Hi, I'm Mrs. Allchin, and I'm going to be taking you through the citizenship lesson today.

I'm going to give you all the information that you need to be able to take part in the lesson, and I'll also pause and tell you when you need to complete an activity or complete a check for understanding.

I hope you enjoy the lesson.

This lesson is called, "What is the role of the media internationally?" And it comes from the unit of lessons, "How powerful is the media?" By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain how the UK media is able to inform international issues and the role that journalists play within this.

The keywords for this lesson are international, which is relating to or involving multiple countries.

Journalist, which is a person who collects and reports news to the public.

Free press, which is the right of media to publish news without government control.

This is our lesson outline for what is the role of the media internationally.

So first, we're going to look at how can UK media inform on global issues.

We're then going to consider, are journalists protected globally? So we're going to start by looking at how can UK media inform on global issues.

As well as having local media and national media, citizens also have access to international news stories that provide information about what is happening globally.

So Sam is asking, "Why is this important?" So pause and have a think about this yourselves.

The media plays a crucial role in ensuring that citizens are informed and have freedom of expression and to ensure decision-makers are held to account.

As global citizens, it's important we understand what is happening internationally as well as locally and nationally.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers." So let's look at that a bit closer.

So everyone has the right to freedom of opinion, so to have their own thoughts and that expression to be able to say what they want to say within reason.

Obviously making sure that that's not referring to hate speech or things like that.

The right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference.

So to be able to have opinions without being indoctrinated or being interfered to think a certain way.

And to seek so to find information, receive information, so get information, and also impart, so give information, and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.

And this is the part that's really important for this lesson.

Because in this context, frontiers refers to borders between countries and this highlights the importance of being able to access information about global issues.

So it shouldn't matter according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights what country you're a citizen of.

You should have the right to be able to get information that's happening all over the world.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

Article 19 states that citizens' freedom of information should be limited to their own country.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? It's false.

And why? Article 19 states freedom of opinion and expression should be regardless of frontiers.

This highlights the importance of being able to access information about global issues.

The UK media plays an important role in ensuring that citizens are informed about issues happening internationally.

The UK media does this in a variety of ways, including using foreign correspondents, having partnerships with international media, utilising social media and citizen journalism, and utilising non-government organisations, so NGO reports.

So Sam's asking, "What's a foreign correspondent?" You might have heard this term being used if ever you're watching the news.

So pause and have a think, what is a foreign correspondent? A foreign correspondent is a journalist who works from a foreign country.

Lots of UK media outlets employ foreign correspondents as they are based in places where issues are occurring and are therefore able to report firsthand on significant international events.

So for example, you might see a BBC foreign correspondent that's based in Ukraine and they would be reporting in real time about the conflict in Ukraine.

The UK media will sometimes work together with international media organisations as well to share information that could include reports, videos, and news articles.

And this is like an international collaboration, so that's international media outlets working together.

And that strengthens the power of the media as well as universal rights relating to freedom of information.

For example, in 2019, the Guardian newspaper announced it was joining forces with hundreds of newsrooms from around the world to strengthen coverage of the climate crisis, with all international media assets involved promising to make climate change a top priority.

This also strengthened the ability for the UK media to report on international climate change concerns.

So Simon is asking, "What's citizen journalism?" Pause and have a think to yourself.

So due to so many people having access to digital technology such as smartphones, ordinary citizens can record footage of events happening in their country and share these on social media platforms to reach a global audience often in real time.

So that's ultimately when just normal, everyday citizens are becoming a type of journalist by recording and sharing information in real time.

Can you think of any examples of citizen journalism? So a well-known example of citizen journalism happened in Minnesota in 2020.

George Floyd, a black male, was arrested by police on suspicion of using a fake note.

A white police officer restrained Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, during which Floyd repeatedly said, "I can't breathe," before losing consciousness.

Floyd later died as a direct result of this unlawful restraint.

So when this was actually happening, there was lots of people observing.

There were multiple witnesses who could see this happening, and what they were doing is they were recording the murder on their smartphones and then sharing these on social media.

These quickly went viral.

Not only were the videos used in the murder trial of the police officer involved, they also sparked global protests about institutional racism and led to huge increase in the #BlackLivesMatter being used on social media.

So an example there of citizens seeing what was happening, spotting an injustice and recording getting shared, that had a huge impact on global issues.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Match the method to its description.

So we've got a foreign correspondent, citizen journalism, and international media collaboration, and they need to be matched to either working with global news sources to strengthen a message, normal people recording and sharing events as they happen, and journalists living in other countries providing firsthand accounts.

So with foreign correspondent, our journalists living in other countries providing firsthand accounts.

Citizen journalism is when normal people record and share events as they happen.

And international media collaboration is working with global news sources to strengthen a message.

Organisations such as the United Nations or the UN, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch produce detailed reports on international issues relating to human rights abuses.

