You News, You Lose

How has the way we get our news changed since the 2016 election?

Pew Research Center

1. How earth-shatteringly accurate was your prediction?

2. Identify one trend you see in the data.

3. What do you think is one cause of that trend?

4. What is one consequence of that trend?

5. Explain whether the information from this chart is good or bad news.

6. What do you think these numbers will look like 10 years from now?

7. Imagine that you traveled back in time to the year 1918 and told the average person that newspapers (then the totally dominant source - no TV, no radio, definitely no Instagram) would not be a major news source in 100 years. After they complimented you on your super-cool clothes, what do you think they would say to you about your no-newspaper prediction?

8. 100 years from now, when Kim Kardashian’s great-great-great-grandchild is president, do you think we will even still have websites and social media to get our news?

9. How do you predict (be creative here) our news will come to us then?

10. How do you think the rise of social media news impacts American political campaigns and elections?

11. How do you get your news? Compare your numbers to those of the charts (above and below).*

12. How does the way we get our news vary by age?*

Visual Extension*

Pew Pew Pew

Learning Extension

Read the Pew article on media usage you’ve been hoping to get for Christmas right now!!!!

Action Extension

Use a different source to get news each day of the week. Compare and contrast the accuracy and value of the different sources and share your analysis in class or online. Here’s your schedule: Monday, print; Tuesday, social media, Wednesday, radio; Thursday new website; Friday, television.