Media assignment: How much news is in the news? (Draft due before midnight July 22; Final version due on July 31)

Sample papers (in pdf): 80/90, 82/90, 84/90

Media can contribute to social problems discussions in a couple of ways. First, much of the information the public receives about social problems comes from mass media sources, and of those the news is usually given the most credibility and legitimacy. Second, the news media industry may directly contribute to social problems, and fundamentally impact institutions like democracy.

There are two ways you can do this assignment: either (1) watch TV news, or (2) read news web sites.

(1)  The TV version:

1. Watch two network nightly news shows (note: you need access to satellite or cable to complete this)
   1. one must be cable: Fox, CNN or MSNBC—national—local Fox or network news affiliates don’t count!!
   2. the other must be either ABC (David Muir anchors), CBS (Norah O’Donnell) or NBC (Lester Holt)
2. Watch one hour of public news (PBS News Hour with Judy Woodruff—it starts in most places at 7:00 on weeknights). Do not use the networks’ Youtube channels—do the web assignment if you don’t have cable.
3. To summarize:
4. • Group 1 (national cable news): Fox, CNN, or MSNBC
   • Group 2 (national network news): CBS, NBC or ABC
   • Group 3 (public): PBS Newshour
5. Document your sources: what did you watch/read? Include dates, times, authors, correspondents, length of stories (minutes for the TV version of the assignment); of commercials (if you’re watching TV, no. of ads and space they occupy if you’re online). Easy points if you follow directions. Save space with a table (see below)
6. Do not use the networks’ Youtube channel to complete this assignment–stick with the web-based version of the assignment if you don’t have cable/satellite (the commercials aren’t the same).

(2)  The news website version:

1. Read the online ‘front news page’ from one news site from each of the three groups This means the headline stories—you don’t need to read all of the sections—just the main stories. Choose one website from each group to analyze (go to the assignments link online and these sites are all linked):

• • Group 1 (center): Christian Science Monitor, CNNor USA Today or NPR.
  • Group 2 (right): Fox News, Washington Examiner or Newsmax
  • Group 3 (left): Guardian-US, Common Dreams or New York Times

What you need to do

Document your sources: what did you watch/read? Include dates, times, authors, correspondents, length of stories (minutes for the TV version of the assignment); no. of commercials (if you’re watching TV, no. of ads and space they occupy if you’re online). Easy points if you follow directions. Save space with a table (see the syllabus):

1. Discuss the commercials: How long (for TV, eg., 15-30 seconds), who were the advertisers? How much space or time (displayed as a percent of the home page) is devoted to advertising? What audience do you think the advertisers are targeting? For a website, how much of the front page space was devoted to advertising? For TV, how many minutes out of the newscast? Any relationship between advertisers and stories covered or not covered (e.g., did any major stories get glossed over that might have affected a major advertiser, or was there a story that reflected well on a firm or industry that advertises heavily, for instance did you see a pharmaceutical ad next to a story about health care, etc.)? Were there differences between the commercialization of the sites (hint: yes. What are they)? What do the advertisers tell you about the audience, and what does the audience tell you about the stories emphasized? How much of the advertising was pushing the site’s own content (or that of its affiliates, TV networks, etc.)?
2. Coverage: Focus on what’s on the front page (for the web version)—how much deals with domestic politics? International news? Celebrity fluff? Tabloid headlines? Selling other network programming? What are the headline stories? How do they compare with the other sites you’re checking out? How are things arranged? In other words, are they using the content as ‘bait’ to attract certain kinds of readers? Is celebrity stuff at the bottom? Top? Why does it matter? You could take the same story and see whether the three sites you’ve chosen covered it differently. Do they have their own reporters or do they use a wire service (e.g., Associated Press/AP, Reuters)? If there’s a major story, you could cover different versions of it from your three sources. How many points of view/sources are represented in a story—were they balanced, and what were the credentials of the sources they used (e.g., a biased news story will restrict its use of sources / people that might contradict the story line)? Do they stick with only the important and powerful as key sources? Any ‘regular people?’ What kind of stories were covered (e.g., investigative, reporting, editorial, human interest, or domestic vs international vs war)? Did headlines ‘slant’ any stories? Were some more likely to use scare tactics (use of fear on the front page)? Were different stories placed up front? In addition, see what else is on the page: How much of the page was taken up by ‘fluff’ (e.g., celebrity gossip, sensationalized stories with little impact)? Was the advertising tied to the adjacent story (e.g., a pharmaceutical ad next to a health care story, or an investment ad next to a stock market story)? What does the advertising and content have to say about the audience the site is targeting? This is the most important section—put some time and effort into it.
3. Production: did they make use of graphics, were some sites/networks more sophisticated than others, was it just a talking head (in other words, is it glitzy, entertaining, or more talking heads delivering text)? Were there differences between the three sites/networks you compared in terms of their ‘look’ or ‘feel?’ Did the headlines vary or set the tone of the site’s viewpoint? Did TV news stories have running titles and graphics (e.g., an ongoing story or series)? Were there tickers running below the images? Icons/waving flags/other graphics moving on the screen? What colors does the site use?
4. Conclusions: What did you learn? I’m assuming you will have learned something, and that it will be based on the observations you’ve made in the Differences between commercial/ public/ non-commercial media? You’ll definitely want to address that. How much real ‘news’ did you find?

How to do well (beyond following the assignment description)

• Follow the assignment guidelines, read them carefully;
• Analyze and compare—spend more time analyzing than describing (what does it mean, why is it important?);
• Support your conclusions with evidence from stories, sites, newscasts—for instance, don’t just say Fox is biased toward conservatives, or Common Dreams is liberal—show how (this demonstrates that you understand what a ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ viewpoint would be). And keep in mind that we’re only interested in ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ labels to the extent they help us understand what audiences are being targeted, and how. They will also likely not boldly claim any political bias—what reader wants to think they’re reading ‘biased’ news?
• Explain differences—why might different news outlets cover news differently? This question is worth more than a few minutes of reflection. That’s one of the points of the assignment—you could go to three different news outlets and get three different versions of what is important ‘news.’ And what effects might this have on those viewing the newscasts, and their understanding of current events or (dare I mention??), social problems? News outlets get to decide what to cover, what not to cover, where to put it, how to cover it, and how long to cover it. That leaves much latitude to inject bias and opinion.
•  

Assignment is worth 100 points. The guidelines are a blueprint for success, so read them well, understand them, and ask questions in class or office hours if you need to. Ten points possible for having a draft of your paper turned in by July 22, a week before the final draft due date, July 29. I won’t have time to provide more than cursory feedback—this is mainly an incentive to begin the paper ahead of time. You will want to give your paper to someone you trust to proofread. The points you receive will be based on the completeness of the draft.  The final paper is worth 90 points, and due July 31.  4-5 pages, double-spaced, no font or margin irregularities. I stop reading after 6 pages1