AMIR Group Media Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to foster your development as a critical consumer of information as you identify and analyze differences in the ways in which highly charged issues are discussed.
Group Media Comparison Project:
You will work with a group to select a hot button issue from current or relatively recent events and examine the ways it is (was) being covered by various media outlets. Once you select your topic you must obtain a representative sample of how the topic is being discussed in major outlets of the Conservative, Liberal, and Non-partisan media as well as how it is being discussed on social media. The website www.allsides.com will assist you in determining the political views of various media outlets. The components of your project are listed below.
A representative sample of how the topic is being discussed in the Conservative (right wing) media:
1 short video clip from a major conservative cable news outlet (e.g. Fox News)
1 example from a major conservative web site (e.g. The Heritage Foundation)
1 example from a major conservative magazine or newspaper (e.g. The National Review / The New York Post)
A representative sample of how the topic is being discussed in the Liberal / Progressive (left wing) media:
1 short video clip from a major liberal cable news outlet (e.g. MSNBC)
1 example from a major liberal web site (e.g. thinkprogress.org)
1 example from a major liberal magazine or newspaper (e.g. Mother Jones / The New York Times )
A representative sample of how the topic is being discussed in the Center / Non-partisan / Mainstream media:
1 short video clip from a major mainstream news outlet (e.g. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN)
1 example from a major mainstream web site (e.g. politico.com )
1 example from a major mainstream magazine or newspaper (e.g. Time / USA Today )
A representative sample of how the topic is being discussed in the social media:
1 example of a back and forth discussion from a social media outlet (e.g. Facebook, Twitter)
Your instructor will specify the format and length for your presentation and final product.
Below are some questions to consider as you develop your presentation:
– How does the language use differ across the political spectrum?
– Did the different coverage of the topic simply speak about it in different language, or was there disagreement about the actual facts surrounding the topic? If the facts were in dispute, whom did you believe? Why?
– Did you have strong feelings about this topic before you began this project?
– Were your feelings changed at all after hearing the extreme views on either side of the issue and if so, how?
– Can you imagine how someone who only got information about this topic from one viewpoint might see the issue?
– After seeing how the right and left wing of the political spectrum treated this issue, are you more likely to want to get your news from just one of these viewpoints in the future? In other words, did one of these viewpoints hit home with you so well or turn you off so much that you might choose a network or website with one viewpoint and avoid another in the future?
– If you strongly disagreed with one viewpoint, do you think that you would be able to work with the person who expressed that viewpoint if he or she suddenly showed up tomorrow as your boss, professor, or coworker?
