MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

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Would it be possible to be objective about the type of event you have studied?
What would this involve?
Did you have disagreements in your group either concerning the analysis of the
report or concerning the way you produced your own report?
How did you resolve any differences of opinion?
Does the activity evoke any example from real news in the Euro-Mediterranean
context? What effect are they likely to have on young people’s mutual perceptions?
If you had to name one thing you have learnt from this activity, what would it be?
Tips for the facilitator
When selecting articles to be discussed, you can make use of both international and
local news sources, if these are available in a language understandable to enough
participants. It may be worth creating one local group if that language is not widely
known, because this is likely to offer an interesting new perspective.
The event to be analysed can be anything significant enough to be reported by several
news outlets: for example, a meeting of the G8, a decision of the European Court of
Human Rights or the European Parliament, a military or terrorist attack, a statement
by the UN Secretary General or the US President or the Arab League, and so on. Try
to choose something that is likely to have a different significance or interpretation in
the major news outlets. If the event is a decision or statement by some international
body, use the account from their official website for one of the groups to work on.
Depending on the experience and interest of the group, you may want to spend some
time at the beginning looking at an article together, so that they are clear about the
different ways that an editorial position can be presented, either more or less openly. The
more controversial the news item, the easier it should be to spot the editorial position!
You may want to give some examples of the three categories that you explained earlier:
examples of facts: “there were 15 casualties”, “The President said …”, “the UN
has passed a Resolution”
examples of opinions presented in the report as opinions: “it looks as though
…”, “he was obviously sincere”, “it must have been a mistake”
examples of words, images or phrases used to give the report a particular slant or
interpretation, but which hide as facts: “insurgents”/ “freedom fighters”; “incursion”/
“invasion”; “Muslim extremists”/ “religious leaders”; “Islamists”/ “Fundamentalists”
Make it clear to groups that it is not their task to state their own position on the news
item. They should concentrate on identifying the editorial position and the bare facts
that can be deduced from the article. Groups should also try not to introduce any of
their own “facts” (that is, gained from prior knowledge) when presenting their reports,
unless this has helped them to identify a subjective position in the article they
are analysing.
If reproducing pictures or images, be aware of possible copyright issues!
Variations
You can also compare audio-visual media reports from different outlets. Groups can
present their reports in audio-visual form.
Rebels and freedom fighters