Teaching With and About the Conventions:
Resources for K-12 Educators
Copyright 2008, Frank W. Baker, media educator
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Introduction
What do you want your students to know about the presidential nominating
conventions? I have designed this page to
assist you. You will find resources and links to lesson plans and other related
materials. Do your students understand:
- the "scripted" and "choreographed" nature of the conventions?
(Stage-crafting:
Images from the conventions)
- who pays for conventions and what influence they might have?
- how to watch conventions and what to look for?
- who/what gets covered (shown/heard) and who doesn't?
- that the three major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) have significantly reduced
their coverage (amount of broadcast hours) over time?
- how new media/technology will cover the events?
These questions and more are good starting points. Listed here are a number of
resources to get you started.
Frank Baker, fbaker1346@aol.com
http://www.theweekdaily.com/article/index/88367/3/3/Conventions_too_scripted
http://cagle.msnbc.com/news/DNC08/2.asp
News
Protest Coverage:
Twin Cities Journalists Arrested Covering RNC Protests
/
Protesters, police clash outside convention/
More Than 300 Arrested Thursday Night in St. Paul
/Protests
Expected at Republican National Convention
/Nearly
300 arrested in convention protests/
After
Week of Protests, Police Prepping for ‘Rage’ Concert Tonight /Journalists
Concerned About Convention Arrests
/
GOP
convention protest arrests tally nearly 300
/Protesters
clash with police before Tuesday march; more arrests/
Hundreds to be charged in court after RNC protests/As
Throngs of Protesters Hit Streets, Dozens Are Arrested
/Video
Essay: A look inside the RNC protests
/
Some
turn violent in GOP convention protests/Democracy
NOW's Goodman Arrested/Anti-war veterans march on GOP convention
/
RNC
protests ends with nine arrests
/Anti-war
protest may be hampered by arrests/Raids
Target RNC Protesters In Twin Cities/
RNC protest group: ‘Show them no mercy, for you shall receive
none’/Police
Conduct Massive Raids, Arrests, Property Seizures at RNC
/
5 arrested, dozens detained in pre-RNC raids/
Some
Predict Weekend Sweep of RNC Protesters by Police
/RNC-related
arrests come early to St. Paul
/
Student group objects to U of M note about RNC protests
/Protesters
Denounce Police Tactics
/DNC
Protest Group Threatening Suit Against Police/
Let
the RNC arrests begin!
/Anticipated DNC Protests Underwhelming/So
Where Are All the Protesters?/Protesters at Democratic convention fly the ‘cage’/
Divided in Denver/Protests
in Denver/Protesters
Use Denver Convention as Forum/Denver
Mayor: ‘This Is Not 1968’/
Afternoon march focuses on 9/11 attacks/
DNC Protest Organizers Hold Press Conference
/
DNC Protests In
Denver-Mass Arrests
Fox News Forced Out of Protest/Huge protests expected at political conventions/
Protesters Launch Ambitious Week of Convention Demonstrations
Ratings:
Nielsens: Republicans get big ratings
/ McCain
speech sets TV ratings record
/ McCain
TV Ratings Beat Obama in Preliminary Numbers/
GOP
Convention Tops Dems In Broadcast Ratings
/
Palin’s
TV Ratings Nearly Match Obama’s
/
37.2M
Tune In to Palin's Speech/More
than 40 million people see Palin speech/
Fox Outdraws Big 3 Networks/
Palin's
Speech Powers Highest '08 Convention Ratings Yet/
Audience for GOP Convention Falls from 2004
/
RNC
TV ratings lag DNC’s for day 2
/
CNN's
Historic Victory on Final DNC Night/Obama’s speech is TV ratings home run
/
Obama’s Speech Is a TV Hit, With Viewers and Commentators Alike
/Obama's speech seen by 38 million viewers
/
TV
Decoder: Highest-Rated Convention in Television History
/Higher TV convention ratings this time than last/
All News Nets Rise With Hillary’s DNC Speech
/Hillary
lifts convention ratings; CNN again leads cable/PBS
DNC Ratings Down For Day Two /
Post-Olympics Sees TV Ratings Slide/UPDATED: NBC, CNN Top Ratings In DNC Coverage
/Convention Ratings Up for Cable Outlets/Conventions:
On opening night, Democrats draw at least 22 million /NBC Tops Ratings In DNC Coverage/PBS
Convention Ratings Dip, But Still Crush Prime Time Average
Networks:
A Convention Is Sheltered by the Storm
/TV
Cameras Turn From G.O.P. to Storm/The conventions belong to cable news/
TV networks shifting from politics to storm
/NBC's
Gustav Plans: Brian Williams to the Gulf, Tom Brokaw at the RNC/
PBS gets many pats on the back for its DNC
coverage/
Obama
Speech Boosts PBS Coverage /CNN
says it won Wednesday's convention ratings war/
Conventions Show the Growth of Cable News/Couric's Prime Time/
Behind the convention's 'Daily' Grind with Jon Stewart/
MSNBC
prez defends convention team/
ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators/Clinton Ally Blasts MSNBC Pundits
/
Convention Short-Changed by Networks?/
Dems, networks struggle over convention coverage/Nets Hope to Find Unique TV Moment at Dem Convention/
TV gears up for the conventions/Convention’s
TV producers hoping for heavy coverage/
Networks ready nonstop convention/
Conventions: Quadrennial Journalistic Junket/Media circus arrives for Democratic Convention/
How TV will have the conventions covered/
Broadcast Goes
'Convention Lite'/
Media Circus Descends on Denver/
NBC Misses Russert as Democratic Convention Begins
/Networks,
cable offer up convention coverage
/
Veteran journalists look
historically at conventions
New Media/Technology:
Twitter helps GOP Convention protestors organize, elude police/Obama Won the Web, Early On
/
Convention Buzz Detector -- Republicans Day 3
/Blogs
changing face of pol coverage/
Twittering from St. Paul
/In Denver, a Thousand Little Pieces
/Bloggers gain unprecendented access to GOP
Convention
/
This time around, bloggers get to play with the media big boys/Convention blogs are better than ever
/
Issue of technology in presidential campaign debated
/Blogs raise questions about line between journalism, activism
/Obama uses speech for high-tech outreach/
Glaser: You can feel change in the air for the media at DNC/Democrats,
Republicans hold high-tech conventions /
U
have 1 new TXT MSG: Obama embraces technology
/
On
the Convention: New Media Stream Into an Old Tradition/
Craigslist
founder: Internet can strengthen democracy
/Democratic
Convention Brings Calls for Broadband Policy
Games Invade the Democratic National Convention/
What's the Best Way to Watch the Conventions Live on the Web?
