Most of the  English language resources below are easily adaptable for use in any language one teaches. Some of these suggestions were written for younger children , yet may offer just the "ticket" for older students when adjusted for appropriate age and interest level. I like the fact that many of the activities are "integrative " and get students to use several skills across several communicative modes. T. Bob points out the language benefits of Learning to Read a French Newspaper  - increasing vocabulary, reading practice using authentic sources, exposure to target culture, cross cultural comparisons, etc.  I think there may also be great "content" value (social studies, etc.!....) in learning to evaluate the news through a variety of media  in more than one language.

Judging Information
http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_ss/teacher99/rubrics/RUBRIC16.pdf
A general rubric that may be helpful in ascertaining goals for a unit on news analysis.

Twenty Five Ideas for Teaching Current Events
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson072.shtml
Newsmapping and graphing, listening for details as the teacher reads an
article aloud, skimming and scanning a news story , eliciting the "5
W's" of journalism (who, when, what, where, why), matching headlines to
the articles for which they were written, and making decisions about why
a particular article was included as "news" (i.e. timeliness, relevance,
magnitude, oddity, etc.) are among the suggested activities here. (Many
ways to integrate language teaching with "culture and connections" !)

Heads Up for Headlines
(http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/02/lp258-04.shtml)
Writing headlines for news articles.

Drawing On the News
(http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/snapshot/20030318.html)
Every Monday through Friday, News Snapshot features a newsworthy  and
provocative photo from The New York Times, along with the basic set of
questions answered by journalists when relaying the news-- who,
what,where, when, why and how. An activity for younger students.

Cruise the News
(http://www.askeric.org/Virtual/Lessons/Interdisciplinary/INT0014.html)
An "Ask Eric" lesson plan in which students peruse the newspaper to find
various types of items. Can be used as a scavenger hunt, and good way to
introduce appropriate vocabulary.

History Today and Everyday, and Using "On this Day In the Classroom"
(http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/02/lp258-05.shtml) and
(http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20001016monday.html?pagewanted=all)
Students assess how print journal reflects the values and language of
the society in which it is created.

CNN Student News : Examine the role of journalists in documenting history
(http://fyi.cnn.com/2003/fyi/lesson.plans/03/21/iraq.war/)
The point of this exercise is to help students understand the work of
historians(i.e. making choices about what is most meaningful and
significant) and to consider the idea of journalists as providers of
first drafts of history. Students are encouraged to notice topics most
frequently selected during a given day, what information was left out by
journalists, etc.The theme behind the exercise happens to be the ongoing
war in Iraq, but the teacher might choose some other ongoing news
interest.

Working on the Slant
(http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/02/lp258-01.shtml)
Students find similarities and differences in news coverage in different
papers ,and draw venn diagrams, fill out charts, etc. to compare the
different ways the same news story is handled.

Comparing Papers
(http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_lp258-01.shtml)
(sample diagram)

Tabloid Tales
(http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/02/lp255-03.shtml)
Students explore current tabloid news stories;  find the five W's in
those stories; talk about how tabloids sell newspapers by using
exaggerated headlines, twisting facts, and finding the oddest stories;
select an actual tabloid headline and write a story that might have
appeared with that headline.

CNN Student News : Evaluate the style and content of news summaries
about the war in iraq
(http://fyi.cnn.com/2003/fyi/lesson.plans/03/31/iraq.war/)
 Students examine the criteria used to choose stories, determine the
possible perspectives they represent, and contemplate how different
segments of American society interpret various reports.

Analyze President Bush's National Address
(http://fyi.cnn.com/2003/fyi/lesson.plans/03/18/iraq/)
Students are asked to consider the potential global impact of his
address and how historians might judge this speech 5, 10 and 20 years
from now. Again, the subject is Iraq, but a different speech and
different theme - a different country and language! - could be chosen.

Lesson Plan Archive from "High School Journalism"
(http://highschooljournalism.org//teachers/lessonplan_index.cfm)
Lesson plans linked to this site include topics such as writing captions
and headlines, a look at various types of media coverage and their
motivation and audiences,determining what makes a good news
source,entertainment versus "hard news", manipulation of the media,  how
editorial cartoons help shape public opinion, etc.

Slanted Sentences - Exploring Bias in the News
(http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20030320thursday.html)
In this lesson, students look for biased words in  news articles,
suggest synonyms, then rewrite the sentences to demonstrate how word
choice can alter meaning. Lesson plan prepared by the NY Times.

Exploring Marketing Strategies in the News
(http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20030327thursday.html)
A lesson plan with related links from the NY Times

Identifying Propaganda
(http://www.turnerlearning.com/cnn/election/l4_sh2.html)
From CNN.

Leaders in a Media Age
(http://www.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/specials/inauguration/lesson.plans/media.age.lp.html)
Student analyze news sources for tone, point of view and accuracy and
identify ways in which the news media can help create public opinion.
From CNN and uses a variety of media types.

The Media
(http://www.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/news/10/election.special/teachers/lp.themedia.html)
Another CNN lesson, comparing the different media formats in
distributing political messages.

Ethical Studies in the Media - an "Ask Eric" Lesson Plan
(http://www.askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Journalism/JNL0201.html)

Ed Helper's Journalism Topics
(http://www.edhelper.com/cat162.htm)

Freedom of the Press
(http://www.col-ed.org/cur/sst/sst155.txt)
This lesson focuses on the role the press plays as a
"watchdog" for the citizenry.  By examining the story behind the
Watergate break-in, students see not only the benefits of a free press,
but also the obstacles that can be placed in the way of reporters trying
to gather information.  They also gain insight into the varying
perspectives of reporters,editors,publishers
and government officials.

