Capturing news with a camera is not a snap

Capturing news with a camera is not a snap

Photojournalists tell stories through images. To do that they have to get into the thick of it. A man is arrested during the protests against the government of President Dina Boluarte in Lima, Peru on 4 February 2023. Credit: Alfonso Silva-Santisteban.  This article...

Telling stories through photos doesn’t require an expensive camera and decades of experience. Students can be photojournalists too — so long as they’re prepared and know what makes an effective photo. In this piece, correspondent Norma Hilton covers tips for capturing news with a camera, while staying safe. 

Exercise: Read the article with your class, then have students compile a list of photojournalism tips from the text. With these tips in mind, students will then go out into the local community to take photos of a newsworthy event (e.g. a student rally, school football game, mayoral debate, city council meeting, etc.). Can students capture an effective photo that tells a story? As an extension of this exercise, students can put together a photo essay and pitch their story to us for a chance to be published on our global news site.

Maybe you can handle the truth. But can you verify it?

Maybe you can handle the truth. But can you verify it?

Making sure that information is true isn’t easy. Our correspondent takes you through the arduous process of fact-checking a news story. Illustration by Ana Schwartz for News Decoder When I first started out in journalism as a 17-year-old, I had never heard of...

Correspondent Norma Hilton models the process of fact-checking in this important article for students and adults alike. In a world inundated with instantaneous information at our fingertips, knowing how to distinguish fact from fiction is ever-critical.

Exercise: After reading the article, have students dissect the fact-checking process modeled in the text. Prompt a class discussion on what the process looks like in practice, step-by-step. Did anything about the process surprise them? Then, in pairs, students should fact-check a short news text (either one they’ve selected or one you provide to them). Which sources should they examine to confirm that the text is credible?

Author: Norma Hilton