Monday, November 19, 2012

Tuesday, November 20. 2012

Today's schedule is C-D-A-B

C Block Crime, Media & Society 12 - Today we'll begin the 48 Hours Mystery episode on the Highway of Tears. From CBS: Since 1969, at least 18 women have gone missing or have been murdered along Canada's infamous Highway 16. Locals call it "The Highway of Tears." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Highway of Tears task force, Project E-PANA, consists of 13 homicide investigations and five missing people s investigations. So we'll watch the episode and then I have a few things I'd like to talk with you about...


OK so after we watch the episode I'd like to talk about the story CBS chose to tell. What crimes the media choose to cover and how they cover those crimes can influence the public’s perception of crime. Editors and assignment editors make complex decisions about what crime stories they will cover (or not) and what the headline will be. Journalists and reporters, in partnership with their assignment desks and producers decide what information about those crimes they will include or leave out, what experts they may go to for input, what quotes from that expert they will include, and where in the story these facts and quotes appear.

So what story do you think Investigative Reporters Bob Friel and Peter Van Zant wanted to tell and what role did producer Paul Larosa, field producer Ryan Smith, along with editors Ken Blum, Bob Orozovich and Gary Winter play in crafting the story?

Why did they focus the first part of the story on Madison Scott? Why did they then tell the story of Loren Leslie? Consider the follwoing post on the CBS News 48 Hours website about the showing of the Highway of Tears:

by RememberStolenSisters November 18, 2012 7:37 PM EST

I am stunned that there wasn't even a mention of the fact that the majority of victims along the Highway of Tears have been young Native women, and saddened that the was no connection made to the over 580 missing and murdered Native women in Canada, referred to here as the Stolen Sisters. I understand that wasn't the focus of this program, but to not even mention it feels incredibly wrong. You have not given the American public an accurate picture of what's going on up here, where young Aboriginal women are 5 times more likely to die a violent death than other women of the same age and more than twice as likely to be killed by a stranger than women of other races. There's a story you should cover.

So why did the reporters, producers and editors to"frame" the story in the way they did?

D Block Social Studies 11 - Today with Ms. Curry...yesterday, we talked about the various causes and events that led up to WWII. I gave you this sheet and asked you to fill out the map of Europe in 1938. Before we work on our Twitter projects, we'll talk about Canada's reaction to the Invasion of Poland

A Block Law 12 - Today with Ms. Curry...we'll finish up the last of the presentations today, and then you'll work on some worksheets and identify various crimes. Afterwards, we'll watch a documentary called Life With Murder (it's about a family living with the pain that their son killed their daughter -- it's an interesting documentary and shows a perspective we haven't discussed in class, that of the families of criminals).

B Block Geography 12 - Today we'll be talking about air pollution, specifically the anthropogenic additions to our atmosphere. We will look at the effects of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxides on human health and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We'll see what Tim and Moby have to say about air pollution and we'll also look at the Environment Canada Air Quality Index

Environment Canada Air Pollution site
David Suzuki Foundation Air Pollution Site
National Public Radio site on the London "Killer Fog" of 1952
EPA website on acid rain

No comments: