The News and Retractions of Joe Paterno’s Death Told Through Storify

Storify used to tell the story of Joe Paterno death claims and retractionsJoe Paterno’s failing health was a topic of conversation on the web Jan. 21. It became the main thing being talked about though around 8 p.m. when numerous news organizations reported that the former Penn State football coach had died. Word spread quickly, and just about as fast, news organizations began retracting their initial reports after learning that Paterno was still alive and in serious condition.

I used Storify to recap a small portion of the evening as it unfolded.

There are a lot of great lessons here. One is obviously showing students how they could use Storify to tell stories of school events. However, there are much deeper lessons here that deal with accuracy and verification of information, social sharing of news, news in the age of ‘Now’,  and repercussions for inaccurate work.

I’ll go ahead and embed the Storify below, high school teachers should take note that if you plan to show this in class, you may need to take screenshots or use other alternatives if Storify or any of the secondary links (like Facebook) are blocked at school.

If you are unfamiliar with Storify, here is a Youtube video that gives a good, quick overview. Also, if you are new to Twitter you might want to take a peek at this to help you make sense of some of the Twitter talk you may find confusing.

http://storify.com/manfull/timeline-of-news-and-retractions-regarding-joe-pat

Connect with Aaron Manfull on Twitter @manfull.

 

Aaron Manfull

Aaron is in his 26th year of advising student media. He is currently the Director of Student Media at Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Missouri. He is the Journalism Education Association Digital Media Chair and co-Director of Media Now. He is the 2023 JEA Teacher Inspiration Award Winner and is a former Dow Jones News Fund National Journalism Teacher of the Year. He is one of the authors of the textbook "Student Journalism and Media Literacy." You can find him on X and Instagram @manfull. He's a proud father. A transplanted Iowan. And an avid Hawkeye Fan.

Aaron Manfull has 864 posts and counting. See all posts by Aaron Manfull

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