WORKSHOP

Digital Reporters – Real or Fake News?

1.4 hours

Short overview:

This workshop will introduce participants to an activity that explores the concepts of real, true, fake and false news. Participants will learn how to facilitate young people to develop critical thinking skills to analyse and evaluate sources of news and information. Through a role playing activity, participants will learn how to deconstruct a story based on evidence provided by the witnesses. The activity will wrap up with participants devising their own story based on what they believe are the real facts.

Objectives of the workshop:

  • To learn how to use journalism skills to detect what’s real, what’s fake and who to believe
  • To learn how to interview characters using Who, What, When, Where, Why, How (WWWWWH) questions
  • To learn how to write a news story

ANNEX FOR THE WORKSHOP (PDF)

SESSION 1
Methods: Trainer’s introduction
Materials: Handout Projektor Slides
10 mins.
Description:

Introduction to recognising fake or false news versus true and real news. Play video: Recognising Fake News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/art20180313141008154

SESSION 2
Methods: Trainer’s introduction
5 mins.
Description:

Activity: Fake or False v Real and True News?

This activity is designed to help you investigate the truth of a news story, to encourage participants to think critically and solve the truth or fakes news behind the story.

SESSION 3
Methods: Group discussions
10 mins.
Material usage/Remarks:

Use Kahoot.com to set up examples of fake and real news stories Share Kahoot.it website and pin with participants
Printed handout ‘Real News vs. Fake News Help Sheet’ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/academy/youngreporter/Lesson_1_helpsheet.pdf

Pre-prepare fake and real news stories in Kahoot. Search Google for ‘Fake News Examples’ and select stories that are relevant to your young people.

Description:

Start off with a group discussion around one true and one false news story.

  • —  Ask all participants to open www.Kahoot.it and enter game pin.
  • —  Ask each participant to select the story they think is fake. A discussion will be formed around the answers.
  • —  Reveal which story is fake and facilitate a discussion around why the participants think this is fake.
  • —  Use the Real News vs. Fake News Help Sheet to help you to facilitate the discussion.
SESSION 4
Methods: Role play activity
Materials: Handout Paper Pens Printed handout Projektor Slides
10 mins.
Material usage/Remarks:

Projector with slide to share ‘Dog Bites Man Story’ or handout 10 min. Printed character cards x 6
Pens, paper
Printed handout Ten Questions for Fake News Detection

Description:
  1. Next, start the role play activity. Choose six participants to be the characters in the headline story ‘Dog Bites Man’. Each receives a card with a description of the character they are assigned to play
    • —  First, the facilitator or a young people reads out the news article ‘Dog Bites Man’ from ‘The Lying Times’
    • —  Then ask each character to read their individual headlines to the rest of the group. The headline is in bold text and tells their involvement in the story.
    • —  Their card also contains other information about the incident or their connection to it, but they must not reveal this unless they are asked an open question about the incident from the group.
    • —  Therestofgrouparejournalists.UsingtheirREALchecklistandopenquestionsfromtheHelpSheet, they find out as much of the story as they can. They have to decide what facts they think are real, which are fake, which are mistakes and which are rumours. They then write a news story in four lines with a headline to tell the story. Ask the six characters to write their story as a short opinion piece.

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