#2 Editor for a Day Winners Announced!
20 September 2019Winners announced!
reasoning_snow and clever_atom
A superb second round of competition entries this week - thank you to everyone who took part! It has been a pleasure to see you all speaking up for what you thought is important (or not important!).
It was incredibly hard to choose a winner. Our two winners gave original and thought-provoking responses, both staying focussed on one particular idea and explaining well within the word limit.
Our primary school winner, reasoning_snow, chose to focus on the kind of headlines they would want to see and gave strong reasons why we should consider readers' mental health when publishing newspapers.
Clever_atom was our secondary winner. They placed importance on human rights and gave a clear reason why this would be the central theme of their newspaper.
Lots of stars have been awarded for a range of reasons: we were particular impressed with those who gave evidence to back up their reasons and had showed careful thinking behind their choices.
Competition #3 will be going live shortly- keep up the entries, and the thinking!
Every week, you'll find a different competition to take part in. These will either be linked to one of the Burnet News Club skills or the Issue you are currently working with. And often both!
This week's challenge is to imagine you have been put in charge of a national newspaper for a day. What would you do?
You can answer with whatever comes to mind, but you can use these questions to help:
What kind of stories do you think should be making the news? Why?
What kind of stories you think shouldn't be making the news? Why?
This is your chance to tell us about what you think should be talked about more, and what should be talked about less.
Your answer should be a maximum of 100 words. The best entries will show good REASONING - making decisions and saying why.
There will always be one primary and one secondary school winner and we announce who they are next Friday. Good luck!
Comments (45)
I think that stories that involve government, and important announcements should be on the front of more newspapers, I think this because it teaches people things they will have to face, or new things happening in a place near them. Many people like drama shows, so I think people would buy them because it’s amusing. The things I’m not sure about is fake news. People shouldn't be given fake news, because it gives them false hopes, but it sells. Editors would want to make the most money, so fake news would a good, but bad way to do so.
I agree with you because the announcements that governments make should be on the front of the papers, as they are the ones who govern us and change our rules of society, which is something that directly impacts us. However, I think that although the government runs the country, there could be more pressing matters. I think this because, the government and Brexit may be very important to not just the British but other people in the EU. However, there could be more important things that need to dominate the news or be featured just as heavily, for example: Global Warming (this is a global thing and should be covered a lot more) or you could have the Amazon Rainforest being on fire (this should be a lot more concerning then it is made out to be). The rainforest gives us 20% of the world's oxygen, yet it has barely made news headlines! Without oxygen, we can't live; with a no deal Brexit, we can! All of these things could possibly cause apocalyptic events that could end the world and life as we know it. Habitats are also being destroyed. Notre Dame's fire raised billions of Euros, but the rainforest appears forgotten, yet arguably is more important because it's older! These stories should get a lot more coverage then things that might not affect everyone. These events would affect every living thing on Earth, and yet it doesn't get much coverage.
Thanks for your contribution, content_duck. It is often said that the Amazon provides 20% of the world's oxygen (even by famous politicians!) so it's not surprising that you thought so too!
But it has been revealed to be be untrue for a number of a scientific reasons. Can you find any of them? https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2019/08/why-amazon-doesnt-really-produce-20-worlds-oxygen is a good place to start.
I think stories about global warming, government situations and child appropriate should be in the news as all these stories will entertain people,warn people and stop them from doing the wrong things. What I believe shouldn't be on news is definitely fake news because these days people are putting fake news and that can't be accepted in two ways
#1 they are doing it for money
#2 if someone is included in a lie they will feel offended plus it could start a fight
Another thing that shouldn't be on the news is murder and suicide because if children are reading the news and they see news about the news it could make them feel emotional, could make the commit suicide or murder themselves and it could include a lie.
thank you.
Nice point.
thanks for the complement
I would try to eradicate the use of fake news. Although fake news sells well, it can also reflect badly on a newspapers reputation after it has been prove false. I would also try to put more about the situation with state school funds. Schools have had to reduce their budget and it is effecting the pupils. For example, at my school, we have had to reduce the amount of time we are in school by fifty-five minutes. In addition, I would put Brexit on second page as it is important; however, it has begun to bore people.