Lesson Plans for the Professional Cartoonists Index
(http://cagle.slate.msn.com/teacher/middle/lessonplanMS2.asp)

The cartoonist's index ( http://cagle.slate.msn.com/) includes some
great stuff!

Information Counterfeits
(http://www.library.jhu.edu/elp/useit/evaluate/counterfeit.html#info)
Determining the veracity of online info.

Resources Specific to French Language:

Activités pédagogiques autour de la presse
http://www.ac-reims.fr/datice/cdi/Presse/pressepedago.htm
Suggested activities are  accompanied by student worksheets that can be
saved to your word processor for viewing and adjusting to your own
classes. The fiche called "titres", for example, discusses the "5 W's"
in their French version (qui, quoi, quand, etc) and asks students to
discern titles which are "incitatif" or "informatif".... Many nice
activities here, and even though they are geared for somewhat younger
students, they would be very workable in the high school French class.

Pour connaitre le jargon de la presse écrite
(http://www.clemi.org/formation/outils/glossaire_presse.html
(glossary)

Connaitre le vocabulaire de la presse
http://www.jdi-mag.com/fiche/pre00631.asp

Jargon de la presse
http://www.culture.fr/culture/dglf/clemi/intro-recit.htm
an interactive reading with press vocabulary

Comment lire un journal
http://www.chez.com/ecolepontdesuve/francais/lecture/lecture.htm
Written for young (native) French students to teach them how to peruse
the paper and observe its contents.

Analyse de la presse en ligne
http://www.ac-reunion.fr/pedagogie/documentalistes/peda/fiches/presse/analyse-presse-en-ligne.pdf
A fiche in pdf form for student use in the analysis of online news

Guide des meilleurs journaux du net
(http://www.giga-presse.com/top_rubrique.php?categorie=1)

News Magazines In French Especially for Children
http://madameshackelford.com/newsmagazines.html
(small selection; several have online versions)

Fiches pédagogiques du Clemi
http://www.clemi.org/formation/fiches/fichespedago.html
A large variety of press related activities and in a variety of media ,
including radio, television, photography, etc.)

Les Titres dans la presse
http://www.culture.fr/culture/dglf/clemi/intro-titres.htm
Interactive exercise which helps students learn to analyze press titles
linguistically and stylistically.

Jouez avec les mots des journalistes
http://www.culture.fr/culture/dglf/clemi/mots_journalistes.htm
Interactive exercise acquainting students with journalistic style.

Lire Français - la langue du journal sud ouest
http://www.lire-francais.com/index.html
Excellent interactive site. Students work with rubriques of short
articles for reading comprehension and become familiar with a quotidien.
 
 

La Semaine de la Presse dans l'école
(http://www.clemi.org/spe1.html)
There are links on this page to fiches and documents and discussions
such as "presse et justice". The page is also available in Spanish!
The 2004 theme of La Semaine de la presse is "Diversité des médias,
pluralisme des opinions".
 

Approches et actions pédagogiques autour de la presse
http://www.ac-nantes.fr/peda/disc/cdi/peda/53-4-99.htm#I ) Approches de la presse
concerning le titre , le logo, la une, l’article, les gros titres,
le chapeau, les intertitres, les illustrations,  les légendes, l’ours,
vocabulaire lié à la périodicité : mensuel etc...métiers de la presse.
Site includes a large bibliography.

Analyzer et comprendre la presse
http://www.presse-ecole.com/page.cfm?R=5&page=comprendre
Another compendium of ideas for the classroom.

A toi de juger
http://www.education-medias.ca/francais/ressources/educatif/exercises/journal_2.cfm
Activity in which students are asked to reflect on a scenario, then
"judge" which of three short articles best reports it.

l'Actualité en classe
http://www.actualiteenclasse.com/document.asp?o=1
Canadian site with terms and ideas.

Les Médias au Québec - current situation
http://www.actualiteenclasse.com/situation.html
Numerous links about current issues.

Ressources pédagogiques du Réseau Éducation-Médias pour le primaire (6 à
12 ans)
http://www.pch.gc.ca/csp-pec/eduaction/volume2/teachingk6_f.htm
Multiple themes (in French and English) on this Canadian
site....(stereotypes, advertisements, comics, etc.)

Ressources pédagogiques du Réseau Éducation-Médias pour le secondaire
(de 12 à 17 ans)
http://www.pch.gc.ca/csp-pec/eduaction/volume2/teaching-712_f.htm
Themes including television, themes and conventions of the press, etc.

Pour s'informer sur l'information......
http://ibelgique.ifrance.com/sociomedia/dossierattentats/dossierattentats.htm
Belgian site with multiple links.

Radio Canada's "Métiers de la radio"
http://radio-canada.ca/education/
occupations in radio explained.

Miquelon. org
http://www.miquelon.org/
Miquelon is a watchdog group dedicated to documenting French-Bashing and
Anti-French activity and monitoring the news and entertainment media.
Its web site is filled with links back to specific articles and
discussion of inappropriate journalistic tactics.

Note that an article in the French Review, May 2002, by Edward C. Knox
("The New York Times Looks at France") attempts analysis of at least
three rhetorical components: headlines, using what we already know about
France, and artificial balance as exemplified by published letters to
the editor to purport the NY Time's view of France as an identifiable
and analyzable "personality" with a disparity between how it sees itself
and the country's true place in the world today.This article and the
examples therein might serve as a starting point for student searches in
local and foreign press for headlines (etc) to analyze in a similar
fashion.
 

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (Liberal)
http://www.fair.org/

Media Research Center (Conservative)
http://www.mediaresearch.org/