/
Blogging the Democratic National Convention/Bloggers Stake
Convention Claim in "Big Tent" /
The Web as 'big bang' of the media universe/
It Takes Tech to Elect a President/
Tech & the convention - now Obama’s got Biden
emailing/Journalists
Twittering the Political Conventions/
Mobile devices at the political conventions/Dems'
convention will be online media's party
/Technology to shine at political conventions/
Youth journalists to blog at national
political conventions
Stagecraft: McCain
to accept nomination on 'town hall' stage/McCain
to give big speech on rebuilt stage/
What work must a convention do?
/
Politics, Spectacle and History Under Open Sky
/The
audacity of stagecraft?/
Staging Obama/GOP
Convention Stage Contrasts Dems/
Does
Invesco Set Design Play Into GOP Strategy?/Convention stage is a show in itself
/In
era of stagecraft, substance still matters
Ethics:
Must Journalists Call it the Pepsi Center?
Journalism:
News Execs Fire Back at GOP Media Attacks /Why the media should apologize
/Palin's Choice: From
Privacy to Photo Op/
Old
Friends in the Media See a New Side of McCain
/Notable Journalism at the RNC/Walking the
Convention: Wandering Beats Working
/
Newspapers in convention cities splurge on
coverage/Convention
Coverage a Story of Innovation Amid Cutbacks/
Dem convention could be a huge event in the annals
of US media
Business:
At
McCain’s Convention, Big Money Still Talks/ Scarlet
'L': Lobbyists mix with pols
/Companies
pay for RNC presence /
RNC business boost in St. Paul? Merchants not seeing it
/ Political Conventions Spell Opportunities for Corporate America: Big Brands
Investing Heavily In Affiliated Messaging
/
Economic Impact of RNC Change of Schedule/Interactive Graphic: Who Pays for the Conventions?/Parties continue as lobbyists find loopholes/
Companies stump their stuff in Denver
/AT&T, Visa Plan Parties With Lawmakers at Political Conventions/Regulate the big business of the conventions/
Big Money Still Has Prominent Seat at Parties’
Conventions
Opposition: Democrats
suspend "war room" operations/Dems
roll out bus shelter ads to needle RNC officials
/GOP
dismantling war room /
Republicans send their top-tier attack dogs to gatecrash Denver
party/'War room' revs up with high-profile Republicans
/
GOP opens 'war room' at Democratic convention
Analysis:
Media
on the defensive over Sarah Palin coverage/Media
swoon over Palin's fiery speech
/
PEJ:
Campaign News All Style, No Substance/GOP
Tightens Image Control Over Palin/
McCain
camp calls media's coverage of Palin 'offensive'/Palin
is thrown into media major league
/Gustav
a Nightmare for GOP Brand/
Hurricane
Gustav's political fallout: a subdued GOP convention/Media Suppression Already Beginning Prior To RNC Convention/
Creating an image – can a speech do it?
/Cable News Covering The DNC With Republican Cue Cards
/
Political Rhetoric
as Predictable as an Episode of 'Law & Order'/DNC
'08: Reviewing the big show /Conventions Need a Believable Script /
Why Convention Coverage Can't Be Olympian /This year’s scripted conventions will be “less
entertaining than past floor flights,”
Education:
Y-Press gets RNC access, but not from GOP/Professor
lights up the RNC/Diplomat 8th-grader will attend Republican convention/
Orem
teacher to address educators at RNC/
Young journalists "pull the student card" to cover DNC/Students get hooked on convention/
DHS journalism students learn by doing at Denver convention/
Convention '08: Delegates Show Their Commitment to Education/
When the convention is a classroom
Teaching
Resources
Periodicals from the week of September 8
Periodicals from the week of September 1
Periodicals from the week of August 24
4 Political
Conventions
That Changed America
Daily Convention
Lesson Plans (PBS)- NewsHour Extra will provide teachers tools to
incorporate NewsHour convention coverage in their daily civics, social studies
and or current events lesson plans. Each day, Extra will offer a lesson plan
composed of a 5-10 minute video with suggestions for a warm up activity, select
quotes and discussion questions to spark debate and critical thinking.
Convention Centennial Minutes-(Rocky Mountain PBS)-
One hundred years ago, Colorado hosted the Democratic National
Convention in Denver. Watch short clips on the history of the 1908 convention,
and explore the parallels between then and now.
Election 2008: Political Conventions
(Parade Magazine)
Recasting the American Dream and American Politics: Barack Obama's Keynote
Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention
(Quarterly Journal of Speech)
Battleground Chicago: The
Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention
Rewiring Politics: Presidential Nominating Conventions in the
Media Age
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