Brexit in a Newspaper?:
Yes:
I agree with you that Brexit is starting to bore people out but Brexit is highly important for example: Parliament has been closed down for 5 weeks so now they will have to use the other side of parliament which makes it harder for the MPs ( member of parliament)to vote but the the prime minister has spoken to the Queen, so parliament will return on October 14th, another example why Brexit important is because it will effect the country not only but the people of UK. Some newspapers company also believe why Brexit is valuable for example: The guardian believe that the country must keep inclusive not angry. It is very important how we wanted to vote because now that we are soon going to leave the EU it will effect us, our family, country, life,children education,jobs,and future.
No:
I also comply that Brexit has begun to bore people out like, in parliament they keep on postponing the dates and another reason why it has bore people out is cause they have being making to much excuses and making more votes going around in parliament. I think that Brexit has been taking up most of our time and we have not been worrying whats going on around the world and our planet global warning.
I would talk about the crisis in Hong Kong. One hundred years ago, Britain took hold of Hong Kong in 1897. Now that China is in hold of the city, it is meddling with Hong Kong’s elections And votings
I think that fake news should be dislodged and things that is not important should be removed as well
because it is not real and things that are not important no one would be interested but things like brexit, politics
and more should be allowed because they are important and other people find interesting.
In my opinion, I think stories that should be shown on News websites and TV shows are issues about the eviorement,
updates about parliament, issues from around the world for example: in Antarctica glaciers are starting to melt very quickly which is making more effect on global and another example is about parliament which has been suspended for about 5 weeks but our prime minister made a discussion with the Queen saying that parliament should be back on October 14
I would elaborate about the failure of education. There are an increasing number of failing students in the education system, that feel stupid, purely for the fact that academia is not their strong point.
Just because you get low grades doesn't always mean that you won't succeed.
Fish cannot climb trees, but they can swim; however, in a test of climbing trees, they would fail.
This is something of interest to people and it’s different to what usually is on newspapers.
Brexit is always front-page news, so I’d have a Brexit pull out section, so people can still obtain information.
I would also talk about the Amazon forest. Deforestation fires have been burning the Amazon for decades now. In 2018, 7,900 km squared was burned down leaving only 3,307,949 km squared. it might sound big but the Amazons original size was 5.5 km squared (2.1 squared metres). This is a huge problem and it needs to be fixed, it's endangering many animal species, insects and even humans. Think about it we need trees to live, they give oxygen to us. I would put this on my news paper as it is important that we keep wild life safe and that we stop destroying the world.
I would try and get entertaining stories but not anything offending.Also,I would like to try and reduce the people that live on the streets because everyone deserves a home no whether who they are.And maybe, I would try reduce plastic from the ocean because animals are getting injured because of plastic waste in the ocean.They do no harm. but with plastic in the word,it could change everything.Fake newspapers that some children read is just not right.It can lure children into doing things that they don’t want to do.It can also change the way they act,talk and respond to people.
I completely and utterly agree with you 'precious_heart', because it is totally wrong that young children should be lured into things that they shouldn't see or do at there age.
I would try and gather as much REAL news as possible then tell it in the newspaper like how NASA has found a planet with real water and in ten years time we will be able to look closer at it and then recolonise on it
What I would do is write down really important things like terrorist attacks and fire burning houses down and what food places should warn people about their food.
I would try to inform everyone about the Hong Kong protests so Everyone could hear it because it is a very serious problem and i think it would be crucial for them to know about such a severe case. I would also talk about this because it is such an immense problem and it is very alluring to know about whats happening around the world not just in one place. I would also write about how Boris Johnson could go to jail if he does not suspense Brexit. I would talk about this because this is also serious because we need to know everything about Brexit so we know if its going to happen when its going to happen etc.
