Students investigate the characteristics, roles, and purposes of news. They are introduced to the genre by the BBC My World video, “What Is News?” which tracks the history of news, from handwritten manuscripts to digital feeds. Students explore the different categories of news—hard, soft, local, national, and world news—along with specific news subjects or types, including politics, crime, human interest, and celebrity news. Students learn what makes an event newsworthy, its universal appeal to human nature. Finally, they explore the question “What is the purpose of news?” by considering its roles and its benefit as a public service

Originally released by BBC Worldwide Learning, 2020. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on June 30, 2020.

What's the News? (3:41); .