The UK media is then able to utilise this information to deepen their investigations and raise awareness of global issues.

For example, the UK media uses reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to inform the public about global refugee crises.

The UNHCR's Annual Global Trends Report 2020 to 2023 provide data on displaced populations, helping UK journalists understand in detail the conditions faced by refugees.

This strengthens the media's power as it enriches the information it's able to provide.

So when the media is reporting about issues to do with people that are seeking asylum and refugees, using reports such as this, making sure it's accurate, and it really strengthens and deepens information that's provided for citizens.

So Sam is asking, "What was the impact of this?" So what do you think? What might the impact have been? The media coverage of the global refugee crisis increased public awareness, boosted donations to refugee charities, and put pressure on the UK government to improve how they process and treat asylum seekers and also to provide increased global aid.

So let's have a check for understanding.

What do detailed NGO reports allow the UK media to do? Lie about what is happening globally? Enrich the level of information provided? Or cover up human right abuses? And it was B, enrich the level of information provided.

By using foreign correspondents, creating partnerships with international media, utilising citizen journalism, and using NGO reports, the UK media is able to provide citizens with detailed information about global issues.

This supports global citizenship by ensuring people are informed about what is happening regardless of frontiers as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

So let's have a check for understanding.

What are the missing words? Let's read it together first.

By using foreign something, creating partnerships with something media, utilising citizen something and using something reports, the UK media is able to provide citizens with detailed information about global issues.

Pause while you try and work out what the missing words might be.

So the missing words were correspondents, international, journalism, and NGO.

So let's read it together one more time.

By using foreign correspondents, creating partnerships with international media, utilising citizen journalism and using NGO reports, UK media is able to provide citizens with detailed information about global issues.

For Task A, I'd like you to create a table like the one below that outlines how the UK media use these methods to be able to inform on global issues.

So you're going to think about foreign correspondents, partnerships with international media, citizen journalism, and NGO reports.

So pause while you have a go at this task.

So your table outlining how the UK media are able to inform on global issues may have looked something like this.

So you might have said, foreign correspondents are based in foreign countries and can provide firsthand accounts of what is happening internationally, e.

g.

in areas of conflict.

Partnerships with international media allow collaboration.

If international media features certain information, this strengthens the message.

Citizen journalism is where normal people share real-time accounts of issues in their countries, allowing citizens to be informed about what is happening.

And finally, NGO reports provide detailed information which the media can use to strengthen their message, better informing citizens about human rights injustices.

We're now going to look at, are journalists protected globally? So Sofia is asking, "What role do journalists play in a democracy?" Have a go at answering this yourself.

Journalists are vital for democracy as they ensure a free press by investigating and reporting on issues and bringing these to the public's attention.

They also hold governments and other influential organisations to account by providing a checking function.

Media is powerful because of the work of journalists.

Without them, we would not have access to the information needed to be informed.

Citizens journalists are protected by press freedom laws.

These laws protect the rights of journalists to report news without censorship, so without being silenced, without being controlled by the government.

And really importantly, without fear of punishment.

This allows journalists to investigate claims about human right abuses and political corruption without being silenced by governments.

This press freedom is vital for democracy as it allows free speech and for decision-makers to be held accountable for their actions, especially when these are corrupt and/or dangerous.

So Sofia's asking, "Are all journalists protected by press freedom laws?" So remember, we're looking at, are journalists protected globally? Do you think all journalists are protected by press freedom laws? Pause and have a think.

Sadly, no, this is not the case.

In some countries, journalists face violence, imprisonment, and censorship, making it difficult to report on important issues.

This limits citizens access to free press and it weakens the power of the media.

Some countries such as the UK, countries within the European Union, and the USA do have press freedom laws, which protect journalists.

Whereas other countries, for example, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico have poor press freedom records.

And we're going to look at some of these in a bit more detail.

So let's have a check for understanding.

Which country is protected by press freedom laws? Is it A, Russia? B, China? C, Germany? Or D, Saudi Arabia? And it's C, Germany.

Journalists are protected in America by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of the press, allowing journalists to report on their government's actions without threats of legal action or interference.

And there's an example of this from 1972, and this was a 1972 Watergate scandal.

Journalists investigated illegal activity linked to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign.

So they discovered things such as bribery, wiretapping, so that's when you're tapping into people's devices to listen without their consent, and the covering up of crimes.

The government, when they found this out, tried to censor the journalists.

They tried to silence the journalists and stop them from reporting on what they had found.

But under the First Amendment, the journalists were protected.

And as a result, Nixon resigned from office.

This highlights how press freedom was used to expose corruption.

In Saudi Arabia, journalists that publicly criticise the work of government are not protected by press freedom laws and could face being imprisoned or even executed.

This means Saudi Arabia does not have a free press.