If I was a news reporter, I would share true news instead of fake or stupid news that are not important. It would be for all ages people like BBC Newsround. Most people think the news is boring, even I do! So I think it is important to share fun news children might like, sports news fans might like, movie gossips for adults. All this aside, What about the things you shouldn't post? you ask, well I did say I wouldn't post "fake" things. Okay, okay let me make myself clear. News reports who want money write fake things about people, environment and politics. They get the money they need. But for us people who are watching the news believe it. For example knife crime was said to be very popular in London. Yes people believed it as London is overcrowded. But when us -BNC researchers- researched it, it was fake! We found that England is the one of the most safest countries to live in. So can't we tell by this? We need honest reporter, who know and care about news that should be real. Never know someone true can safe lives. :)
I would try to eradicate the use of fake news . People has been selling fake news through the entire world like our prime minister ( Borris Jhonson ) when people has been putting silly faces . It can also reflect b adly on a newspaper and people can prove that it is false alarm . I would also like to put real news up just incase people make fun of others . In my school me and my shool class has been talking about when people has been putting up funny jokes . Also news papers can sometimes be true unless they put up like mesquite things . Sometimes the news has begun to bore people alot.
I would first talk about a topic that has recently been talked about a lot : Amazon Rain forest It has been burning for a while now and I feel like it needs to be discussed properly. First of all it has been burning due to the Brazillian president wanting to make space for a few multi international companies that the government support. All the trees that have been burned have been causing 20% less oxygen and without that 20% global warming has been
increased. Another topic I would add to the news was what was happening in Sudan. Although it was around 2 months ago it is a very important topic that I will discuss. So the Sudanese president's time had finished on being a president so then he became greedy on the role and changed the law so he could stay longer as a president. However, the citizens of Sudan didn't want that so they started to do protest saying stuff like freedom peace and justice. The citizens actually wanted him to stop being a president because he did lots of bad stuff for the country like keep all the money that he gets for himself not for the country so the power and water would cut everyday he also left Sudan dirty and bad. Sudan also had an airline and he disabled it. He also sent the police to kill anyone that would say freedom peace and justice. After a while Sudan got a new president which was also bad. Then they got an even knew one which was good this time an kept him to this second.
Noice.I agree with you my friend. SAVE PINK DOLPHINS!!!! SAVE THE AMAZON!!!!
If I was in charge for 1 day I would get rid of fake news as the public have a right to know the truth and have no bias or influencing of decisions of the people so they can make their own choice like they deserve.
I would try to to raise as much awareness about the issue and make people understand that they should be entitled to their own opinion. I would talk about stories of people being arrested for fighting for human rights. Even though I would probably get in trouble with the government I still think that if more people start talking about this, this could motivate the government to change their minds. I think that because of the government people are 'brain-washed' to believe this is the right way to govern a country, when it's not.
Personally, I believe that Protests should be written about more and that it should not be portrayed as a bad thing and highlighting all the negative factors because protests are done for a reason and not for the fun of it.I think it should be with the condition that it is purely informative, unbiased and non-opinionated. However, news writers need to write their stories in way that won’t annoy or make people confused about the situation. An example would be how America’s President stated how he did not believe global warming was a real thing’ making people annoyed and wanting to lash due to the way he worded the affects global warming is affecting the world. This was almost deliberately done by papers to anger people and cause reactions. News that should be featured should be news that is unbiased, honest
and equal.
I think that the news should be about more important things than Brexit because it's not relevant anymore and people just want it over and done with. Examples of more important things are the amazon rain forest fires, the Hong Kong crisis and other tragedies that are happening around the world today because no one pays any attention to things that are affecting the world and humans. Another reason is that Amazon rain forests store 20% of the world's oxygen. There are other reasons like China is getting rid of people's rights and something needs to be done before China does something wrong to Hong Kong.
Thanks for your entry, consistent_poem. The statistic about oxygen and the Amazon is an interesting (but actually untrue!) one - take a look at my reply to content_duck about this. Can you find any reasons why it isn't accurate?
If i was in charge for the day i would be fair and let people vote on stories and send their own stories in so that it was a democracy, not like China's newspapers. I think it is important to tell the truth in the news so that people are informed but to also hyave a range of stories that interest everyone. I like sport news but some other people will be interested in something different. I would make the news free for the day because some people might not be able to buy it.
I think people shouldn't be writing about any violence in news papers and also people shouldn't be talking about violence on t.v news.
