Lesson video

Hi there, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and it's so nice to see you here today.

I'm really looking forward to this lesson because, today, we are going to take on the role of journalists and do some investigating of a climate protest.

I think you're going to really enjoy this one.

So let's get to work.

Today's session is called investigating a fictional protest in role as a journalist from my unit called Climate Emergency Journalistic Report Writing.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to gather quotations from different people involved in a fictional protest in role as a journalist.

So this lesson builds on an issue discussed in the last lesson of a proposed bypass in Oakville.

However, if you haven't completed that lesson, please don't panic.

You'll still understand the content here.

So today we're going to be thinking like journalists, investigating exactly what went on at this fictional protest and getting quotations from some people who might have been involved.

Let's get to work.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Fact.

Perspective.

Journalist.

And quotation.

Well done.

So a fact is something that is true or proven, and a perspective is someone's view of events.

A journalist is someone who investigates news stories for newspapers, magazines, or news websites, and a quotation is a word, phrase, or sentence that is taken directly from someone's speech.

Now here's our lesson outline for today, and we're gonna follow three steps that journalists might need to do in investigating a story.

So acting in role as journalists, we're gonna start off by establishing the facts of the situation about this protest.

Then as journalists, we are going to be conducting interviews and then recording some quotations from people who were involved in this situation.

Let's make a start.

So as I'm sure you know, a journalistic report contains both facts, things we've established to be true, and perspectives, the views expressed by different people.

So if we look at this example here, we can see it starts off with a statement of fact.

We are saying as a journalist that it's definitely true that the residents took to the streets this weekend to protest against the removal of these trees.

We are saying that we know that to be correct.

It's a factual statement.

Then we follow this with some perspectives.

We are saying what different views are on the issue.

We're saying the council says it's necessary, but the protesters are opposed to the removal of these trees.

These are different people's perspectives.

Then we finish with another statement of fact.

We are saying it's definitely true that there were lots of vociferous chants.

It's definitely true that the local police attended but made no arrests.

So as a journalist we're saying, we've established as fact that this is what happened.

So you can see we present information in different ways in a journalistic report.

Sometimes we say things are factually true, sometimes we're saying this is what people say, this is their perspective.

So do you agree with Sam? Why or why not? Sam says, "It would be better if journalistic reports "only included facts "and didn't give different people's perspectives.

"Surely all that matters is what actually happened, "not what people think about it." So do you agree with Sam, why or why not? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good ideas.

Now, we could debate this issue.

We might disagree on it, and that's fine, but perhaps you thought of these reasons why perspectives are included in journalistic reports.

Perhaps it's because they allow us to see what people think about important issues from different perspectives.

They allow experts to contribute to issues.

They help us to know what the official position is on the subject, so maybe from the council or the government, and they allow ordinary people to have a say.

Sometimes a report might contain quotations from someone who's just in the street, someone from the local area who the journalist has spoken to to get their view.

So those are some of the reasons why we might include perspectives in a journalistic report.

So let's recap our fictional scenario that we talked about in the last lesson.

In Oakville, a bypass is planned to reduce traffic congestion, and that bypass is going to cut through a piece of woodland.

And we know that this flyer has been put through people's doors in Oakville for a protest on the 8th of June to stop this road being built and help stop climate chaos.

So the trees are due to be cut down to start building the road, and a protest is planned for the 8th of June.

Now, you are a journalist for the Oakville Observer, your local newspaper, and you know this issue is going to be very important to the local area.

It's a big deal.

So you decide you're going to attend the protest to see what's happening firsthand so you can report what's going on.

So who might be present, do you think, at this protest? Pause the video and have a chat to the people next to you.

Well done, good job.

So of course there are gonna be protesters there, but there might also be a police presence there if it's going to be a bigger protest.

There might be some people who oppose the protest who've turned up.

There might be local people just watching the protest and maybe even some local officials like city council representatives might be there as well.

There could be a lot of people involved, and we are going to talk about some of those later on.

So other than attending the protest, what else could you do as a journalist to get ready to report on this story? Because, remember, we need to establish the facts about what's going on in this situation.

So how else could you prepare? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good ideas.

