Lesson video

- Hello, my name is Mrs. Blachford, and I'm a Citizenship teacher.

And today, I'll be your Citizenship teacher.

Today, we are going to be practising what we've learned, putting that into practise through looking at some different styles of exam questions.

So let's get started.

You are going to need a pen or pencil for our lesson today, and you're also gonna need some paper.

And I'd suggest that you find yourself a nice, quiet space to work in so that you're not gonna be disturbed and you can focus on the lesson today.

If you need to pause the video to go and do either of those, grab equipment or find that quiet space, please do so now, and then just press play when you're ready to get started.

We're gonna be focusing on three things in our lesson today.

So we're going to be looking at what we've previously learnt about the media.

We're going to be looking at the different styles of exam questions that we get in a Citizenship exam.

Those are gonna be linked to the media today.

And we're also going to be looking at a technique called the BUG technique that I use with my students to help them analyse an exam question and really get under the skin of what it is the exam question is looking for.

So let's get on with those three key questions for today.

So just want to start by thinking about what we learned about when we did the unit on the media.

So the unit was called "How well does the media hold those in power to account?" If by any chance you've not had a go at that unit, I suggest you have a go at those lessons before you do today's exam practise 'cause you will need that background, even though we're gonna do a little bit of a recap in this lesson.

So there were five lessons and then a lesson, how you might respond to a question.

This lesson is gonna be obviously exam question focused.

So the lessons were, what is the role of the media in a democracy? What is responsible journalism? How does the media support democracy? What is misinformation, and what can we do about it? Should the media ever be censored? And then the lesson today is about how we respond to an exam question about the media.

As I say, that unit, you might want to go back and revisit before having a go today.

So we're gonna start by doing a bit of a mind map to begin with, just a key learning for the unit we did on the media, so how well the media holds those in power to account.

So that's gonna go in the centre of your mind map, and then I've just started you off with some ideas about what you might include in your mind map.

So false, misleading information, and there were three keywords around that you might want to talk about.

So misinformation, disinformation, malinformation.

Remember the definitions for those.

Censorship, what that means, why it might happen.

And then media regulation.

Now, there are lots of other things we learned about in the unit on media, so I suggest you pause the video and you're gonna have a go at making your own mind map which shows the key learning points.

So key learning points on how the media holds those in power to account.

So just to remind you then, you are going to be producing a mind map showing the key learning points around how the media holds those in power to account.

If you need to, you could rewind the video a little bit just to check that unit recap so you can remind yourselves what issues we covered in those lessons that might be helpful for you.

So at this point, pause the video, and when you've had a go at your mind map, then just press play.

So just a bit of feedback then.

So how many of these, I wonder, you managed to include in your mind map.

So democracy and democratic values.

Traditional media and new media.

Free press, or freedom of the press, really important in a democracy.

Responsible journalism, where we talked about journalists being truthful, accountable for their actions and what they've written, and also impartial, they're independent, free from political interference.

Regulation, so we covered two particular codes, if you like.

So the National Union of Journalists have their Code of Conduct and then the Editors' Code of Practise.

We looked at in the public interest and how that differs from what might be of interest to the public.

We looked at holding to account.

Again, a key function of the media in a democracy.

And we looked at the MPs' expenses scandal as part of that work as well.

False or misleading information, that was those three keywords I mentioned to you earlier.

So instead of using that term fake news, we should be talking about misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

And then thinking about who spreads that misinformation and why they might be doing that.

And then censorship and the role of Ofcom, you might have mentioned as well.

Well done if you have got all of those.

If not, might be a good point to pause and add to your mind map right now.

Okay, so we're gonna look at whether the media is effective in keeping UK citizens informed about politics.

And it's kinda one of the key democratic functions of media in a democracy, is to keep citizens informed so that they can make informed decisions.

So just a reminder then about how the media works to support democratic values and fulfil that role of holding those in power to account.

So the actions the media might take to support democratic values would be things like upholding our freedom of expression and opinion.

