Reading the news: a worksheet

India opposes attempts to portray world's largest democracy negatively using unverified allegations at UN

5 reports from 5 outlets over 3 hours. Those outlets have 4 owners.

• The Hindu BusinessLine and The Hindu have the same owner: The Hindu Group.
• Hindustan Times, The Hindu BusinessLine, The New Indian Express, The Hindu and Deccan Herald used nearly the same words. Headlines this close usually come from one news agency’s copy.

1. HT Hindustan Times · 21 Oct · ≈ same wording
   India opposes attempts to portray world's largest democracy negatively using unverified allegations at UN
2. HB The Hindu BusinessLine · 21 Oct · ≈ same wording
   India opposes attempts to portray world's largest democracy negatively using unverified allegations at UN
3. NI The New Indian Express · 21 Oct · ≈ same wording
   India opposes attempts to portray world's largest democracy negatively using unverified allegations at UN
4. TH The Hindu News · 21 Oct · ≈ same wording
   India opposes attempts to portray world’s largest democracy negatively using unverified allegations at UN
5. DH Deccan Herald · 21 Oct · ≈ same wording
   India opposes attempts to portray world's largest democracy negatively using unverified allegations at UN

Questions

1. Which words do most headlines share? Which words does only one outlet use, and what do they stress?

2. Who reported it first, and how long did the others take? Does “first seen by Huduku” mean they broke the story?

3. How many different owners carried it? Do any outlets share an owner, or nearly the same words?

4. Which outlets you know did not carry it? What might explain that?

5. What is the original source (a judgment, notice, speech or set of figures)? Find it. Does any headline say more than the source does?

6. If you shared one of these headlines, which would it be, and why?

Each headline links to the outlet’s own report. Huduku shows headlines only. https://huduku.org/story/6263