Weighing Our News in the Balance

May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day, on which nations around the world take time to celebrate the principles behind press freedom, assess the state of this freedom throughout the world, defend against attacks on it, and remember journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. My school, ICBEU (Instituto Cultural Brasil Estados Unidos), is among many Binational Centers recognized by the U.S. Embassy here in Brazil that took efforts to participate in this event. This is what we did.

Early on, as I was brainstorming some maker movement-oriented projects related to press freedom, I brought the idea to two of my advanced classes, inviting them to share any ideas that came to mind. We had been discussing careers and "livelihood vs. lifestyle,"and I showed them an inspiring TED Talk about a female photojournalist in Palestine whose work tells the hidden stories of women and children in a turbulent place. I led the discussion in the direction of protections and rights of journalists, press freedom and censorship, and student interest soared. Eventually, one student, understanding that the goal was to make something to draw attention to the issue, suggested building a justice scale.

Knowing that this year's theme is "Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice, and the Rule of Law," focusing on an independent judiciary to ensure press freedom and prosecute crimes against journalists, this seemed like a perfect thing to make and leave in the reception area. What followed was a lot of brainstorming with various colleagues about how to build a scale and how to engage the students in an English language activity connected to it.  I'm grateful for the community at our school that is able to offer diverse perspectives in collaboration.

It was decided that students take part in a critical thinking activity in which they would distinguish fact from opinion, and write a statement of each kind on a small paper scroll that would be added to the corresponding side of the scale. Teachers could choose to provide their classes with statements from an article they were discussing, or sentence-starters that students could complete in their own way, or encourage students to search on their own social media feeds for statements of fact and opinion related to current events, and translate them into English. The third option was my personal favorite, and it's what most of my classes ended up doing. This year's theme also focuses on the freedom of information and expression in online speech and gaps in legislation protecting these freedoms. That, and the proliferation of fake news spread via social media, made it a particularly appropriate topic to discuss among young people.

My classes had some interesting discussions about bias, how to get reliable news, censorship vs. common-sense editing, limitations of freedom in student-made publications, and comparative press freedom in general throughout the world.

In some classes, I encouraged students to use a particular grammar structure we were learning to make a statement of fact or opinion.

Past modal verbs came in handy for one:

• "A student publication had to remove an article about drugs that the principal didn't allow." (fact) 
• "The principal should have..." (opinion) 

The subjunctive with passive voice was perfect for another:  

• "A judge ordered that the situation be looked into further." (fact)  
• "It is essential that people be given the ability to.." (opinion)

In other classes, simply finding something of interest in their own social media feeds and transforming it into English was a challenging and thought-provoking activity. In most classes, I saved the students' writing, mixed them up, and then had them read the statements later, perhaps on another day, correcting grammar (if it was a grammar focus), but more importantly, asking the class to determine if it was indeed a fact or opinion.

The TED-Ed Club was asked to find a fact and an opinion related to the topic they are preparing to give a talk on. They then practiced public speaking with the group and shared those facts and opinions, explaining why they chose them.

The two classes that participated in the initial brainstorming for this project, to begin a unit with the theme of innovation a few weeks ago, were taken to the maker space to assemble and paint the justice scale. I had gone to my brother-in-law for advice on how to build the scale (two scales, actually--one for each campus!), showed him some materials I had picked up, and he insisted on doing the rest himself, with tools he had on hand. That's what's great about collaboration--one person is great at writing or lesson planning, another one can build something with precise measurements, another one has the idea of where to find inexpensive, yet attractive materials to build with. The end result is something unique, yet something that many members of the community played a role in creating.

While some students spray painted the pieces in gold, I invited the others to write ideas about freedom of the press on the brainstorming wall. There is something empowering about putting liquid chalk in students' hands and telling them to write their thoughts all over the wall. The results were impressive.

At the same time, I left a few newspapers I had brought back from Boston for students to flip through and think about. Spare Change News is an initiative to empower homeless and low-income people in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the surrounding Boston area. It gives them a way to earn money, but also gives them a voice. The newspaper strives to produce quality content, and it creates an important bridge between people of lower economic advantage and the rest of the city. The folks I bought my most recent copies from were thrilled to know that students in Brazil would be reading their stories. As students mingled in the maker space, spray painting PVC pipes and writing on the walls, these newspapers provided some powerful thought-provoking fuel as people shifted from one activity to another.

As I think critically about my own project, I wonder about a few things. Is justice merely a perfect balance of fact and opinion, as the visual we created may suggest? How can we get our students more involved in demanding justice and in keeping power in check, on a more practical level? Also, we have facts on one side, and opinions on the other. It might be an interesting discussion to ask the students which one carries more weight, and adjust the balance accordingly, using heavier paper. And what are the next steps we, as members of our local and global community could take to ensure that ideas can spread freely, and yet to discern which information is true and reliable, and which is not. Some important conversations have already taken place, but what we've done here is only a start.

I hope by encouraging our students to think critically, by discussing important topics, by having them get involved in a hands-on activity where they contribute something that's personally meaningful, we can draw attention to this important issue, and develop better global citizens. This project is just one moment among many, but may it be an influential and a memorable one.