Keeping us informed, keeping citizens informed.

Ensuring information published is accurate.

Reports on a broad range of political views so that the electorate, those people who are registered and vote, can make informed decisions.

That it's free from interference, so it's not swayed by a particular political party who has influence over them.

They raise awareness of issues, and that can then help us bring about social change.

And finally there, that they hold all those in positions of power to account.

So not just politicians, those in positions of importance in business, for example, or maybe in religions.

So those people who have a position of power and are able to maybe influence people, we need to hold those people to account for their actions, and that's what the media is able to do.

So we've considered there some key actions the media takes to uphold those democratic values, and we've also considered in our lessons how this is balanced with regulation and the need to tackle misinformation.

What you're gonna do now is you're gonna apply this by considering whether or not you think the media is effective in keeping UK citizens informed about politics.

And it's really important, this task, because you're gonna be using this information to respond to an essay style question later in the lesson today.

So, you're gonna look at some statements which are on the next slide, and they're also on the worksheet for you.

And you're gonna decide whether the statement shows the media is effective or is not effective at keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

And you can just draw those up in a simple table.

If you've downloaded the worksheet, you might want to just write on the worksheet.

So you could do a little key for effective, not effective, that would be fine too.

So let's have a look at the table.

And so these are the statements.

Some of these show that the media is effective, and some show that they're not effective at keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

And your task, remember, is to decide which is which.

So statements read, the media plays a key role in holding those in power to account.

For example, in 2009, "The Daily Telegraph" investigated MPs' expenses claims. Newspapers are free from political interference in the UK, and so the freedom of the press means it can be effective in keeping UK citizens well informed.

Due to the increasing amount of misinformation, the media is no longer trusted by the public.

This means citizens are seeking their information elsewhere.

Newspapers in particular no longer have the resources to carry out effectively their role of keeping UK citizens well informed.

Newspapers are politically biassed anyway, and this affects the way they report information to citizens.

And then our final statement, the media have the right to report on issues of public interest.

This is used to ensure citizens have accurate information about political matters.

So at this point, you're gonna pause the video and you're gonna decide whether the provided statements, those that are on the previous slide, so you can rewind the video a little bit, or they're on the worksheet, and you're going to decide whether they show the media is effective or is not effective at keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

And just pop those into a table, or as I say, if you've downloaded the worksheet, you might want to write on there instead.

So pause the video now.

When you've had a go at sorting those statements, just press play and come back to the next part of the lesson.

So just a bit of feedback on that task then.

So the media is effective in informing UK citizens about politics.

These were the three statements that backs up that opinion.

So the media plays a key role in holding those in power to account, and the example here is the 2009 MPs' expenses scandal, which was exposed by "The Daily Telegraph." The second statement showing that the media is effective in informing about politics is that newspapers are free from political interference in the UK.

So the freedom of the press means it can be effective in keeping UK citizens well informed.

And finally, the media have the right to report on issues of public interest, and this is used to ensure citizens have accurate information about political matters.

All of those showing why some would say the media is effective.

So why might some say that the media is not effective in informing UK citizens about politics? Again, you've got three statements here.

First of all then, due to the increasing amount of misinformation, the media's no longer trusted by the public, and this means citizens are seeking their information elsewhere.

Newspapers in particular no longer have the resources to carry out effectively their role of keeping UK citizens well informed.

And finally, newspapers are politically biassed anyway, and this affects the way they report information to citizens.

So these were statements why some would say the media's not effective in informing UK citizens about politics.

Now, for those of you doing GCSE, you need to think about where does the media fit in each of the GCSE Citizenship Studies exam boards? So there are three different exam boards, so you may be doing any one of these three.

If you're studying AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies, then the majority of what you would look at on the media comes into Theme 1, or Life in Modern Britain.

And in this unit, you look at the role of the media and the free press, rights and responsibilities of the media, and the operation of press regulation.