So maybe you could think of speaking to people in charge of the council and the construction company that's building the road.

They might be able to give you their perspectives.

Maybe you could do some research online about the effects of road building on the environment and on car use so you've got some background as to whether the protestors have a point about what they're saying.

Maybe you could look for all the documents that show how the decision to build the road was reached and about the planned route for the road.

For any big decision like this, you'd have loads of documents available at the city council for people to read that explain the process that's gone on.

And you could go to the city centre, and you could watch that traffic congestion, and maybe you could interview people who are stuck in traffic to get their perspectives as well.

So we could do lots of research, lots of gathering perspectives to add in to this report.

So let's do our first task for this lesson.

You arrive at the protest in the woodland as a journalist for the Oakville Observer, and you see the following things happening.

You see protestors carrying placards and shouting.

You see one protestor chained to a tree, you see the police watching the protest, and you see a bulldozer from the construction company that's being asked to remove these trees.

So there's lots going on.

So we're going to do a bit of drama.

In groups of four or five, I want you to create a tableau, a freeze frame in a group of the scene that the journalist sees when they arrive at the protest.

And I want you to be prepared as well to speak in role when your teacher says your name, saying what you think your character would be saying at that precise moment.

So if you're the protestor, you might say, "Stop the bypass." If you're doing this on your own at home, you could do each character in turn and speak in role as each one and perform your body in role as each one as well.

So pause the video, create your tableau, and see if you can try and speak in role as well.

Have a go.

Well done, really good job.

I hope you really enjoyed performing your tableau there.

So here are some examples of what the different characters might have said in role.

Maybe someone said this.

"I'm just doing my job! "If you've got a problem, "take it up with the council!" Maybe that was the bulldozer driver.

Maybe someone said, "Let's all stay calm; "you've got every right to protest, "but I don't want things getting out of hand." That could have been the police officer.

And maybe someone said, "Climate action now! "This bypass will make climate change worse!" So you've got some different perspectives there being shown by the different characters in role.

Now, remember, being able to protest is part of living in a democracy, so the police have the job of making sure people can do that safely.

So if you were in role as a police officer, you wouldn't probably be trying to stop the protest or prevent it from happening.

You are there to make sure it's done safely.

So just think carefully about the role of the police in that situation.

Really good job.

So let's move on to the next step of our role as a journalist, which is going to be conducting some interviews.

So as a journalist, you now know some facts about what happened at the protest because you saw it happen.

So back at the office, you decide you need to interview some people who took part in the protest to get some different perspectives on the event.

So you decide you want to interview a protestor and a police spokesperson and a council spokesperson and a climate change expert.

And we're going to work towards roleplaying interviews between the different people and the journalist at the end of this section of the lesson.

So we're going to gather quotations from them to use in our journalistic report.

So can you match each person to the reason why you might want to interview them and gain their perspective for your report? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, great job.

So for the police spokesperson, that will help you to find out if any crimes were committed or arrests made.

For the protester, that will help you to find out people's motivations for opposing the road being built.

For the council spokesperson, that's gonna help you to find out if the plans will change after the protests, if they're gonna do something different in response to the protest.

And for the climate change expert, that will help you to find out if building the road will have any real effect at all on climate change.

So all of these people are gonna add a different perspective that's gonna be helpful to your report.

So now can you think of some questions we might want to ask each person as a journalist? Pause the video and see if you can come up with a couple for each person.

Have a go.

Well done, great ideas.

So maybe for the police spokesperson, you thought of, "Did you make any arrests? "Why? "Was the protest peaceful or violent?" For the protester, you could say, "Why did you feel you had to protest? "What did you say and do at the protest?" For the council spokesperson, you might say, "Does this protest change anything?" And, "Aren't you worried about climate change?" And for the climate change expert, you could say, "Is building new roads bad for the climate?" And, "Will one road make any difference?" You can see all of these questions are gonna help us to get some really good information back from these people that we can add in to our report.

So, finally, can you match the people to the views they might express in an interview with the journalist? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, really good job.

