CNN Presents Classroom Edition Educator Guide

WAR STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES

Set your VCR to record CNN Presents: Classroom Edition "WAR STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINE" when it airs commercial-free on Monday, July 7, from 4:00am - 5:00am ET, following People in the News on CNN.

Note to Teachers: This CNN Presents Classroom Edition was still in production at the time of the writing of this Educator Guide. Therefore, we suggest you preview this program to insure its appropriateness for your classroom.

Table of Contents

• Program Overview

• Objectives

• Curriculum Connections

• Background

• Focus Questions

• Activity Suggestions

• Resources

Program Overview

This CNN Presents Classroom Edition: WAR STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES features firsthand accounts of Operation Iraqi Freedom from the CNN correspondents who were embedded with coalition troops.

Grade Levels: 7-12

Subject Areas: Journalism, U.S. History, World History, Current Events, Government, Political Science, and Media Studies

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Objectives

Students will:

• Examine the roles and responsibilities of the media during war

• Research the history of war reporting in the U.S.

• Analyze the media coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom

• Assess the role of technology in covering a war

• Evaluate the use of embedded reporters in Operation Iraqi Freedom and in future conflicts

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Curriculum Connections

NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

National Council for Social Studies Standards

II. Time, Continuity and Change

IV. Power, Authority and Governance

IX. Global Connections

X. Civic Ideals and Practices

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Background

Prior to showing WAR STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES, you may want to provide students with a context for examining the war stories of CNN's embedded reporters by discussing the roles and responsibilities of the press, during both peace and wartime. Distribute copies of the First Amendment, the Journalism Ethics Codes and the Pentagon Guidelines for Embedded Journalists to students (see links below), and then pose the following questions for discussion:

• What is meant by "Freedom of the Press"?

• What responsibilities does the press have in reporting the news?

• What do you think should be the role of the media in times of war? What responsibilities do you think the media should have in covering a war?Should reporters be able to say or write anything that they want during wartime? Why or why not?

• Should the government or the military censor or restrict the press during wartime? Why or why not?

• What does it mean to "embed" reporters with troops? What were the embedding guidelines as dictated by the U.S. government for Operation Iraqi Freedom? Do you think these guidelines align with the First Amendment and the Ethics Code for Journalists? Why or why not?

Freedom Forum: The First Amendment Explained (http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=13588)

Society of Professional Journalists: Ethics Code (https://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp)

Poynter: Guiding Principles for the Journalist (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=36&aid=4349)

Pentagon Guidelines for Embedded Journalists (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2003/d20030228pag.pdf)

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Focus Questions

Pose the following questions to students prior to watching WAR STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES. As they watch the program, students should search for examples to help address each one. Following the program, you can return to these questions to check for student understanding.

• What role did the embedded journalists play in covering the war in Iraq? How do you think the reporters should have relayed the events of the war? What role did stories play in the reporting of this war? How do the war stories compare with reports of facts and figures? Do you think their unique perspective from being embedded with the troops on the front lines shaped the reporters' coverage? Explain.

• What physical, mental, emotional, ethical, technological and editorial challenges did the embedded reporters face in covering the war? How did they confront these challenges? Do you think these challenges may have had an effect on their reporting? Explain.

• What do you think are the boundaries between reporters and the military? Through the embedding process, do you think any of those boundaries ever got blurred? Why or why not? Did the CNN reporters tell any stories that illustrated the fine line between reporting the war and participating in it? What do you think are the implications of the reporters' experiences for future conflicts?

• How did the coverage of the war in Iraq affect how audiences experienced the war?

• Do you think the coverage of the war had any effect on the course of the war? Why or why not?

• Why do you think the U.S. government chose to allow the reporters to be embedded with the troops? What are the benefits and drawbacks of embedding the reporters for the U.S. government, the military, the media and the viewers or readers? At the end of the major conflict, how do you think each of these groups might assess the decision to embed reporters?

• How does the coverage of this conflict compare with the coverage of previous conflicts?

• What is your overall impression of the news coverage of the war in Iraq? What criteria do you think should be used to judge the coverage of the war? What changes, if any, would you make in the coverage of future conflicts?

• Do you think reporters should be embedded with the troops in the future? Why or why not? How might different groups of people answer this question, such as the news media, U.S. government officials, the U.S. military, the family members of the troops, the anti-War demonstrators, supporters of the war, and the international community?

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Activity Suggestions

1. Reporting the War-Then and Now

A. Revisit the class discussion on the role of the media during a war, and whether or not there should be any restrictions placed upon the media in its coverage of a war. Ask students: Have there ever been any restrictions placed upon the media in covering past conflicts? Organize students into small groups and assign one of the following conflicts to each group: American Revolution, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, the 1991 Gulf War and Bosnia/Kosovo. Direct students to the Web sites below to gain more information about the coverage and reporting of wars throughout U.S. history. Student groups should seek answers to the following questions:

• What role did the media play in this conflict?

• What restrictions, if any, were placed on the media during the conflict?

• Did the coverage of the war affect the course or the outcome of the war?

After student groups present their information to the class, pose the following questions for a class discussion:

• Why do you think the U.S. government places restrictions on the media?

• Do you agree with government censorship of the media during wartime? Why or why not?

• Based on your research, what conclusions can you draw regarding the relationships between the media, the U.S. government and the military during previous U.S. conflicts?

B. Distribute copies of the Pentagon Guidelines for Embedded Journalists (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2003/d20030228pag.pdf) to student groups. Have students compare the guidelines for the media in the war in Iraq with those governing previous conflicts. Ask: What are the similarities and differences? Do you agree with the parameters placed upon the media during Operation Iraqi Freedom? Why or why not? Have students discuss the coverage of the war in Iraq as compared with other wars and have them generate a list of the points of comparison, such as access to information, accuracy of reporting, etc. Then, challenge students to compare the relationships between the media, the government and the military in Operation Iraqi Freedom with those relationships in previous conflicts. Have students hypothesize a list of reasons for the changes in those relationships over time.