Now, it also comes into, with AQA, looking at how the media might be used for active citizens, how they might use the media to get their message out and across to a wider audience.

And also, that idea about holding to account weaves into this sort of politics and participation unit as well.

So the media, although it's got its core in Theme 1 as a unit within Life in Modern Britain, it also weaves into the other units too.

If you're studying Edexcel, then it would be Theme D, which is Power and Influence, where you would see the majority of the work on media.

And this is where you look at the role of the media and a free press.

Again, you look at rights and responsibilities of the media.

And then that last one, the use of the media for influence, and within that, you would look at how it can be used by citizens to take action on social issues and raise awareness.

And then if you're studying OCR GCSE Citizenship Studies, then you would be looking at Section 2: Democracy and Government.

And in this part of the syllabus, you would look at the role of the media and free press, legal rights and responsibilities of the free press, media regulation, and again, the influence of the media.

So that's that broader idea about how the media might influence around social issues as well as influence in terms of an election time, perhaps.

So that said, what we're gonna do is we're gonna be having a look at different styles of exam question that are used in those Citizenship exams. And I've highlighted where those exam questions have come from in terms of the exam board for you as well.

We're gonna start with a multiple-choice style questions.

As I say, you may be asked a range of different styles of exam question, so we're gonna go through some of those different styles.

And this one, as I say, is multiple-choice questions, so it comes from the OCR GCSE Citizenship Studies paper.

The first thing I'd say about multiple choice is always, always ensure you answer these questions because you've got nothing to lose.

You're going to be able to pick one of the answers, so please don't leave these out.

The other thing I would start by doing is try to eliminate the ones you know that can't be right.

So if there are some, you look at the question, you've read the question, so you think that can't possibly the right answer, then eliminate that one from your thoughts to begin with.

Sometimes that helps.

The other thing is, just check how many marks there are available, so that number in brackets there, the marks available.

Are they just looking for one response? Sometimes multiple choice asks you to tick all those that are correct, or it might ask you for the best two or the two that fit the description.

So just check that they're just wanting one response.

This one does just want one response.

I know that's pretty obvious, but in an exam situation, sometimes we do forget the simple things.

It's just having that time to just check those things through.

The other thing I would really suggest you do is to check the wording of the question carefully.

So in this one, it's asking us to think about what would restrict the right to freedom of expression.

And if we've had a chance to look at those answers, in this instance, we've got four to choose from.

The correct answer would be B.

So the reason why the UK government might sometimes restrict the right to freedom of expression is to safeguard national security.

The next type of question is a short-answer question, and this is the style of short-answer question you might see in another exam board, such as Edexcel GCSE Citizenship Studies.

So this question is, using an example, explain what is meant by social media, and you can see that there are two marks available for this question.

So this is my suggested response.

Social media can be defined as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

An example of social media would be Twitter.

Users create tweets which they share with other Twitter users they're connected with.

So the two marks there, I've used the example of Twitter, and I've used that to help me explain what I mean by social media.

So you've got those two parts to that question covered there.

So this is a different short-answer question, this time from OCR GCSE Citizenship Studies.

And I want you to think about what you would include in your response, and you're gonna have a go at writing your response to this as well.

So state two reasons why the UK government has had difficulty regulating the media.

So you've got two reasons to think about.

So you're gonna take this opportunity to pause the video, remembering that you need two reasons.

And we're thinking about the difficulty that the UK government's had regulating the media.

Why has it been difficult? So state two reasons why the UK government has had difficulty regulating the media, and you should maybe consider some of these points in your response.

And maybe think about free press or free speech.

Maybe think about public interest.

Maybe think about what about if the content has not originated in the UK? Why might that make it difficult for the UK media to be regulated by the government? So pause the video, have a go at that question, and then when you've done so, you can press play and I'll give you some feedback.

So these are some of the things that you might have included in your response.

So these are some of the difficult issues that face the UK government when they're trying to look at regulating the media.

