American Politics Eve - A Marvelous Media Project!

A challenge awaits. As we are learning in class, the media in the US has some very serious problems and limitations. So, what can we do about it? Plenty! First off we need to keep the lessons and readings of this course firmly in mind when getting info from the media. To help you with this I have devised a simply marvelous media project for you conduct. Your basic task will be to study, deconstruct, dissect, take apart, peruse, analyze, research and generally look really hard at a single news story. Sound like great fun? Of course it is.

Of course, since your professor is just one marvelously generous person, if you do a marvelous job you will receive a marvelous amount of points. You might even earn as much as a quiz - a marvelous +4 for a presentation AND ANOTHER +4 for the  paper. (“That would be marvelous!” quipped the students.) Of course, less then marvelous presentations and papers will get you a less than marvelous score.

When are these marvelous presentation and papers due? The presentations will be given during weeks 14 to 15 of the semester. The paper is due no later than the start of Monday's class, week 16. So, what must you do to get those marvelous points? Keep on reading….           

1.    Get into groups of 3 to 4 people each. Part of this project requires you to work as a team for doing research and for the presentation. There will one presentation score for everyone in the group. It is your responsibility to form this group. (Hint: It would be highly helpful if everyone in this group knew one another's phone number, emails, etc.) Also, you MUST provide me with a complete typed list of the group members, media story, telephone numbers and emails no later than the start of class on Wednesday, week 11. (And yes, you may only be a member of ONE group for this project.)

 2.       Decide upon a news story to analyze. Here is a short list of news stories. Your group must select on one of these stories for your project. (If you want to analyze a different story, fine. But, you MUST check with me first.)

• The occupation of Iraq by US forces.

• Events surrounding elections in US.

• National security, Patriot Act and Civil Liberties.

• Issues surrounding globalization/free trade.

• Events in the Middle East.

 3.     Analyze the bejeezus out of the story. Remember to use the readings to help you out. Specifically your analysis must take two things into account.

(1) You will conduct a study of how this single news story is presented in each of the three groups below.  That is, you must select one media source from list #1, one media source from alternative media, and one media source from list the global sources.

 (2) When you do your analysis of the news story, you will need to pay particular attention to the following:

• What are the sources of the information in the story? That is, whose voices are heard? Whose voices are not heard?
• Are there specific emotional symbols used? If so, why do you think they used those symbols and not others?
• What use of language/ideological orthodoxy do you find?
• Remember to compare these points for each source to see how and where each source is different or similar.

 4.     Your group gives a marvelous presentation. All members will participate in the presentation. Plan for it to run about 15 to 20 minutes. Also, you MUST use visual aids. (Posters, graphs, videos, overheads, etc.) The presentation is worth a maximum of +4 points. A single grade is given to each member of the group. So, everyone will get the same grade on this portion of the project. You must schedule the presentation times with Dr. Hart. Presentations will be during weeks 14 and 15 of the semester. No late presentations are allowed.

 5.     Each person must give a written report. This paper will be worth 4 points, of course! Each person must write their own marvelous and inspired paper of the analysis of the story. Be sure to follow the marvelous format for your amazing take-home assignments when writing this paper. The report must be typed (double spaced) and is due no later than the start of Monday's class, week 16. No late reports are allowed.

Got questions or not sure of what to do? Not a problem! Just e-mail Dr. Hart.

Mark That Social Calendar! - Schedule for Media Presentations by Students