − | + | {{Definition|cruise}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|source}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|intriguing}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|gossip}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|conjecture}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|sort}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|hierarchy}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|chain}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|readership}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|threshold}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|publish}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|stature}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|pound}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|pavement}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|hijack}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|fake}} | |
| − | + | {{Definition|accurate}} | |
==Video== | ==Video== | ||
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Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet. | Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet. | ||
| − | {{ | + | {{youtube|YoZNJsp3Kik}} |
<br> | <br> | ||
After watching the video do this [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/ExerciseL1 | listening exercise]]. | After watching the video do this [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/ExerciseL1 | listening exercise]]. | ||
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So we've got Ryan Holiday here. He's a media manipulator and he explains how this happens: | So we've got Ryan Holiday here. He's a media manipulator and he explains how this happens: | ||
<br/><br/> | <br/><br/> | ||
| − | <strong>Ryan</strong>: So what I quickly discovered | + | <strong>Ryan</strong>: So what I quickly discovered was that the media was this sort of hierarchy or chain. The bottom you have small blogs who have small readerships but correspondingly low threshold for what they will and will not publish. |
<br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: Say this blog publishes a rumor then Business Insider or The Huffington Post or Perez Hilton writes about it. And now, because of the stature of those sites, it becomes something that people are talking about on Twitter, on Facebook, on e-mail, they're chattering about it. And what happens is, producers for CNN, producers for a right wing talk radio, journalists for The New York Times - where do they find out the news? They're not out pounding the pavement like it's a hundred years ago. No, they're reading what people are chattering about online. And that cycle is hijacked by people like me who say, "Okay, if this blog here has the power to accidentally start a media firestorm by what it publishes, I'm going to get them to publish something that benefits me." | <br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: Say this blog publishes a rumor then Business Insider or The Huffington Post or Perez Hilton writes about it. And now, because of the stature of those sites, it becomes something that people are talking about on Twitter, on Facebook, on e-mail, they're chattering about it. And what happens is, producers for CNN, producers for a right wing talk radio, journalists for The New York Times - where do they find out the news? They're not out pounding the pavement like it's a hundred years ago. No, they're reading what people are chattering about online. And that cycle is hijacked by people like me who say, "Okay, if this blog here has the power to accidentally start a media firestorm by what it publishes, I'm going to get them to publish something that benefits me." | ||
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<br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: I, I've sent them fake anonymous emails and watched as that turned into front page stories. The public isn’t aware that this is how their news is being made, but on both sides of the divide – on the marketing side and on the news side – neither is particularly concerned with quality. They're concerned with what will get attention. | <br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: I, I've sent them fake anonymous emails and watched as that turned into front page stories. The public isn’t aware that this is how their news is being made, but on both sides of the divide – on the marketing side and on the news side – neither is particularly concerned with quality. They're concerned with what will get attention. | ||
| − | And that's because of how blog sites and news sites make money. First, they get a lot of viewers to their pages. And then they | + | And that's because of how blog sites and news sites make money. First, they get a lot of viewers to their pages. And then they sell that view count to advertisers. So to get more views you do stuff like… |
<br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: Asking rhetorical untrue questions in a headline, doing your fact checking after you've published an article, gossiping, speculating, making up a story from whole cloth. | <br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: Asking rhetorical untrue questions in a headline, doing your fact checking after you've published an article, gossiping, speculating, making up a story from whole cloth. | ||
| Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
<br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: Yeah, look, uh, I think the rule of thumb is if you're not paying for it they don’t give a shit about you. They're loyal to their advertisers. | <br/><strong>Ryan</strong>: Yeah, look, uh, I think the rule of thumb is if you're not paying for it they don’t give a shit about you. They're loyal to their advertisers. | ||
| − | If | + | If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer, you are the product. |
</div> | </div> | ||
| Line 84: | Line 84: | ||
}} | }} | ||
| − | [[Category: | + | [[Category:Core]] |
Revision as of 17:10, 27 August 2015
Conversation
Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out-loud.
- Do you read blogs often? Which ones?
- Do you think blogs are trustworthy? Why? Why not?
- What gets your attention when you pick something to read on the Internet?
- Do you think the Internet has a lot of fake information? Why?
- Which sites/blogs do you usually read?
- Some people love to read gossip about famous people. Do you read this type of article?
- What's your favorite news source on the Internet?
- Have you ever clicked on a link to find out it wasn't what were expecting?
- What do you think about advertisements on the Internet? Are they cool? Invasive? Funny? Boring?
- Which sites/blogs do you visit everyday?
Vocabulary
Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.
Video
Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.
After watching the video do this listening exercise.
Reading practice
Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.
So you're cruising around the Internet and you see a link to an article from some trusted news source, and it's got a really intruiguing title, so you read it. And later you find out that that whole article was mostly false. What you thought was news, was really just gossip or conjecture.
So we've got Ryan Holiday here. He's a media manipulator and he explains how this happens:
Ryan: So what I quickly discovered was that the media was this sort of hierarchy or chain. The bottom you have small blogs who have small readerships but correspondingly low threshold for what they will and will not publish.
Ryan: Say this blog publishes a rumor then Business Insider or The Huffington Post or Perez Hilton writes about it. And now, because of the stature of those sites, it becomes something that people are talking about on Twitter, on Facebook, on e-mail, they're chattering about it. And what happens is, producers for CNN, producers for a right wing talk radio, journalists for The New York Times - where do they find out the news? They're not out pounding the pavement like it's a hundred years ago. No, they're reading what people are chattering about online. And that cycle is hijacked by people like me who say, "Okay, if this blog here has the power to accidentally start a media firestorm by what it publishes, I'm going to get them to publish something that benefits me."
Ryan: I, I've sent them fake anonymous emails and watched as that turned into front page stories. The public isn’t aware that this is how their news is being made, but on both sides of the divide – on the marketing side and on the news side – neither is particularly concerned with quality. They're concerned with what will get attention.
And that's because of how blog sites and news sites make money. First, they get a lot of viewers to their pages. And then they sell that view count to advertisers. So to get more views you do stuff like…
Ryan: Asking rhetorical untrue questions in a headline, doing your fact checking after you've published an article, gossiping, speculating, making up a story from whole cloth.
But what if I want good, accurate news. I mean, shouldn’t news sites want to give that to me ?
Ryan: Yeah, look, uh, I think the rule of thumb is if you're not paying for it they don’t give a shit about you. They're loyal to their advertisers.
If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer, you are the product.
Writing practice
Write a short article pretending you're a journalist and need to impress the expectators from a website. Remember to use catchy words and an extremely grasping title. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.
{{#widget:DISQUS
|id=jointhegrove
|uniqid=Why the News Isn't Really the News
|url=http://thegrove.com.br/metodo/index.php/Why_the_News_Isn%27t_Really_the_News
}}