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MLBP Handout Front Page Photographs

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Dimitrios Latsis
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13 views2 pages

MLBP Handout Front Page Photographs

Uploaded by

Dimitrios Latsis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A front page, and the photographs and images chosen for the front page, can reveal as much

about a newspaper and its community as it does about the day’s news. Some days, one story
dominates front pages across the country or even around the world. But often the stories on
Page One reflect communities with different interests. Likewise, the images chosen for front
pages reflect the values and views of the diverse communities from which these papers come.

More than 800 newspapers transmit their front pages electronically to the Newseum every day.
All the front pages received each day are available online at newseum.org/todaysfrontpages.

These front pages can be used in your classroom in a variety of ways. Following are four easy
activities, with some questions to ask when considering the photographs on the front pages of
newspapers.

Images of Breaking News Around the World


Look at images from around the country when a big story breaks or when there are major
developing stories, such as elections, major legislation, sports championships, natural
disasters or impending storms. Print out a variety of front pages from small, medium and large
cities and discuss as a class the images that were chosen for the story in different places.

“A Week in Fabulous …”
Select a “sister” community to follow for a week or longer through their front pages. Consider
choosing a community that is markedly different from that of your students — rural/urban,
suburban/rural, large/small, North/South/East/West, etc. Each day, print out the front pages
from your sister city and compare them with the front pages of your local newspaper.
 How are the images similar? How are they different?
 How many photographs are on each front page?
 Are the photographs about local, national or international news?
 What can these photographs tell us about what this community values?
? TO ETHICS

Hometown News
If you and your students live in a community with more than one daily paper, conduct a
weeklong (or longer) analysis of what each paper covers through photographs. Either print out
the front pages from the Newseum website or purchase the papers for a week. Some
newspapers will donate copies of their papers for classroom use. Be sure to focus on the
images each paper selected for similar stories.

Washington, D.C., area school groups are sponsored by WTOP 103.5 FM.
What Does a Photograph Say?
Bring in or download newspapers from a week or more and post them around the room. Ask
students to review each page. Questions to guide them may include:
 Which of the front pages do they find most interesting? Is this because of the headlines,
topics covered, content of the stories, layout or photographs?
 Which front page has the best photograph?
 What qualities make this the best photograph?

The front page photograph should be a “good” picture technically and should convey an
accurate message. The photograph and its caption should help to tell the story just as the
headline and lead summarize it. The role of photography should not be underestimated.
 Select one of the front page photographs. Read the story that accompanies it.
 Ask students to write a quick summary of the story.
 After some students have shared their summaries, write the key elements of the story
on the board.
 Read the caption and look at the photograph. Does the caption “restate” the summary
or does it communicate another element of the whole story?
 How does the photograph tell the story? Add dimension to the text?
 Supply an emotional element to the story?
?
?

Washington, D.C., area school groups are sponsored by WTOP 103.5 FM.

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