Unit 6 — Media Literacy, Advanced

Learning objectives Link to heading

• I can read a long-form journalistic piece and identify the writer’s framing, sourcing pattern, and one disclosed limitation.
• I can use academic critique vocabulary (frame, framing effect, sourcing, attribution, anonymisation, conflict of interest).
• I can write a 300-word media-criticism essay.

curriculum framework (“Bildungsplan”) alignment Link to heading

• 3.4.1 / 3.5.1 Soziokulturelles Orientierungswissen / Themen
• 3.4.3.2 / 3.5.3.2 Leseverstehen
• 3.4.3.5 / 3.5.3.5 Schreiben
• 3.4.4 / 3.5.4 Text- und Medienkompetenz

(Sources: https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/GYM/E1/IK/11-12-LF / https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/GYM/E1/IK/11-12-BF)

Lead-in story Link to heading

Maja read a 1,200-word piece by an English-language outlet on a contested local protest. She underlined the verbs of attribution. By the end she had counted: said 11 times, insisted 3, claimed 4, denied 1, added 2. She wrote in the margin: verbs of attribution are votes.

1. Activate Link to heading

Attribution scan. On the slide are three sentences with three different attribution verbs (said, claimed, insisted). With your partner, rank by neutrality.

2. Input Link to heading

Reading — Verbs of Attribution Link to heading

Long-form journalism is, mostly, a question of framing and verbs. The frame is what the article treats as the question; everything before the subhead is doing frame work. The verbs of attribution carry, accordingly, more weight than their dictionary definitions suggest. Said is neutral; claimed signals doubt; insisted signals stubbornness; added signals subordination. A reader who counts the verbs already knows half the writer’s argument before they reach the conclusion.

Vocabulary — media critique (advanced) Link to heading

frame, framing effect, agenda-setting, sourcing, anonymous source, on-the-record, off-the-record, attribution verb, lede, nut graf, disclosure, conflict of interest, false balance, both-sidesing, structural balance.

3. Practise Link to heading

Niveau E — controlled Link to heading

1. Rank attribution verbs by neutrality (most neutral first): insisted, said, claimed, added, denied.
2. Match: lede → article opening; nut graf → core-argument paragraph; both-sidesing → false balance.

Niveau E — productive Link to heading

3. Build 4 sentences using 4 advanced media-critique terms about a long-form article.

4. Produce Link to heading

Media-criticism essay, 300 words. Pick a long-form article. Identify framing, sourcing, attribution pattern, and one disclosed limitation. Use 5 advanced media-critique terms + 2 hedges.

Sample Link to heading

The article frames the protest as a question of public order versus expression. This is itself a framing choice; an alternative frame — housing-rights protest — would have produced a different piece. Accordingly, the lede privileges police concerns, and the nut graf does not appear until paragraph four. The sourcing pattern is asymmetric: the police source is on-the-record and named; the two protester sources are anonymous, citing fear of professional consequences. This asymmetry is disclosed in a half-sentence late in the piece, which is a transparent if minimal acknowledgement. The attribution verbs do, however, do most of the covert work. The police source says and adds; the anonymous protesters insist and claim. By the end of the article, the careful reader has been voted at — without a single fact having to bend. However, the piece is not, in my view, dishonest. It is conventionally framed in a way that a neighbouring outlet would frame differently. The more useful critique is structural: the routine choice of public order as the default frame is not decided by individual writers but by the desk above them. Caution is warranted; readers who count attribution verbs will, in this regard, get more out of long-form than readers who don’t. The framing habit, like the verbs, is teachable.

5. Reflect Link to heading

• I can identify framing, sourcing pattern, and one disclosed limitation.
• I can use 5 advanced media-critique terms.
• I can write a 300-word media-criticism essay.

One thing in your notebook: Write one sentence using something you learned in this Unit.

Exam example Link to heading

Part A — Comprehension (~24 BE) Link to heading

Listen twice.

“Long-form journalism is mostly framing and verbs. Said is neutral; claimed signals doubt; insisted signals stubbornness. The reader who counts the attribution verbs already knows half the writer’s argument.”

1. Two key elements: ___ . 2. Claimed signals: ___ . 3. Insisted signals: ___ . 4. The reader’s advantage: ___ .

Part B — Analysis (~18 BE) Link to heading

Read the Verbs of Attribution extract above.

1. Where the frame work happens: ___ . 2. Said: ___ . 3. Claimed: ___ . 4. Added: ___ .

Part C — Composition (~18 BE) Link to heading

Insert advanced media-critique term.

1. The ___ is what the article treats as the question.
2. The ___ is the article’s opening.
3. The ___ is the core-argument paragraph.
4. The ___ pattern reveals which sources are named and which are not.

Mediation (~30 BE) Link to heading

Write 300 words: a media-criticism essay on a long-form article. Use 5 advanced terms + 2 hedges.

Downloads Link to heading

Common pitfalls Link to heading

• Don’t conflate biased and dishonest.
• Anonymous sources can be legitimate — flag the reason given.
• Attribution verbs are signals, not proofs.

Further reading / listening Link to heading

• Reuters Institute Digital News Report.
• Columbia Journalism Review — accessible essays.

Downloads

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Worksheet

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