Description

Please identify a recent major news story and examine how it is being/was covered by the following web sites:

Huffington Post
Townhall

Politico

Think about how the framing, and agenda-setting, phenomenistic filtering, and other potential relative biases of news media outlets – broadcast, print and online – may drive the story and potentially influence public attitudes culturally and politically.

Address some, all, or some mix of these questions in a cogent response:
1. What is the issue/story you analyzed for framing, filtering and relative bias; and
2. How may the “legacy” and “new” news media be influencing public attitudes culturally and/or politically on this topic? Or, are they having any influence at all based on your educated response to the readings?

Addressing some or all of the following questions can help you with your analysis:
• What is similar in presentation style in all three websites? What is different? How does their coverage compare to the traditional mass media you reviewed?
• Do the websites have a political stance that you can discern? How do you know? Does the stance seem credible, even if it is from a position with which you don’t agree?
• Where does each website gets its information? Do you trust those news sources? If so or not, why?
• What do you think of the bloggers? Would you want to blog on this website?
• Would you go to this website for more detailed information and discussion of an issue in which you were interested?
• How well do you think these websites function as spaces for free discussion? Do you think these kinds of discussions are, in general, helpful to the democratic process?
• Do you think that V.O. Key’s notion of elite pluralism still applies to how the media influence politics and the social world?
• What standards should apply to journalistic practices?
• Should there be government regulation of media practitioners (bloggers, journalists, videographers, etc.), media outlets, and / or media content? What does history suggest?
• Do you see a link between media literacy and John Fiske’s semiotic democracy (freedom to make personally relevant meaning)?

Please include urls to the story you examined.

Your objective here is to ponder how information sources such as these may be turning the Internet into the new “public square.”