Students of business administration in polytechnic higher education are faced with management content that can present specific difficulties when it refers to organisational contexts with which they are generally unfamiliar. This paper examines the way in which a learning and assessment methodology aimed at promoting "proximity" to subjects and course content can be put into practice through the use of a context that is "familiar to students": business and economics news in the media. By performing a critical analysis of a news item in the media, students select and apply the content of the course they are studying to a real event. In parallel to presenting the results obtained using the methodology concerned (student performance and mark obtained), student perception of this active methodology will also be analysed. The conclusion will focus on ways of adapting the teaching of management to students' particular interests and knowledge. (Contains 2 tables, 7 graphs, and 11 footnotes.)