I would love to stop fake news because it's informing people wrong things that are not true. It's very dangerous and is raising people hopes so when they find out they will be devastated and ANGRY!!!
If I was incharge for the day I would write news about the government and the priminister Boris Johnson that he wants brexit to happen. I would also write that the party labour is against him and doesn't want brexit to happen. I would make sure that is was all true new and no fake news so that poeple are fully aware of what is happening in their country,
If I was in charge I would put in an all Global warming/plastic pollution edition as it is an important issue and we have 11 years until it is irreversible. Not many people are doing anything about it, this is our planet WE made this happen WE need to stop it NOW.
If I was in charge of the news, I would mainly focus on human rights. This is a big problem in a specific part of the world, Asia. In Hong Kong, a new rule has been declared and Hong Kong NEED our help. Lives are being taken away from innocent people. People suffer because of a small change. Should we intervene?
This will be a good topic because it uses persuasive language and catches the reader's eye. Not only will this interest them but it will make them campaign with us to change this life-changing law! Nobody should have t0 come to grow up in a country where they don't have a voice. It's a country, not a prison. NOBODY decides what happens. We make a decision TOGETHER. Not with one person, who's not different from us, that decides what happens and when. We may have come into this world by ourselves, but it doesn't mean we can't work together.
Thank you for reading respectfully.
what happens all around the world so everyone can know what's going on as they may be curious
if it was what happened all around the world it could of been someones birthday than that would go in it
If I was in charge for a day, I would make sure that anything on the news is kid-friendly. People put many headlines on the news; some of them are inappropriate. This issue may also affect children's behaviour and maybe their future.
If I was alowed to make a news paper I would put what is happening with elections because they are really important and everyone should know about it because it could be something to do with their country that they need to know.
Also I would write what happens with natrual disasters because there could of been a fire nearby their house whilst they were on holiday and it might of set their house on fire so they would need to move out.There also might of been a bad hurricane, tornado or a tsunami that could of happened at a country and lo0ts of people could of died
I think that news about our planet; our environment and plastic pollution should be written about more in newspapers because, in the end, it's going to affect all of our lives in one way or another. In my opinion news about football/celebrities shouldn't be as important as what's happening to the world we live in now. We still have a chance to save the planet however, we can't do that if we are worrying about who's going to win the premier league.
If I was in charge, I would like to write about young peoples' successes for example, Brampton manor high school students' recent A-Level academic successes , who gladly got in their first choices, after getting A**. This caused some celebrities such as Famous grime star Stormzy, giving scholarship and money to British black students provided with financial support during their degree courses. Reading about this would encourage other students to focus on their study.
I think the story's i would cover are:
important announcements,
politics,
climate change,
discrimination and racism,
violence and wars etc etc etc.
Stories i wouldn't include are:
FAKE NEWS
NO:
I think that politics (boring politics e.g Brexit) should be less on the news unless, it is a major movement because would everyone want know every 650 Mp's opinions on Brexit? I dont think it should be cancelled all together, but they should tone down on it. What I think should be on the News, is inspiring successes and stories. Music is lacking in the news as well. Finally, I would pay attention to the world around us; The News is supposed to be refreshing and informative, not boring and dry. Please give me your opinion I'm always open
dependable_eagle
firstly i would put the front page story as the hong kong crisis, i would put it as a 2 page spread. i would not put the Brexit negotiations on there unless there had been a big breakthrough!!! Another big story on there would be the climate crisis, as this will affect a lot of people's future.
If I was in charge of a newspaper, i would mainly focus on things that needed to be recognised, such as global warming ( rather than a new season of fortnite, sorry gamers ). by letting people know about the problems in the world, they would probably be more enthusiastic to do something. Say if you read the newspaper every day, you would be more aware of the things going on around you!
I totally agree with you 'protective_artic_fox'. It doesn't matter about the latest gaming program but what does matter is the information about our world at around any moment of time.
I think that interesting and pressing topics that are of global concern should make the news, so that the public knows about them and that there should be a heavy pressure to put stories about Climate Change and the Extradition in Hong Kong. I also think that stories about celebrity gossip and other "filler" material shouldn't be put in the news. However, sporting achievements and such things should be put in as they form a lot of the entertainment globally.
