Online Resources & News Articles for Classroom Use

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Web Resources

StudentsforOrwell

1984 Themes in Current Media: News Articles and Cartoons

• "George Bush Channels George Orwell."  by Daniel Kurtzman .
  
  
• "Gore Accuses Bush of 'Big Brother' Policy" by Jennifer C. Kerr, November 10, 2003, The Guardian
  Former Vice President Al Gore accused President Bush on Sunday of failing to make the country safer after the Sept. 11 attacks and using the war against terrorism as a pretext to consolidate power. "They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government - toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book '1984' - than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Gore charged.
  
  
•  "Lying and Distorting the News OK in Florida." Norfolk Genetic Information Network. 19 February 2003   
  Jane Akre and Steve Wilson are the two journalists fired by Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV after they refused to rewrite a documentary investigation into Monsanto's GM bovine growth hormone, BGH/Posilac, used to make cows produce more milk. Akre and Wilson had unearthed reports of serious side effects in cows treated with the hormone and also flagged up human health issues, but were asked to rewrite the report to make it more favourable to BGH/Monsanto. They said no, and lost their jobs, allegedly as a direct consequence. Akre won damages from Fox in a lawsuit brought under whistle-blowing laws, but now it seems the verdict has been overturned.
  
  
•  "The Empire Wants War, Not Justice." Sean Healy, ZNet, Nov. 7, 2001. 
  Among all the words the Bush administration has used to describe the September 11 terrorist attacks -- "atrocity", "outrage", "act of evil" -- one phrase has been conspicuously missing: "crime against humanity". It's an odd absence. International law defines a crime against humanity as an act committed as part of a "widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack".
  
  
• The Two Georges, Orwell and Bush: A Dramatic Reading of George Orwell’s Classic Work 1984 Interspersed With Recent News Clips From President Bush and Others
  
  
• "Author Bradbury Steamed at ‘Fahrenheit’ Film Name," The Journal Gazette, June 22, 2004
  
  
• "The Orwell Diversion," by Alex Carey. From the book "Taking the Risk out of Democracy." (submitted by Luz Ogarrio)
  
  
• There are a number of relevant cartoons that you can download at ZNet.  Recommended:
  "War is Peace" by Nick Watson http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/show_toon.cfm?toonID=433&toonList=1159,999,681,433&index=display.cfm
  
  "Orwell in the Senate" by Barry Deutsche http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/show_toon.cfm?toonID=301&toonList=999,948,301&index=display.cfm
  
  "War is Peace" by Kirk Anderson http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/show_toon.cfm?toonID=1159&toonList=1159,999,681,433&index=display.cfm
  
  "Happy 1984" by Kirk Anderson http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/show_toon.cfm?toonID=1040&toonList=1040,999&index=display.cfm
  
  "For Whom the Chip Beeps" by Jim Siergey http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/show_toon.cfm?toonID=1366&toonList=1517,1366,1325,1040,999&index=display.cfm
  
  "War is Peace" by Kirk Anderson (different from the first listing)http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/show_toon.cfm?toonID=681&toonList=999,681&index=display.cfm.
  
  
• "Searching for Truth in a Media Maelstrom," The Decatur Daily Democrat, September 21, 2004 
  
  
• "Words And Freedom," American Daily, July 30, 2004
  
  
• "Take A Stand For Liberty Before It Is Too Late," American Daily, February 16, 2004
  
  

News links are provided for informational purposes, do not imply endorsement by NCTE, and were live when this was published.