Use these questions to explore why the same event produces such different news stories — and to discuss the role of nationality, culture, and perspective in shaping what journalism tells us is true.
Choose a major international event from the past year — a war, an election, a climate disaster. Find coverage of it from at least two outlets based in different countries. What are the most significant differences? What do those differences reveal about each outlet's priorities and perspective?
Try to use: perspective, attribution, framing, counter-narrative, corroborate
When a journalist describes a group as "freedom fighters" and another calls the same group "terrorists", are they reporting the same fact with different framing — or are they reporting two genuinely different things? Is there a neutral word? Does it matter?
Try to use: framing, spin, attribution, version, counter-narrative
A reporter from Country A covers a protest in Country B. A local reporter from Country B covers the same protest. What might each get right that the other gets wrong? Is local knowledge always an advantage — or can it also be a bias?
Try to use: perspective, positionality, corroborate, primary source, verify
Social media means that eyewitness accounts of events now circulate globally within minutes. Does this make the news more accurate — because there are more versions — or less accurate — because unverified claims spread faster than corrections? What has changed?
Try to use: verify, cross-check, primary source, attribution, corroborate
Some argue that truly objective journalism is impossible — that every reporter has a nationality, a class background, a language, and a set of experiences that shape what they see and how they describe it. If this is true, what should we do? Give up on objectivity entirely, or pursue it differently?
Try to use: objectivity, positionality, bias, attribution, transparency
State media and independent media often produce dramatically different accounts of the same domestic event — a protest, an election, a court verdict. What are the specific techniques each uses to shape its version of events? How can a reader navigate between them?
Try to use: spin, attribution, denial, allegation, counter-narrative, verify