So an example of this is in 2018, a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered by agents at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

This was due to articles that he wrote for the Washington Post that criticised the son of King Salman, who was a defacto ruler of Saudi due to his father's ill health.

So the journalist had actually spoken out against someone that was very, very important within that country.

Before his murder, Khashoggi had already gone into self-imposed exile and his first article mentioned that he feared being arrested.

So this journalist was aware that actually what he was writing could potentially have a negative impact on him.

Another country without free press is China where journalists are not protected by press freedom laws.

The government heavily controls the media and journalists who report on issues that could be viewed to criticise the government face imprisonment or forced disappearances.

This was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when the journalist and former lawyer, Zhang Zhan, was arrested for reporting on how the Chinese government handled the outbreak of the infection.

Her charges were picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and she was actually sentenced to four years in prison.

According to reports by Amnesty International, even upon release, the journalist continues to face harassment and close monitoring by the Chinese government, including being re-detained only months after her release from prison.

This highlights how in countries where press freedom laws are non-existent, it's difficult and often dangerous for journalists to accurately report on what is happening within their country.

This really limits media power and it goes against democratic values.

So let's have a check for understanding.

In which country were journalists protected by press freedom laws and were able to report about presidential corruption? So a little bit of a clue there in the question.

Is it A, the USA? B, the UAE? Or C, UK? Pause while you have a go.

And it was A, USA.

Let's have another check for understanding.

In which country was a journalist imprisoned for speaking out against her country's handling of COVID-19 infections? Was it A, Russia? Was it B, Saudi Arabia? Or was it C, China? And it was C.

Zhang Zhan in China was a journalist that was imprisoned for speaking out against a country's handling of infections during COVID-19.

Let's have another one.

Which country murdered a journalist for negatively reporting about the country's leader? Was it A, France? Was it B, Saudi Arabia? Or is it C, Mexico? And it was B, Saudi Arabia.

So Sofia is saying, "Is anyone doing anything to try and stop this from happening?" Because this absolutely shouldn't be happening according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but we can see that in some countries, it is happening.

So what do you think? Is anyone doing anything to try and stop this from happening? So there are international organisations that work to protect journalists and campaign for global press freedom.

So press freedom that isn't just limited to certain countries, but is global.

One of these is Reporters Without Borders so RSF.

RSF monitors press freedom violations.

It publishes the annual World Press Freedom Index to highlight countries that are doing well and not so well, and provides legal and financial support to journalists that are facing persecution.

They also campaign against government censorship, working to hold governments accountable for protecting journalists' rights.

So true or false? No organisations are working to try and improve journalist protection and press freedom.

Is that true? Is that false? Can you tell me why? And that's false.

And why? There are international organisations that work to protect journalists and campaign for global press freedom.

And one of these is Reporters Without Borders.

Press freedom laws support democracy by providing factual information, improving government accountability, and allowing for informed voting decisions.

A lack of press freedom laws weakens democracy by removing that checking function, making government manipulation easier, and supporting the coverup of corruption and human right abuses.

So let's have a check for understanding.

Which is not an example of press freedom supporting democracy? Is it A, providing factual information? B, improving government accountability? Or C, removing a checking function? And it's C, removing a checking function For task B, I would like you to look at and read through this text and work out what are the missing words.

So I'm going to read it through first of all, and I'm going to raise my hand every time there is a word missing.

When journalists can report without fear of violence or.

, they can expose corruption and human rights abuses.

Countries with strong press laws, like the.

allow journalists to investigate freely, as seen in the Watergate scandal.

However, countries without press freedom laws, like China, silence journalists, limiting public access to the.

Organisations like RSF defend press freedom, ensuring the media informs citizens and protects.

values.

Without journalist protection,.

go and check and.

weakens.

So pause while you have a go at this task.

Let's have a look again together.

When journalists can report without fear of violence or imprisonment, they can expose corruption and human rights abuses.

Countries with strong press freedom laws, like the USA, you might have chosen to use one of the other countries looked at this lesson, allow journalists to investigate freely, as seen in the Watergate scandal, Which is the example for the USA.

However, countries without press freedom laws, like China, silence journalists, limiting public access to the truth.

Organisations like RSF defend press freedom, ensuring the media informs citizens and protects democratic values.

Without journalist protection, governments go and checked and democracy weakens.

So in summary of what is the role of the media internationally, international news is important within a democracy as it makes citizens aware of global issues.

The UK media is able to report on global issues by using foreign correspondents, partnership work with international media, using citizen journalism, and reports written by non-government organisations, NGOs.

However, international press freedoms that protect journalists and allow them to report on global issues are inconsistent.

In countries such as the UK, EU countries, and the USA, press freedoms do exist, whereas in countries such as China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, it is limited.

This impacts on citizens having access to free press, therefore either weakening democratic values and media power.

This brings us to the end of this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you back for more citizenship lessons in the future.