Search Our Essay Database

Essay Instructions: Media Reaction

? Write a 1,050- to 1,400- word reaction to a media piece focusing on a current political issue relating to immigration. Possible media pieces include an article, a video or audio clip, a television show, a book, a documentary, or a movie.

? Research the issue of your media piece.

? Address the following: (Please place subtitles)

o What is the historical framework of this issue?

o What is the political context of this issue?

o What message does the media piece attempt to portray? Was the media coverage biased or unbiased? Was the issue sensationalized or portrayed objectively?

o How might the media coverage affect the public?s perception of this issue? Does it encourage or discourage prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping?

o How might this issue affect the U.S. economy and labor force?

o If you were a manager affected by this issue and its media coverage, what inclusion strategies from this week?s reading might you implement to moderate the media?s effect on your employees and to promote inclusion in the workplace?

Essay Instructions: You are to work as the media critic for a major national news and commentary magazine. Your job is to monitor major media coverage of an ongoing news event or issue. You especially focus on so-called "drum beat" stories, ie, those stories that are being covered on an almost daily basis.
For this assignment, you are to choose at least one media outlet and monitor closely how that particular outlet covers a drum beat story or an issue over a certain time period.
You should consider where the story is placed in relation to other top stories of the day and how it shifts over a period of a few weeks (from front page to section "c"); how much space or time is given to each story; the kinds of sources that are quoted regularly (are they official sources, so-called experts, the newsmakers themselves?); who is left out of the coverage that may be relevant to the story; does the gender and race make-up of the interview subjects play a role in the story; does the coverage include sidebars and analysis?; does the outlet take an editorial position on the issue being covered?
In your analysis of the coverage, you should back your arguments with specific examples from the media outlet you're monitoring, with dates (and times) when appropriate. In essence, you are to critically assess the overall nature of the coverage by showing the reader what you believe to be the ultimate message of the reporting on the particular medium you choose to monitor.

Keep in mind our discussions about the four-step process in critiquing media: description - thoroughly taking notes, paying close attention to content and citing examples; analysis - discovering significant patterns and decide what to focus on in the coverage, narrowing it down; interpretation - what does it mean and so what; evaluation - arriving at a judgment. Your grade will be measured based on your successful execution of these four steps.

***Your quality of citations (thoroughness of monitoring); summary of the story/issue you're covering; critical analysis of the news and conclusion will make up the bulk of the piece.

*Don't try to prove a point from the start and don't try to answer questions that you cannot answer. Keep an open mind as you monitor the media.
**Think of:
1. who are the primary sources
2. who frames the issues?
3. who is left out of the story

*** Also, Compare the coverage of one issue/story with that of coverage of other issue/story
1. amount of space dedicated to the issue
2. where is it placed
3. what is the focus on the overall story as compared to the focus of the other story

***Finally, Do a framing study of the issue/story/region
1. language choice
2. how are the primary actors described

Although you will be choosing at least one outlet and one story, feel free to compare the coverage with other outlets covering the same story, or how the particular outlet covered another story during that same period. This approach may help you in driving your point home.

Remember to keep in mind some of the points weve discussed in class throughout the semester relating to the news media and how they cover the world, the nation and the local community: ownership patterns; stereotypes and biases in the media; the emphasis on "soft news" versus "hard news"; propaganda and persuasion in a democratic society; "the medium is the message"; the cultural background of reporters, editors and news managers; the influence of advertising and public relations in the media; and the changing technologies.

********I have chosen CNN.COM for my media outlet and the Scott Peterson case for the drum beat story. You can find the 15 articles I chose by going to cnn.com, then typing in "Scott Peterson" in search on cnn.com. The 15 articles begin on 5.31.04 and extend to 6.11.04.
You do not have to cite all of them but do try to list examples from them. Most importantly, please look for trends throughout these articles and focus on analysis and details rather than the sensational aspects of the case itself. Thank you.

Essay Instructions: With precision and clarity, write an essay on media and conflict:

?Choose two or three key ideas from provided sources. Select a recent public conflict (in the last 5 years) and a specific event where it the conflict manifested as a story.
ideas: Hurricane Katrina
Casey Anthony
can choose something else relevant however.
(only topics off limits are the vietnam war, 9/11, and the war in Afghanistan, as these are
covered in some of the sources that I provide)


? Find and examine specific media coverage of your conflict. These are your primary documents (news articles and programs, magazine pieces and features, television shows, etc. ? English-language, of course), and will be the object of your analysis and interpretation. The paper should not center on the history of the conflict itself, but the media?s relationship (representation, construction, etc) with the conflict.

? Use the two or three concepts from sources to interpret, and assess the contours and consequences of the media?s relationship with the conflict.

PAPER ORGANIZATION:

Introduction: Set up the paper by clearly writing your thesis statement and laying out your research questions. Prepare the reader for the discussion that will follow. You might want to consider the following questions here: Why is this a worthwhile topic? What?s led you to study this problem? How is your essay part of the study of media and conflict? How will your essay proceed?

Effective Description of the Topic: What is being struggled over? How has the conflict unfolded in the culture? In general, what does the media coverage of the topic look like? Be efficient here ? a common mistake is to spend too much time describing what?s going on and to neglect the analytical work. In other words, be efficient yet complete. You might want to try to keep your description to a paragraph or two.

Analysis & Interpretation: This is the meat and bones of your essay. Now that you have written an inviting introduction and an efficient description of the conflict, effectively apply source concepts to analytically explore the nature and function of media discourses What does your primary material (media coverage or media representations) tell us about the conflict? How do the source concepts help you read the representations of the conflict? What does this information allow you to say about the conflict?

Advocacy and Conclusion: While you have developed your voice throughout the piece as you comment on and clarify material, it is in the advocacy and conclusion section of the paper where your voice should come through the strongest. That is, here is where you answer the question, ?So what?? Now that you have identified a conflict, described its construction through the media and offered an analysis of this material, what should the reader do with this information? You may want to make suggestions for media producers in how they could more effectively cover the topic. Or, you may want to address audiences as citizens of society who could be better prepared to interpret media representations after reading your paper. However you want to handle this section is really particular to your topic and the information you present. Use this section to summarize your main points, advocate for a course of action or way of thinking that your paper is calling for and leave the reader with something to ponder.

Essay Instructions: Write a 1,050- to 1,400- word reaction to a media piece focusing on a current political issue relating to immigration. Possible media pieces include an article, a video or audio clip, a television show, a book, a documentary, or a movie.

Research the issue of your media piece.

Address the following:

? What is the historical framework of this issue?
? What is the political context of this issue?
? What message does the media piece attempt to portray? Was the media coverage biased or unbiased? Was the issue sensationalized or portrayed objectively?
? How might the media coverage affect the public?s perception of this issue? Does it encourage or discourage prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping?
? How might this issue affect the U.S. economy and labor force?
? If you were a manager affected by this issue and its media coverage, what inclusion strategies from this week?s reading might you implement to moderate the media?s effect on your employees and to promote inclusion in the workplace?

Include at least two academic references in your research.

Note: I uploaded a New York Times web link, titled "Obama to permit young migrants to remain in the U.S. Please use this link to address the questions above.