Examples of media are provided below for your convenience, but to make the activity most relevant to your students, you may want to consider doing comparisons using your hometown newspaper or the media most accessed by your students.

Domestic / International

To contrast domestic coverage with coverage elsewhere, compare media treatments of Hurricane Katrina in domestic news sources with coverage in international sources or with news of the tsunami. Ask students:

• List the similarities and differences you notice.
• What is the impact of the differences on the way you think about the issues raised in the stories? Would your opinion change if your only source of information was one side or the other?

For examples of current international news coverage: abyznewslinks.com/

For examples of tsunami coverage, visit the Media Literacy Clearinghouse

Mainstream Media / Alternative Media
Compare mainstream media coverage with stories from alternative press sources. Ask students:

• Do the stories emphasize different facts? Are there parts of the story omitted from either of the articles? How does that impact the reader?
• Do the stories use different sources? How does this influence the story?
• Using cues from the article, can you describe the target audience? Why would news stories, which are supposed to report facts, be different when addressed to different audiences?
• Can you describe the point of view of the author or the political ideology of the publication by reading the article? If so, what evidence are you using to reach your conclusion?

For example, compare "Katrina Refugees Living in Pure Hell" from the Chicago Defender, a newspaper serving mostly black readers, to "Thousands of Refugees Evacuated" from the conservative daily owned by Rev. Sun Yung Moon, The Washington Times.

For a one-stop source of articles, blogs, and podcasts from the alternative, progressive press, visit alternet.org

 
Current / Historical
Compare depictions of current events with historical events. For example, many of the people portrayed in Katrina stories are being identified as poor (e.g., those too poor to evacuate). Compare these images with images of Appalachia from the 1964 War on Poverty. Ask students:

• What kinds of stereotypes are created, challenged, or reinforced by the depictions?
• What might media makers have hoped to accomplish by publishing or broadcasting these images?

Examples of historical images are included in Part 3 of the PBS documentary "The Appalachians" produced by Nashville Public Television. Another source for materials on stereotyping in Appalachia is Appalshop, which also provides a model for using media production to help people who otherwise have not had a public voice speak for themselves.

 
Pro / Con
Compare opinion pieces about racial aspects of the response to Katrina. Ask students:

• Which piece do you find more persuasive and why?
• If you were part of the discussion, what would you say? What evidence would you give to back up your opinion?

Examples of opinion pieces include: In "What's Bush Got to Do With It?", AMLA Media Literate Media Award winner Van Jones assigns responsibility to President Bush: "When the face of suffering is black, somehow our high standards for effective action and compassion begin to sag. The truth is, George W. Bush left these people behind a long time ago."

Note: This piece is written as part of a blog and students can also read responses posted to Jones.

In "Hurricanes, Hatred, and Hypocrisy," conservative commentator Oliver North defends President Bush: "Extremists in today's Democratic Party are so angry even the horrific devastation and human suffering brought about by Hurricane Katrina have failed to produce any discernible detente in their vitriolic torrent."


Internet / Traditional Journalism
In the digital age, people with Internet access are no longer exclusively dependent on the decisions of broadcasters or newspaper editors for information about events like Hurricane Katrina. You can help students think about the role the Internet plays by comparing Internet sources to newspaper articles or television or radio reports. Ask students:

• What sources of information have you accessed from the Internet? Where does each source get its information? Are fact-checkers reviewing that information?
• Can you separate opinion from fact?

To assess the impact of personal communication, ask students to compare the e-mail below, received by AMLA Board member Gilda Sheppard on September 1, 2005 at 4:12pm, with press releases from FEMA (available in the archives at www.fema.gov) or newscasts that students have seen.

e-mail received: Thu 9/1/2005 4:12 PM "I just heard from a friend who was able to get out of New Orleans. She wanted me to contact anyone in the Black media to let them know that there are folks dying and trapped in the 9th ward, and other Black areas. She says that the press has presented the news as if folks would not leave. She says that they did not get the news to leave, and most people did not have the transportation to leave. She found out about the evacuation when she saw a long line at the gas station and thought there might be a gas giveaway. That's when she heard that she had very little time to move quickly. The damn is breaking in more places, 80% of the city is under water. People are looting for basic needs, and they have no place to go, and no way to get anywhere. Thanks for helping to get the word out."

Follow up to original message: The "friend" referred to in the message is independent filmmaker, Jada Harris. She is now helping out in Texas and has a crew shooting a documentary on Katrina's aftermath from the perspective of the children. She can be reached at jadareneeATyahoo.com

Students can also compare official news stories with what is being reported on what many believe is the only blog being written and hosted from inside New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina's approach: mgno.com/ To read more about this blog and how it has been maintained throughout the tragic events of the past week, visit Wired News.

You might also ask students to compare topics discussed widely on the Internet with topics reported in mainstream media sources. Daypop.com lists the top 40 topics in the community of bloggers each day.

Do Google or Yahoo news searches on those topics to see how often they are covered by major media networks and newspapers. Ask students:

• Which topics are most frequent in each type of media?
• If you find differences, can you explain them?
• How might target audiences for each of the media sources differ?

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