So you might have talked about the UK media being strongly independent and keen to defend free speech.

You might have talked about governments wishing to avoid direct state regulation because they could be accused of trying to limit free speech.

You might also say that there's no political consensus on how to manage media regulation and/or what restrictions should be imposed on the media.

Regulating media content originated abroad is not possible without the cooperation of foreign governments, so that can make it very tricky.

And content initiated by individuals online or via social media is difficult to monitor and control.

It happens so quickly these days that the ability to regulate that and control it is incredibly difficult.

So now we move on to that longer type of written response that you're gonna have in an exam, whichever exam board you do.

The marks available for the different exam boards are different, but they all have longer responses, and it's looking at the media informing UK citizens about politics.

It's what we started with at the beginning of our lesson.

It gives us the opportunity to apply our knowledge and understanding to an essay question.

So, we need a bit more thought about how we structure our response in a longer written response, and we're gonna use everything that you've learned up until now to help us write a response to this statement.

So the UK media is very effective at keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

So this is a technique that I use, again with my students, something that I've used myself.

It's called on the one hand, on the other hand.

It's a technique you can use to help you look at arguments from both sides or develop a balanced argument.

So on the one hand, on the left as you're looking at it there, these are my arguments for the media being very effective.

And then on the right-hand side, on the other hand, then I'm giving you arguments against the statement.

And I always draw it out like this with hands because then it helps me to structure the argument but also reminds me that they're on opposite sides as well.

So just another tool for you to use along with that BUG, just to get you thinking about, particularly in these longer responses where you're often having to argue from both sides or look at a range of views, which would be one way to do that is to look at why someone would support, why somebody would not support the argument, the statement that you've been given.

And then I need to just be thinking about how am I gonna structure this essay? So I'm gonna give it an introduction, an overview at the beginning, just to show that I understand the question and to set the scene, if you like.

Then I'm gonna use two arguments that agree with the statement and two arguments that disagree with the statement.

And then the thing that often gets forgotten 'cause we're running outta time is that conclusion.

And remember, the question's asking to what extent, so that's a perfect time to sum that up in the conclusion.

So this is the structure I'm gonna encourage you to use for this longer response that we're doing.

So what I've done here is I've given you my introduction, and the introduction here that I've written sets the scene.

It makes my opening statement, briefly says why someone might be in favour or for the statement, why might someone be against the statement or disagree with it, and then I've shown what I intend to cover in my response.

So the question, remember, the UK media is very effective at keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

So, I have got my summing up statement at the beginning here.

That's what the S is, setting the scene.

One of the key roles of the media in a democracy such as the UK is to inform the public about key issues of the day.

Straightforward, sets the scene for the rest of this essay.

Then I've got a for and against.

So my for, from policies to pandemics, journalists work hard to keep us informed and present alternative points of view.

So we're saying, yes, they're good, they're effective.

Against, though, some would say, however, that the media may present information which is politically biassed.

So is the media actually effective in keeping citizens well informed about politics? So I've just set the scene.

I've very briefly given a for and against and set the scene for what's to come.

Now, you can use that to get you started if you want.

You can have that.

That's my gift to you, a free introduction to your essay.

If you would prefer to write your own, absolutely fine.

I promise I won't be upset.

But as I say, it is a free gift.

If you want to use that to help get you started, by all means do so.

And then what I'd like to encourage you to do, and again, you may well be used to doing this already, but just writing your argument using PEE paragraphs.

So making a point, giving some evidence to back that point up, and then explaining it.

Now, it's easier to see this in practise, so I'm gonna give you, again, one for free if you want to use this one.

So this is a supporting statement, so this one agrees with the statement.

So it says, on one hand, in the UK, it can be said that one of the democratic values which we uphold is the freedom of press.

So that's my point.

Evidence, newspapers in the UK are not controlled by the government.

What they publish is free from political interference.

That's my evidence to back up that they uphold the freedom of the press.

