Mass Media Usage in Schools

“Newspapers deal with what teachers define as serious issues and do so in more in-depth ways than other mass media.”

Segall, A., & Schmidt, S. (2006). Reading the newspaper as a social text. The Social
Studies 97(3). Retrieved December 4, 2008, from Academic OneFile database.


Although many forms of mass media are considered by teachers to be inadequate sources of information, as presented in an article in The Social Studies, Ann Segall and Sandra Schmidt suggest that teachers feel that newspapers, as a more traditional source of media, are more reliable and reflect the more important issues of today (Segall, A., & Schmidt, S. 2006). I my own research experience I have found that yes, newspapers do cover what many people around the world would consider to be “serious issues” however, I do not feel that it is fair to exclude other forms of mass media from this grouping. I personally feel that there are a plethora of magazine that cover the same topics as are presented in the newspapers, but they go much more in depth. Take Time magazine for example, they can take a story that may have been covered in three paragraphs in a newspaper and provide research that makes up three pages worth of content. Don’t jump to a conclusion as to which mass media source is going to give the best and most adequate information because it is a combination of sources that will tie all of that information together.