Using Real News for Education
Broadcast News, a multimedia software package, allows kids to become news reporters for an hour. The program, which is stored on laser disc, combines text, audiovisual footage and video recording capabilities to simulate television broadcast reporting as accurately as possible. In the prototype version of Broadcast News, the managing editor (the computer) tells the student that Rajiv Gandhi has just been assassinated, and that she must file a broadcast news clip within a given amount of time. The computer then allows the student to ask any questions she might need to have answered in order to complete the assignment: Who was Gandhi? Why is he important? What is a prime minister?, etc. The software responds to the questions with a combination of news clips from an NBC archive and video clips of experts who have been interviewed on the subject.
