Essay Instructions: Essay Two: How Free Are the American Media?
BACKGROUND
In his letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, written in 1887, Lord Acton said, ?Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.?
Most of us have heard the first part of this quotation, but not the second. It raises some interesting questions about the nature of power, particularly within the framework of government and business. It has a decidedly Christian ring to it that harkens back to that age-old aphorism, ?Money is the root of all evil.? Obviously, wealth and power tend to compliment each other. Many would argue that each carries a gravitational force that attracts the other.
In Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins describes his indoctrination, duties and subsequent disenchantment with the National Security Agency?specifically in relation to the way this organization has targeted the economies of developing countries as a way to raise capital and forward US foreign policy goals. Many of these goals were (and continue to be) covert, meaning they have not been disclosed to the American public . . . at least until 2004, when the book was first published. Perkins? narrative takes on the form of a ?confessional? by telling us for the first time precisely how these operations have been carried out in the past.
ASSIGNMENT
Research one tragic historical event that is present in Perkins? book, and then expand upon it with some research. You don?t need to use details found within the assigned chapters in the book. The whole thing is at your disposal. This assignment is designed to encourage you to snoop around in other parts of the book. So by all means, don?t restrict yourself to the assigned readings.
Please keep in mind that your paper is not simply a book report on the historical event in question. Rather, it is an analysis of the way this event was "spun" in the mainstream US media. The Panama Invasion and replacing Noriega, is perhaps the easiest topic to analyze in this regard. The installation of the Shaw in Iran is another. This was covered heavily in the US media. A third might center around 9/11. As you know, this event was reported more heavily in the US media than anything else in modern history; however, the mainstream reportage was quite different from independent reportage. As of late, the research of Dr. Judy Wood is especially interesting. She coined the term "dustification." You can find interviews with her on Youtube. Simply type in the key words "Red Ice Creations" and "Wood." Her interviews will come up. This might serve as a suitable introduction to her no-nonsense scientific stance on what really happened to the twin towers. She contends that the mass which fell was not consistent with the normal amount of mass found in controlled demolitions (11-13% of the original total height of a structure). She also focuses on things like the degredation of metals, etc.
This said, anything is fair game, so if you find something juicy in one of these assigned chapters that you find personally interesting, by all means feel free to use it. The only thing I would caution you is to research the event in terms of how much outside information you can find on the internet (see below for the second part of this assignment). Please do remember that your essay should focus its primary attention on media coverage rather than simply narrating a historical event in your own words. While you will need to summarize the event briefly, this aspect of your essay should be no more than 20% of the overall word count. Please do not attempt to summarize the event in your introduction. The proper place for catching up the reader on background information is in your essay's body.
*As always, never assume your reader is familiar with the information your are writing about. Always assume your reader does not know about it. PCC requests that all research papers in WR 122 should be written from this basic standpoint.
Aside from the topic, here are the basic requirements of Essay Two:
Make reference to John Perkins at least once and paraphrase or cite information about the tragic event as it is presented in his book.
Find 1 additional outside source (different from Perkins) and weave it into your expose. What is the official explanation that was offered by the American media during the time period when it happened? Did this differ from coverage in other countries? Although I truly love it when people find articles from international papers that were published when these events happened . . . . here is my concession to the obvious difficulty posed by locating articles in other languages and countries: If you have problems digging up international coverage at the time, then feel free to fall back on independent media sources in America that have come out with documentaries and articles in the meantime. Perkins book is a fairly good example of information about Anglo-American imperialism leaking out through the major media (Plume books is a subsidiary of Penguin, one of the largest publishers in the world). When Perkins was working for MAIN as an economic hit man, US media coverage at the time did not expose much of what was happening in this regard; however, since the 1970?s, scores of other books and documentaries have explored what really happened in this regard. All of the information from these sources are fair game to use in your paper. Any of them can count as your additional outside source.
Please include a thesis statement, strong evidence to support a basic thesis statement (see Chapter 28 in Hacker?s Pocket Style Manual). Your thesis statement will be easier to support if you choose an event that shows obvious negligence or indicates some form of covert complicity on the part of the press (in relation to the CIA?s and the NSA?s agenda).
Do not use first person anywhere in this paper. Rather, you should endeavor to write in a journalistic style that ?lets the facts speak for themselves.?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote, ?Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.? He also felt strongly that the most effective way to pacify a nation is through the mass media. In fact, Jefferson even went so far as to say that a despotic government always keeps ?a kind of standing army of news writers who, without any regard to truth, or to what should be like truth, [fabricate] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper.?
Click here for more of Jefferson's quotes regarding the press.
One Additional Requirement: Somewhere in your paper, please reference Jefferson?s sentiment in one of his quotes about a free press, and discuss any light it sheds on American press coverage surrounding the event you have chosen (at the time it happened). Including a paraphrase or direct quote from Jefferson in your paper is an additional requirement beyond the two outside sources. If you forget to include it, you will be docked content points.
If you are a little rusty on the best way to transition into a source, please review Chapters 5 and 30 in Hacker's Pocket Style Manual. You will be graded on your ability to smoothly introduce a quotation by Jefferson. If it comes out of the blue, and is presented out of context, that will fall under the auspices of poor transitioning (Chapter 5). If, on the other hand, you stumble in your ability to introduce a quotation within a sentence or in a longer quotation format, then that would fall under the auspices of introducing nonfiction source material (Chapter 30).
Rewrite Option
This essay is eligible for rewrite. See calendar for due dates.
Penalty for Late Submission: If you have extenuating circumstances (such as a grave illness), you must send me an email at least three (3) days before the due date. This only applies to the posting of Essay Two for the instructor to grade, not the peer review, which is due one week earlier. You cannot submit your peer review of any essay late. If you miss it, you have the option to make up as many points as possible by doing the extra credit assignment.
Here is the penalty chart for late submissions of Essay Two:
24 hours or less after the cut-off time/date: 1% deducted from grade + ineligible for a rewrite later
24-48 hours after cut-off time/date: 5% deducted from grade + no rewrite
48-120 hours (2-5 days) after cut-off time/date: 10% deducted from grade + no rewrite
120-168 hours (one week) after cut-off time/date: 20% deducted from grade + no rewrite
No submissions for this essay will be accepted later than one week after the cut-off date/time
Technical Specifications
Word count: 1,000-word minimum/1,300-word maximum. Essays which fail to meet the minimum word count will not receive comments, only a grade.
12 point font
Avoid run-ons, fragments, comma splices, and dangling modifiers LIKE THE PLAGUE
Title should be centered two spaces under header; body left justified with one of the following: block formatted paragraphs with one extra blank line between them, or, paragraphs indented 5 spaces with no extra lines between them
Header in the upper left that includes the following:
Your name (The name that appears in the class grade book. Do NOT change your first or last name from what appears in D2L!)
Date
Precise word count
Essay One
Please note: To determine a precise word count, high light your text (aside from the header), then use the ?tools? pull-down menu and go to ?word count.?
*Please note: I do not reward length over content in essays. Quality is infinitely more important than quantity. Just because you write a really long paper, this won?t guarantee a high grade.
If you need help with your essay, who you gonna call? Whoooo whooo, indeed. Those wise old owls at the Online Writing Lab, of course! The faculty tutors at OWL are always ready and willing to offer assistance. So, when you want an extra set of wise old eyes to look over your paper, go to the link on the course homepage with the big owl. And be sure to give the tutor a day or so to read your paper before getting back to you.