So for A, the police spokesperson, maybe they would say, "The protest was mostly peaceful, "but we made a couple of arrests." For the protestor, they might have said, "I just had to do something - "this bypass is bad for all of us." For the council spokesperson, you could say, "We plan to meet with the protestors "to discuss their concerns." And for the climate change expert, maybe they would say, "Anything that promotes car use "is likely to be bad "for the environment or for the climate." Really well done if you managed to match those up correctly.

So let's do our second task for the session, another piece of role play.

So we're going to work in a group of five here.

And if you're doing this at home alone, you can just be all the people.

You're going to have one person who's the journalist and the others take on one of the roles below, so the people we've talked about already.

The journalist is gonna interview each person in turn about the protest and each person will react in role using the notes below to help them.

So if you're the protester, you're going to want to explain why you feel the road must be stopped and what you did at the protest.

For the police spokesperson, you're gonna explain why you attended and whether you made an arrests and why, and you can get creative there.

And for the council spokesperson, you can explain that you understand people's strong feelings and that you want to meet with the protestors soon.

And for the climate change expert, you could briefly explain how climate change works and why the road would be bad for the climate.

So we're going to say a climate change expert is also opposed to the building of this road.

So, journalists, you're going to ask the questions, other people will respond in role and trying to answer using the information I've given you in the notes below.

So pause the video and have a go at your interviews.

Fantastic job, well done.

So here are some examples of what each person might have said in role.

If you're the protestor, maybe you said, "I didn't have any choice but to protest.

"Building this road will show "we don't take climate change seriously.

"I didn't chain myself to a tree, "but other people did and I support that.

"We need to take urgent action!" So what I haven't shown you there is the journalist's questions that led up to that.

But we can imagine that the journalist might have asked several questions that all together created this quotation.

The council spokesperson might have said this.

"We understand that people in Oakville "feel very strongly about this issue.

"We followed all the proper procedures "in planning this road, "but we'll be happy to meet with the protesters "to discuss their concerns." Maybe the police spokesperson said something like this.

"We attended the protest to maintain order "and ensure people could protest freely.

"The majority of protesters were peaceful; "however, we did have to make two arrests of individuals "who threw projectiles." Remember that word just means objects you throw.

And, finally, the climate change expert might have said this in response to the journalist's questions.

Maybe they said, "Climate change is driven by greenhouse gas emissions.

"Every time we build more roads, "we make it easier for people for people to drive.

"This leads to more emissions.

"We need to invest in public transport instead." So I'm sure you came up with some brilliant answers to the journalist's questions as well.

Good job.

So we're now onto the final step of our journalism, which is going to be recording these quotations.

So we've had a try at taking on those different perspectives of our journalistic report.

When journalists interview people, they have to be very careful to collect or gather a record of their exact words because it'll be unfair if we misrepresented what someone has said, if we distorted their ideas.

Now to do that, they might write down a quotation in what's called shorthand, which is a way of writing very quickly as someone is talking to you.

Or they might record the interview so they can play it back later and get the words exactly right, or sometimes they'll be summarising them accurately.

Here's an example of what shorthand looks like.

This is one form of shorthand, there are several, but it's a way of writing incredibly fast so that you can keep a very accurate record of what someone said to you in an interview.

So we are going to write down quotations for our four people so that we can use them in our own report.

And we know that our quotation gives the exact words that the person used.

Some of the characters we know might speak very formally because some of them are speaking on behalf of an organisation.

We'd expect our council spokeperson, who's speaking on behalf of the city council, to speak very formally.

The protestor, of course, might be more informal because they're not official, they're not responsible for anyone, they're only giving their own views.

And we can still use some cohesive devices while we're writing what someone says.

For instance, we could use colons to introduce explanations or semicolons to join linked sentences or a compound or a complex sentence as well.

So which perspective do you think each of these quotations has been written from? Pause the video and try to decide.

Well done, good job.

So for A, that's definitely the protestor speaking, isn't it? And, look, it's quite informal.

We've said, "We'll be back!" We've used words like brilliantly and tonnes.

This is informal, and we can tell from what they're saying this must be the protestor.

B is the police spokesperson.

We can see this is much more formal.

We've used largely peaceful, projectiles, unsafe manner.