And then my explanation of why that supports this, as a result, they're able to provide balanced information to citizens and keep them informed about a range of different political views on important issues of the day.

So again, you can use that and then choose a second reason to support the statement.

Remember, we've already identified arguments for and against, this topic at the beginning in Task 1.

So there is also some support with sentence openers on the worksheet if you want to download.

That might be helpful.

So you need to write a second paragraph like this, supporting the statement.

Then you're gonna need to write two arguments against the statement, again using that PEE paragraph structure.

And again, you can use the statements we used in Task 1.

And don't forget, you need to add your conclusion about what you think overall and why.

So just a reminder then at this point where you're gonna pause the video, so the statement is, the UK media is very effective at keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

Remember to use the structure that we've talked about, so that opening paragraph, two arguments supporting, two arguments against, and a conclusion, and using PEE paragraphs as well.

So at this point, pause the video.

Have a go at that essay style question yourself, and then when you've had a go, press play again and I'll give you some feedback on what, perhaps, you might have included.

So I did with you a supporting argument before you had a go yourself.

This is an example of an opposing argument, so someone who disagrees that the media is effective in keeping UK citizens well informed about politics.

So, PEE paragraph again.

So my point is, in contrast, some would argue that there is an increasing amount of misinformation published in the media in the UK.

Evidence to back that up, as a consequence, this has led to a mistrust of the media.

Citizens feel they can no longer believe what is published.

My explanation, this has led citizens to seek their information from alternative sources, which would indicate that the UK media is not very effective at keeping citizens informed about key issues.

Again, hopefully you've got something similar in a PEE paragraph with your opposing arguments.

And then what we've got here is our feedback, our example conclusion, which says, the opening statement here, it's clear that there is evidence to show the media is effective in keeping UK citizens informed.

However, there are challenges.

The media needs to work hard to ensure that the information they are presenting is both accurate and in the public interest.

This will help them to build trust and counter the effects of the spread of misinformation.

And here's my decision.

Overall, I agree with the statement, the media uses its freedom to keep citizens well informed about politics and hold those in positions of power to account.

So the final bit of feedback I'm going to give you is about your conclusion.

So I've written an example conclusion here.

And as I said, it's really important that you end with a conclusion because it asked you to say to what extent you agreed or disagreed, and this is the place you can do that.

So you can see you've got, again, like we have a PEE paragraph, this time OED down the left.

But this is an opening to your conclusion, an evaluation, and a decision, 'cause we had to come to that decision about to what extent.

So my opening statement, it's clear that there's evidence to show the media is effective in keeping UK citizens informed.

However, there are challenges.

So my evaluation, the media needs to work hard to ensure that the information they are presenting is both accurate and in the public interest.

This will help them to build trust and counter the effects of the spread of misinformation.

And here's my decision bit.

Overall, I agree with the statement, the media uses its freedom to keep citizens well informed about politics and hold those in positions of power to account.

So I've summed up where I am on that spectrum of agree/disagree with the statement.

So overall, I agree that they are effective in keeping citizens in the UK well informed.

Thank you so much for taking part in our lesson today.

It's been a real pleasure working with you on thinking about what we have covered in our topic of the media and getting prepared to answer those exam questions on that topic.

So if you've gone through all the lesson today and you've had a go at all of the activities, you've had the opportunity to review what we've covered previously on the media, you've considered the different styles of exam questions used in Citizenship exams, and you also now know how to use BUG to analyse an exam question.

So I hope you've enjoyed the lesson and found those tasks really useful and interesting.

Now if you're able to, please take a picture of your work and ask your parent or carer to share it with your teacher so they can see all the fantastic things you've learned today.

And if you'd like to, ask your parent or carer to send a picture of your work to @OakNational on Twitter, and then I'll be able to see the work that you've done too, which would be really great, thank you.

So a massive well done.

Don't forget to go on and have a go at the exit quiz now.

Really good luck with that.

And all that's left for me to do is to say thank you, take care, and enjoy the rest of your learning today.