Lesson 5: Ordering news

This lesson plan is the fifth of a series of six that explain the news-making process followed by professional journalists.

OBJECTIVES

To be able to make flexible decisions about the:

• Topic
• Order
• Number
• Length

of news stories in a bulletin, or news front page, for a defined audience.

ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES

STARTER ACTIVITY

1. Video: Huw Edwards' tips

Students watch this Huw Edwards video, then recollect his top tips using this worksheet.

Worksheet 5.1: Huw Edwards' top tips on ordering news

1. Low tech alternative to video

Using the above worksheetstudents match each top tip to Huw's advice.

Teachers tip: This worksheet could also be used as a plenary activity.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

2. Running order

Present this scenario to students: You are producing a TV news bulletin for teenagers.

You have room for SIX stories. Compile a running order using the following:

In pairs, and using:

• News websites
• Stories printed out from the BBC News or CBBC Newsround
• Newspapers
• The worksheet below

Worksheet 5.2: Ordering News

You must include a lead and an "and finally" story. You may also want to use a news round-up, in which case, place grouped stories in ONE story slot on the worksheet.

Teachers tip: To make this activity more challenging also use worksheet 3.2: Writing and assembling news and set the limit at three minutes (rather than six stories). Students will then have to balance the quantity of stories with the depth of information in each.

2. ICT-based running order

Using slideshow software, students create a six-slide news picture gallery, using the BBC's Week in Pictures as an example.

This week's news is denoted by a date. The ARCHIVE GALLERIES section provides previous weeks' pictures.

Slide 1 should be the lead story and slide 6 the "and finally".

Students should only use photographs for which they have permission. More information on copyright .

3. Editorial decisions and breaking news

Pairs then combine to form small groups, and students compile a new SIX-story running order, debating which stories should be included, and their place in the running order.

Explain: At the BBC, an editor makes the final decision. Students may wish to do the same on School Report News Day in March.

Interrupt students to announce some breaking news. There may be a breaking news story on the front page of the BBC News website. Look for the Breaking News graphic. If not, examine the date stamps (at the top of each news page, in grey) to find a recent story.

Each group must decide:

• Whether to include this breaking news story
• Where to place it in the running order
• The affect on the rest of the bulletin. Does it mean dropping an existing story?

PLENARY ACTIVITY

4. Stay tuned

Each group presents their running orders to the rest of the class - their audience.

The class stand, to indicate they are listening to the bulletin. They sit down as soon as they lose interest, indicating the point at which they would switch or click off.

The group which maintains the interest and attention of the majority of the audience for the longest time is the winner!

Ask students: What is it about this running order which keeps you interested?

For reference, teachers may like to look at previous years' resources including Lesson 5 for School Report 2006-8 .

This lesson has been approved by the
BBC College of Journalism.