COMM202 Week 4 Assignment - News Literacy

COMM 202

Computer Science Assignment 4 of 202

Assignment 4: News Literacy

Objectives:  

To compare influences on domestic and global perspectives on the news.

Skills: 

For this assignment, you will apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the context and assumptions on a problem or issue and formulate and support your conclusions.

Background:

While the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protects the right of journalists to gather and report information, it does not require them to be objective in their writing.  If it did, American news consumers would not have experienced the eras of Yellow Journalism, Gonzo Journalism, muckraking, the penny press, or the sensationalism we still see today. Why is it that the First Amendment is not more specific about what it requires in “published” content? 

Objectivity is but  one standard that has been applied by the American news media to their work, usually to basic hard news stories or what some call "straight" news reporting. It is not a mandated format for all newswriting.

Interpretative news reports, which some call  news analysis, is another format used by American news media. It has become more prominent since the emergence of news reports on social media and 24/7 cable news reports before that. But it, too, is not a mandated format for newswriting.

These formats are  choices. And they can appear side-by-side with different choices on the same topic by journalists writing for the same publication.

The ethical standards by which American journalists determine and present "news" reflect normative theories  about how the news content they write should be objective, accurate, balanced, fair, and contain complete  facts. This view, which emerged in the 20th century but didn't firmly take root for news producers or news consumers until the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate investigation, suggests the news media have an obligation, according to Emery and Smith (1954):

“…to strive for honest and comprehensive coverage of the news, and for courageous expression of editorial opinion in support of the basic principles of human liberty and social progress” (744).

The U.S. Constitution does not say that.  The First Amendment states , " Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ... "After Watergate, in particular, many Americans came to see news reporters as public servants or “prox[ies] for the people, maintaining a vigilant watch… and sounding the alarm when malfeasance, misfeasance, or extracurricular hanky-panky is discovered" (Hulteng, 1979, p. 48).

However, newspapers don't sell news content. Radio, cable, satellite, broadcast, internet, social media, and streaming news platforms don't sell video/TV news programs. The basic premise of advertising-supported media—their economic reality—is that  they  sell ears and eyeballs.  They use their content to attract the interest of specific audiences for which they charge advertisers access. And those ears and eyeballs—and the standards used to attract their attention—can vary based on demographics.

The normative theory supporting our way of life—our democracy—is based on Milton's ideas that good ideas will rise to the top. The U.S. news media have free rein with their content on the theory the  public will seek out the truth. The reality is they are businesses and have always operated by  business standards, within which certain of their journalists did one thing (objective news reporting -- these are the people with their boots on the ground, so to speak; the ones who provide facts according to the standards you mentioned) while other of their journalists were tasked to inform (think  investigate and  analyze here) and entertain (think  human interest and  Dear Abby here as examples).

In other words, the U.S. news media  write to get read.   They focus on their specific missions for their specific audiences by exploiting what researchers call   Uses and Gratification Theory.  UGT says audiences have power over their media consumption and that  they are the ones who assume an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. That is, news, information, and entertainment consumers gravitate toward material that has the most utility for them (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, p. 16). 

Researchers who study Reinforcement or  Phenomenistic Theory, on the other hand, have found that we tend to pay attention to what's familiar and comfortable to us, and that:

· People expose themselves to mass comm messages that are consistent with their existing beliefs, values, attitudes, etc.

· If there is inconsistency, sometimes people don't see it, or they reinterpret it to fit their preconceptions.

Combine this tendency with what you learned about  media ubiquity, media dependency, media bias, and  technological determinism and how these changes have manifested themselves as the fragmentation of the news, information, and entertainment markets, and you can see why allegations of "fake news" emerged. 

For this activity, you will write a brief essay that compares U.S. views on what “news” is on any given day to those of people in different societies.  

Activity:

A. Select a major national or international news topic from the last month that interests you. 

B. Then, select two different newspapers or other reputable online news sources and explore the differences in how they reported the same news story.

C. Write a 1-2 page (about 250-500 words) paper that addresses the following questions: 

· Why did you find this news story compelling?  

· What journalistic approach (objective, interpretative, literary, etc.) do the different newspapers use to report the story? 

· How does the newspaper’s audience affect the way in which the news story is presented? 

· What style of journalism do you prefer when receiving your news? 

Requirements:

1. A thoughtful, thorough 1-2 page (up to 500- words), double-spaced, essay in 12-point, Times Roman or similar serif font, with all the basic components for a beginning, middle, and end.

·

· The  first paragraph should contain a thesis that introduces your main idea or position on the question posed to you in the assignment prompt. What is the point you intend to make in your answer?

· The middle paragraphs should provide information, examples, and details to support your main idea or position. This is where you should show use  because statements and detail what you know or think about the topic. Include the headlines for your example news stories and their urls, so that your instructor can find and review them.

· The final paragraph should sum up your main idea or position on the topic. 

2. Support your comments with relevant information that you researched in the course’s learning resources.

·

· Use? APA-style in-text citations?to cite the sources of the information that you used in assembling ideas for your argument.?

· Create a matching? APA reference list?at the end of?the document. These will need to include a reference to the news sources you used. For example, the  Purdue OWL’s advice on the format for online news article is:

Note: The format for this type of source depends on whether your source comes from a site with an associated newspaper.

If the source  does come from a site with an associated newspaper, leave the title of the article unformatted, but italicize the title of the newspaper.

Example:

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article.  Title of Publication. URL

Richards, C. (2019, December 9). Best music of 2019: Lana Del Rey sings lullabies about the end of America.  Washington Post.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/best-music-of-2019-lana-del-rey-sings-lullabies-about-the-end-of-america/2019/12/06/6e82c5ec-15d8-11ea-a659-7d69641c6ff7_story.html

On the other hand, if the source  doesn't come from a site with an associated newspaper, italicize the title of the article, but leave the name of the site unformatted: 

Example:

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date).  Title of article. Name of publishing website. URL

Jones, J. (2020, May 10).  Why flats dominate Spain's housing market. BBC.  https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200506-why-do-flats-dominate-spains-housing-market

See our library’s APA reference matching? APA reference guide?or our Course Resources for help with the formats to use for other kinds of “news” sources, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or a print newspaper.