Make sure that everyone working for the news company is happy in their job and if not give them a chance to resign. I would check everything is ok and I would help out people write and help with the other jobs. I would also make someone else boss to give them a chance to feel what it feels like to be in charge.
If I had the privilege to have a say in the news stories in a newspaper, I would address the importance of democracy throughout the world. I believe that each and every person should have the basics of human rights. If everybody had a say and were allowed to have a fair and valid argument, the world wouyld theorectically be an improved and better place.
If I was in charge for a Local Newspaper I would tell true News and ask people around the world to help sort the issue out. Citizens who where at the scene will be involved in front of camera. Viewers watching from anywhere at any moment will be able to say there own opinions on the point.
If I was in charge of the news press for the day I would…
If I was in charge of a news press for a day, I would make sure to keep it updated with all the currant and latest news and affairs such as Brexit, the British PM and other important issues like that. This will make an increase in sales and an overall excel in in views of the newspaper company. I would also make sure that there would be a nice amount of advertisements in a varied way. I will address the more environmental issues like: global warming, deforestation and children in need.
if I was in charge of the national newspaper for the day I would not write about brexit (because everyone has heard too much about that) instead i would write about climate change because i believe that if that is all the people heard about they would start to act more on it.
if I was in charge of newspapers I would put cancer news on because people can know what going on with cancer an how to help defeat it. I would also put stuff on about what is going on with climate change and help our world and how important it is to everybody.
If I was in charge of a news paper for the day I would put the lack of police officers on the streets as it is a massive reason in the rise of violent crime. This is a very pressing issue and is more in-depth then focusing on just violent crime. Even though the PM is promising to get more police on the streets I still think that more could be done
First of all I would make sure the things I use would be recent topics and that they are true not fake news.I would make sure I fit in news about our politicians and government I would also put in recent changes to the UK like brexit or new laws since those things are important for everyone to know.Sometimes I might even add on some peoples opinions and questions about recent topics.I would also feature things that people like to read for fun like celebrities or social media’s. And adding in important news from other countries.
My enrtry
I would first talk about the Amazon Rain forest which has burned as I feel it needs to be discussed properly. All the trees that have been burned caused 20% less oxygen and without that 20% global warming has been
increased. Another topic I would add is what was happening in Sudan I will discuss this because this had a lot of violence.The president changed the law so he could stay longer. However, the citizens didn't want him because he trashed the country. So they started to protest saying freedom peace and justice. He sent the police to kill anyone that protested.
The problem is that scandalous headlines make money. We live in a society that enjoys the drama, gossip and chaos of all the headlines and doom and gloom stories which are affecting peoples mental health, and how we look at other people. Its everyones choice to read and believe what they want. So instead of banning any stories/newspapers I'd just publish my own newspaper reporting true, honest, positive and uplifting stories sent in by the readers in hope that this would make a difference to peoples mental health.
To make an accurate and appropriate decision on what should be written about more and what should we written about less, I decided to check the daily news (a popular news network). As I looked through the headlines, I saw a similarity between the majority of them- they were about negative events or negative opinions on a certain matter. The ratio between negative and positive stories was alarming and I rarely saw positive stories as the main news story.
Also, I noticed that the news tends to make an event that could be positive into a negative. For example, I saw many headlines criticising Borris Johnson for saying or doing the wrong things when it could be meantioning how he is fixing the mess that has been left behind from Brexit or simply mentioning what he is doing, but they’re not.
However, other people could argue that showing the negative news let’s eveyone know what’s going on around the world without holding back. But I believe that if they simply including more positive news stories then people might become more interested in the news and might even want to participate in things like global warming protests as they no longer see it as a bad thing. The news is indeed non- biased but the way they write stories massively influences the readers thoughts and options, if they made more positive news stories would it change how the people feel about certain stories?
Finally, it must be said that I’m not saying that negative stories should be got rid entirely because I think having positive stories to read all the time can create an unrealistic view of the world and it’s problems because our world is most certainly not perfect but showing positive stories -even as the main story- may balance out the negativity and show that bad things are happening but so are good things.