The Media Project (50 Points)

The purpose of the media project is to assess whether you understand the concepts of bias and agenda setting. The assignment requires that you find five (5) examples of bias or agenda setting. You may use newspapers (print or off the Internet) and mainstream, national television news broadcasts. If you use newspapers off of the Internet, they must be legitimate newspapers, such as The New York Times, not the Drudge Report. And if you use video of television news broadcasts, they must be from a national program such as the ABC, NBC, CBS nightly news or CNN, MSNBC, or FOX.

After finding five examples, you must write at least one (1) paragraph explaining WHY the example you have used is an example of bias or agenda setting. For newspaper articles, make a copy of the article and highlight the material you think is biased or agenda setting and then tape it to a piece of paper that has your written explanation. If you use video of television newscasts, you must submit a VHS video and a separate piece of paper with your explanations. If your video has more than one clip, organize your written work accordingly. For example: If you have three video clips on your VHS, then your written work should be organized as “Explanation of Clip # 1,” “Explanation of Clip # 2,” etc.

Alternative: We also read a chapter from the book titled Mobocracy. If you can find an example of a poll in which the data has been manipulated, you may submit that poll, with an explanation, in place of one of the five required submissions.