Media Analysis
OVERVIEW
This assignment draws on Chapter 5 (Best 2017) to help you think more carefully about how the media shape the social problems process that we have been learning about. You will categorize media sources and develop an analysis of media coverage of your issue. On a new subpage of your website, you will investigate and compare coverage of your issue from both mainstream and alternative sources.
PURPOSE
Skills
By differentiating media coverage from other types of sources, you will practice sorting the information you consume more critically.
By thinking about how claimsmaking strategies can be used to garner media attention, you will become more aware of the role of the media as an industry in the supply of information to the public and the social problems process.
Knowledge
By comparing the ways media and experts package claims, you will look at what sells an idea to the public. You will increase your understanding of the extent to which both groups succeed and fail in conveying information accurately.
TASK 1} Classify Media Sources
Looking at your list of sources from your Annotated Bibliography, identify those that you believe to have been authored by the media.
Create a new section in your Annotated Bibliography that is labeled “Media Coverage” in which to place these sources. On your bibliography page, you’ll now have your general list that contains all the sources you feel are authored by "Other," others for "Activists," "Experts," and "Policy," and a section just for “Media Coverage.”
Task 2} Media Analysis
Identify your sources. You must use either online or print sources. Why? When watching television or video news, the images and language go by quickly. Thus, it’s difficult to fully reflect on what you are viewing. However, if you can find an online video clip of the news piece, you may use video sources. Include links to all articles or other sources on your website (if you use a print source, scan it in to your SCU Google Drive and include a link to the scan or an image of the scan on your website).
Read at least one mainstream article about your social issue. You may use either print or online sources. Articles should be found in newspapers like San Jose Mercury News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The LA Times; in news magazines such as Newsweek, TIME, The Economist, The Atlantic, and U.S. News and World Report; or on online news sites such as NPR, ABCNews, CBS News or the BBC US News.
Next, investigate the same topic in two alternative media sources, one on each side of the political spectrum. This will enable you to see how different media sources present the issue based on their audiences. Below are some resources for finding alternative media. An Internet search can provide you with access to alternative news beyond those listed.
The Independent Voices Index is an "open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries." It is a wonderful resource for a variety of alternative news sources.
On the left, you might choose articles from Mother Jones, The Nation, BITCH magazine, HuffPost, Z Magazine, Jacobin, or Daily Kos.
Conservative sources include National Review, the American Conservative, The Washington Times (note not The Washington Post, which is more mainstream, if a bit left), Breitbart News, or the Daily Caller.
This Interactive Media Bias chart is helpful in exploring the political bias and reliability of different sources, and you can use this chart in justifying your argument for which sides of the political spectrum your sources are from.
Answer these questions in your analysis. Begin your analysis by identifying your sources, including the name of the article and the publication outlet for each of your three articles / sources. Break your response apart into the answers for each of these questions. [This analysis should be written as a holistic response about all three articles, not separately about each article.]
What are the key themes in the coverage?
What are the differing claims that you have seen in the media?
How have the writers/producers/editors shaped the message(s) through words, images, or other means? What is omitted from their message(s)?
In your view, do the messages accurately represent the totality of subject? Why or why not?
How do the messages in alternative media differ from those in mainstream media?
Does the format of the article matter? Why or why not?
Does anything else strike you about the coverage that you read?
Link your analysis with our readings, lecture, and discussion.
Format
Make a new page of your website titled “Media.” The format of a webpage allows you to embed links as well as multimedia content. Your page should have at minimum 1 image. This can be an image from a news article you are analyzing or even a logo of one of the media organizations; do not forget to give appropriate credit through citation. I encourage you to be as creative as you like with the format of this page.
Your analysis should be approximately 400-700 words.
CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS
Strong assignments will:
Use evidence to back up your arguments (this should include quotes from media coverage or include other multimedia evidence);
Clearly explain using plain language; and
Compare and contrast different media coverage and draw a conclusion about effective media strategies.
Example: Annotated Bibliography
Activists
Extinction Rebellion. n.d. “Climate And Ecological Emergency (Declaration, Emissions Target And Citizens Assembly) Bill.”
Assembly bill for U.K. proposed by activist organization Extinction Rebellion.
Weyler, Rex. 2019. “The Youth Have Seen Enough.” Greenpeace.
News article authored by journalist in activist organization describing recent school strikes for climate change.
Experts
Environmental Protection Agency. 2020. "Environmental Justice and National Environmental Policy Act." epa.gov.
Oreskes, Naomi. 2004. “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change.” Science.
Academic article on current climate change science.
Warner, Keith Douglass and David DeCosse. n.d. “Lesson Five: Environmental Justice.” A Short Course in Environmental Ethics. Santa Clara, CA: Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
Web site lesson on environmental justice from an academic institute.
Media Coverage
Wallace-Wells, David. 2017. “The Uninhabitable Earth, Annotated Edition.” New York Magazine.
Magazine article laying out current understanding of scientific details about the future of climate change.
Policy
Anon. 2007. "Citizens Guide to NEPA." Nepa.gov
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a U.S. environmental law that established the President's Council on Environmental Quality and encourages the enhancement of the environment.
peer review
Instructions for peer review for this assignment are located here: