Library Digital Content Access

Media and War

Created By: Paul Hohulin, Centennial High School (Champaign, IL)
Content Area: U.S. History

Standard Achieved	Activity that Meets this Standard
16.A.4a: Analyze and report historical events to determine cause and effect relationships.	Students will analyze how newspapers, pamphlets, letters, and word of mouth helped foment rebellion during the Revolutionary War. Students will then compare and contrast the role of news media in the Revolutionary War with the current war in Iraq. Cause and effect relationships will be identified and discussed.

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death - Patrick Henry
News Account Pennsylvania Journal April 19, 1775 - Diary of the American Revolution, 1771-1781 compiled by Frank Moore (New York: Washington Square Press 1967)
Letter from a Gentleman of New England. From Letters On The American Revolution 1774-1776 edited by Margaret Wheeler Willard (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1925)

Determine cause and effect relationships between various types of news media and war.
Determine if there are cause-and-effect relationships between newspapers, pamphlets, letters and the American Revolution.
Discuss the media's current role in the war with Iraq. How does media impact events, public opinion and decisions by leaders?
Analyze similarities and differences between the news media of the Revolutionary War and the modern news media and the war in Iraq.
Evaluate the impact of each within the context of cause and effect relationships i.e. movement of public opinion one way or the other.