These are all very formal ways of speaking.

And for, C, this sounds like the climate expert.

And we've got a good explanation here.

And, again, it's quite formal, which tells this is someone who's taking a very serious approach to this situation.

Really well done if you identified those correctly.

So here is an example of a quotation from the council spokesperson, which doesn't sound very convincing.

So it says, "Look, we can see they're upset, "but we've followed all the rules here.

"The road's gonna be built, okay? "If they want, "they can have a chat with us about it next week." It's too informal, isn't it? So how could you rewrite this quotation to give it a more appropriate tone? What do you think you'd need to change here, and what should it sound like? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, good job.

So maybe you came up with something like this.

Instead, they could say this.

"It is clear that there are strong feelings on this issue; "however, all the appropriate rules have been followed.

"Although we plan to continue construction, "we are happy to meet with the protestors at any time." This is a much more appropriate tone, isn't it, for what we'd expect to hear from a city council spokesperson? So this is what we should be aiming for when we write down these quotations for ourselves.

Okay, so let's do our final task this lesson.

We are going to write down a quotation from each person's interview, what they said in response to the questions the journalist asked them, recording their exact words.

But you don't have to stick with the same words that you came up with in your roleplay interviews earlier.

You can change them now.

But you're going to use the journalist questions I'm going to give you to help you come up with ideas for what to write.

But you are not just gonna write the answer to the questions.

You've got to make it sound like a complete piece of speech that we don't need to see the questions to understand, just like the ones I just showed you before.

So, remember, you've gotta use an appropriate tone for each person, and you can still use those cohesive devices as appropriate.

But we've got to make this sound like what that person could have said in response to these questions.

So to the protestor, the journalist might have said, "Why did you feel the need to protest? "What do you hope to achieve? "What was the protest like?" Your answer isn't going to refer to those questions.

It's got to just be a piece of speech that the person might have said, altogether, that sums up the answer to all those questions.

For the police spokesperson, maybe the journalist asked, "Why did you attend the protest? "Was it peaceful or violent? "Were any arrests made? Why?" For the council spokesperson, it could be, "How will you respond to the protest? "Is the road still a good idea? "Will you talk to the protestors?" And for the climate change expert, "How are roads linked to climate change? "Will building the road "make any difference to climate change?" So when you write these, be really careful that you're not just saying the answer to the question, you're including the question in your answer so that someone who hadn't seen these journalist questions could still understand what you've written, and you're gonna try and get the tone correct for each person and to make sure you use some cohesive devices if it's appropriate.

So pause the video and have a go.

Really good job, well done.

So here are some ideas for what the protestor and the police spokesperson might have said.

Maybe the protestor said this.

"This protest was vital: "we just can't let this road be built.

"We want to make people aware of what's been done here "and get this development stopped.

"The protest was great: "everyone was chanting and cheering like mad." So you can see it's quite passionate still, but it's much more informal, isn't it? So the police might have said this.

"We attended the protest to maintain order; "part of our role is to protect people's freedom of speech.

"Although there was some violence, with two arrests, "the majority of protesters "behaved peacefully and respectfully." Much more formal.

Now let's think about the council spokesperson and the climate expert.

Here's what the council spokesperson might have said.

"We understand that some local people "are strongly opposed to this development; "however, many others are in favour.

"While we remain committed to delivering the road, "we are happy to meet with the protestors at any time." Again, a very serious factual response.

And what about the climate expert? Well, maybe they said this.

"Climate change is driven in part by vehicle emissions; "new roads like these only add to the problem.

"I applaud the protestors: "we need to see investment in public transport and cycling "rather than in new roads." So I'm sure you came up with some fantastic quotations there using a really appropriate tone for each person.

Really well done.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We've said that journalistic reports contain a mixture of facts and individuals' perspectives on events.

We've said that when journalists report on events, they establish facts through research, requests for information, and what they see for themselves.

We learned that journalists can obtain different perspectives by conducting interviews with a range of parties, that means different people, and they must ensure they accurately record quotations so that their final report is accurate and fair.

I hope you really enjoyed this lesson.

Really well done for your effort here.

I'd love to see you again in the future.

Goodbye.