C. Pose the following wrap-up question to the students: Should the U.S. government and the military continue the policy of embedding reporters with the troops? Why or why not? Refer students to the following Web sites for various perspectives on this question, and then hold a class debate on the topic.

CNN executives: Let reporters cover the war (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/07/isaacson.jordan.letter/)

Electronic Media: Greater Access (http://www.tvweek.com/topstorys/021703greatermedia.html)

PBS.org: The Media's War (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june03/embed_4-21.html)

PBS.org: War Stories (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june03/embeds_04-01.html)

Embedded Bias and the War Casualty of Truth (http://www.americasvoices.org/archives2003/SchneiderG/SchneiderG_032803.htm)

Washington Post: Embedded in Controversy (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A36362-2003Mar27¬Found=true)

Coverage debates started before war wound down (http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/content/971.cfm?id=971)

2. Technology of Covering War:

• Explain to students that, throughout history, reporters have brought the news of war from the front lines to the people. As a class, brainstorm a list of historical conflicts, such as the American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean and Vietnam conflicts, 1991 Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. Assign pairs or small groups of students one of these conflicts and have them research the technology that the reporters of the time had or have available to them (e.g., pony express, printing press, telegraph, photography, radio, video, satellite, Internet, etc.). Students should consider the strengths and limitations of each type of technology for reporting the news. Ask: How might the technology available have influenced the type of reporting available? How might the technology have affected the course of the conflict? How did the technology affect the information made available to the people? How informed was the public at the time?

• Direct students to conduct research on and interview family and community members about media coverage of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and other contemporary military conflicts, such as Korea and Vietnam. Ask: How did the coverage of previous wars compare with the news coverage of this war in Iraq? What technology is available now that was not in previous conflicts? How have these technologies affected how we experience the war? What expectations do you think audiences now have for news coverage that they didn't have in prior conflicts? What new challenges do you think the advances in technology pose to the media, who must deliver the news around the clock from the front lines to living rooms around the world?

• Have students discuss the meaning of the quotation "necessity is the mother of invention." Then, direct students to consider the coverage of the war in Iraq and challenge them to develop a plan for the next new technology that will assist reporters in their jobs and improve the quality of and/or access to news and information for their audiences.

Newseum: War Stories (http://www.newseum.org/warstories/index.htm)

American Forum: International Conflict and the Media (http://www.globaled.org/curriculum/cm0.html)

American Forum: Freedom of the Press and National Security-The Early Years (http://www.globaled.org/curriculum/cm5a.html)

3. War Stories

After watching the program, have students discuss the stories as told by the CNN embedded journalists. Ask the following questions:

• Did any of the stories stand out as particularly poignant? Explain.

• Did the reporters face any challenges (physical, mental, emotional, ethical or professional) while reporting from the front lines? If so, what were they? How did they address these challenges? In what ways, if any, do you think these challenges affected their reporting?

• How would you characterize these reporters? How would you characterize their reporting?

• What do you think motivates these reporters to put their lives on the line to report the war?

• Do you think the reporters were prepared physically, emotionally, mentally or professionally for what they encountered during the war? Why or why not? What lessons do you think the news media might have learned as a result of this process? Explain.

• Do you think that their stories contributed to your experience or understanding of the war? Why or why not?

Encourage students to read through several of the behind the scenes stories filed by CNN embedded reporters. Then, challenge students to imagine they are executives of a major news media company. Ask: If given the opportunity to send journalists to the front lines of a future conflict, would you? Why or why not? In their roles as media executives, students should draft memos to their reporters explaining and justifying their decisions to send, or not send, reporters to the front lines, and their criteria for making those decisions. The memos should also address their impressions of the embedding process in the war in Iraq and should include the lessons that students think the media executives may have learned from their experiences in that conflict.

"Packing For War"-Martin Savidge (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/13/btsc.savidge.provisions/index.html)

CNN.com: E-war coverage depends on working technology (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/08/btsc.sites/index.html)

Imagine a giant wave of steel (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/21/btsc.irq.rodgers/index.html)

Fighting sandstorms and friendly fire (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/21/btsc.irq.rodgers/index.html)

A diary from the front lines with Kurdish militia (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/24/btsc.irq.sites/index.html)

Quick decisions on the battlefield (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/25/btsc.irq.rodgers/index.html)

CNN.com: Soldier bloggers report from war (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/26/sprj.irq.soldier.blogs.reut/index.html)

4. A Memorial to the War Reporter?

Have students discuss the various ways that we honor and memorialize troops who are wounded or who die while fighting in a war or conflict. Answers might include medals and awards, statues, memorials and monuments, or rituals performed at military funerals. Ask: Do you think that war reporters should be recognized for putting their lives in danger? Why or why not? Do you think that reporters who are wounded or who die while embedded with the troops should be honored for their work and sacrifice? Why or why not? Challenge student groups to create an exhibit, such as a memorial, a museum, an interactive Web site or a specific medal, that illustrates their feelings and impressions about reporters who have covered war and international conflict throughout history.

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Resources

CNN.com Special Report: Behind the Scenes (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/btsc/archive/)

Battlefield Bylines: Boot Camp for Journalists (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec02/battlefield_bylines_12-17.html)

Newseum: War Stories (http://www.newseum.org/warstories/index.htm)

Pentagon Guidelines for Embedded Journalists (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2003/d20030228pag.pdf)

International Conflict and the Media (http://www.globaled.org/curriculum/cm0.html)

Fair.org: Iraq and the Media (http://www.fair.org/international/iraq.html)

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