Lesson 10

The Border in News Media

Objective: Students will think and write critically about the differences between U.S. and Mexican Media, as it pertains to coverage of border issues.  Students will analyze a variety written texts, graphics, photos, and video images in order to understand how differing cultures interpret the same events.

NCSS Standards Met By This Lesson: I, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X

Introduction: Among other things, this lesson will reveal how little the U.S. media pays attention to the news from the Mexican border cities.  That fact alone may spark some discussion among the students.  The focus on this lesson is to discern what kinds of issues seem to be preoccupying the media on both sides of the border--a kind of comparison/contrast exercise.

Materials/Preparation: For best results, this lesson will require an expenditure of a few dollars.  Bring into class a few days' worth of newspapers from both U.S. and Mexican border cities.  For example, in the El Paso-Juárez area, three days' worth of the El Paso Times, the Las Cruces Sun-News, and El Diario de Juárez (and if possible El Norte de la Ciudad Juárez).  The Juárez newspapers are available at any large newsstand. 

In addition, The El Paso Times, The Sun-News, and El Diario are all available on the Internet.  However, currently they only post today's news, although some special reports are kept on-line for several months.

The on-line links are:

Californias:
Frontera (Tijuana)
La Crónica (Mexicali)
San Diego Union Tribune

Ambos Nogales (Sonora & Arizona):
El Imparcial
Tucson Citizen

Paso del Norte:
El Diario (Ciudad Juárez)
El Norte (Ciudad Juárez)
El Paso Times

Tamaulipas-Texas:
El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo)
Laredo Morning News

El Mañana (Reynosa)
McAllen Monitor

A great translation resource:

Alta Vista Babel Fish: http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/translate.dyn
Any document in Spanish on the Internet can be translated into English using this translation service:

Instruction/Practice:

Part 1 -- Group Research/Analysis/Write-Up

Break students in three or four groups, each one given a day's worth of both U.S. and Mexican border city dailies. At least one person in each group should be able to read Spanish at a level strong enough to get the basic idea of the articles (even without a knowledge of Spanish, the basic content of the articles can be ascertained).

Have each group make a chart of stories covered by both papers.  This analysis can be done in several ways.  One option would be to list the top 10 stories in each paper.  Another option would be to analyze the basic stories on each page.  How much attention is given to crime?  Social events?  Entertainment?  Politics?  World news?  News from the bordering city or nation?  This analysis can be as detailed as measuring how many column inches are devoted to certain stories.

For example, how much space is given in the Mexican border daily to news about the U.S. border city? To the U.S. news general?  Compare this to the amount of space given in the U.S. border daily to news from Mexico and the Mexican border city.

Groups may discover their own angles for comparison.  How much attention is given to celebrities?  To women's issues?  How are women depicted in advertisements, social sections?  What kinds of news and extra-news items (cartoons, horoscopes, puzzles) does each paper have that the other papers do not have at all?

One fact that will become obvious is how much more detailed and lengthy the Mexican stories are compared to the U.S.  How much of the Mexican newspaper is local news written by local writers, compared to U.S.?  How much of the news is written by national or international wire services?  How much space is given to editorial commentary?

What kinds of photographs, political cartoons, and other visual elements are in both U.S. and Mexico newspapers?  (If a drug-related or other kind of execution killing has happened in Juárez, it is very likely that a graphic and bloody picture will grace the front page. This phenomenon alone is worthy of discussion.)

Part 2 -- Class Discussion: Comparison and Contrast

After completing their analyses and comparisons, the groups will re-convene as a class.  The teacher will moderate a comparison/contrast discussion by taking observations from the groups about the similarities and differences between U.S. and Mexican dailies and creating a list on the board.

Closure: Have each student write up a short statement noting the differences in coverage between U.S. and Mexican newspapers.  Each student should strive to articulate and develop at least three points that struck them the most.

One question that might be asked of all students: Is there a border between the news media of border cities?  That is, given the geographical closeness and socio-economic symbiosis of border cities, does it strike you as odd in any way that the news media of both cities barely recognizes the big stories going on in the neighboring city?

Extensions: Students may go beyond analyzing news print media to other forms of news media.  For example, students may watch the local U.S. border city TV news for several nights, and note if the station covers any news from the Mexican border city.  If possible, students may also watch the local Mexican border city TV news and ask the same question.

Students may also listen to a local U.S. border radio station and a local Mexican border radio station and keep a journal or log of what they heard.  This assignment could be expanded to include several radio stations, with a journal being kept over a period of two or three hours.  Again, a simple analysis/recording of content will suffice, with a written statement of conclusions.  The question of how much or how little the stations seem to take note of the other border city should also be considered.

Another extension of the media lesson would be to have students cut up the various newspapers and make a collage of text and images from both sides of the border.  Students should consider how juxtaposing U.S. and Mexican media content might demonstrate some of the conclusions they have reached about the similarities and the differences between news coverage from the two sides of the border.  The collage can and should include photographs, images, advertisements--any and every part of the newspaper that says something about how the world is conveyed through the news print media of both countries.

For a final Border Project, a group of students may write and publish their own border newspaper/news website.

Updated October 2004