All Media Involve Writing: Analyzing a News Photo and Assuming the Role of Journalists

1.  Teachers project the image, or distribute it as a handout and ask “what do you see?”

2.  You’ll get lots of answers, but mostly: Obama with doctors.  

3.  So then, you should inquire: what are the clues that lead you to conclude they ARE doctors? Most will say: the white lab coats.  

4. So the next question is: did the "doctors" show up that day wearing their white lab coats, or did the White House distribute them? Everyone believes the latter.  So you’ll have to remind students: none of us attended this White House Rose Garden ceremony that day and we did not witness this event. So honestly we don't know the answer. 

5. Remind students that the photojournalists are our eyes and ears at events: they document, but it is up to us to apply some critical thinking and visual literacy to what we see.

Now photographers are also known as photo-journalists because they have to document the event and they do write the captions which are delivered to the news agencies that run their images. (one of my points here is that the White House uses stagecraft to “doctor” events for media and news consumer consumption)

6. Here is the 8 minute video of this event (from the White House's official record of the event) which I encourage you to play for students, after which you will be dividing them into groups and tasking them to assume the role of journalists, photojournalists and caption writers.

7. Divide your class into five groups:

• Group 1 will write a caption based on the image and the video they viewed. You may also use the White House transcript of the event, which should be disseminated.
• Group 2 will write a caption to another photo, published in the NY Post, showing a White House staffer handing a coat to a doctor, who neglected to bring his. This group will also have the New York Post story critical of what they called a photo-op.
• Group 3 will use the video and transcript to summarize the event in 15 seconds..as if it were a part of the five minute CBS Radio News on the hour broadcast.  This group will be required to read it aloud and will be timed.
• Group 4 will use the blank twitter template (140 spaces) & the Washington Post version of the story to create a tweet about the event.
• Group 5 will assume the role of a reporter for the Associated Press and they will have to create the headline to accompany the story they transmit to AP members

8. After completion, each group will share and be questioned. For example the twitter group will be asked to elaborate on the strategy they used to decide what was salient.
 

The rubric can be modified to evaluate photographs, captions, and Twitter posts.

The assessment can be modified to evaluate photographs, captions, and Twitter posts.

http://www.cyberbee.com/artifacts/Photo%20Analysis%20Rubric.pdf