Order Description
Project 2 Media Bias
There is no question that the media plays an important role in our political system. For most Americans, the mass media, particularly television, is the most important
source of political information. Because of this, the news media has attracted significant attention from scholars of politics and communications, politicians and
journalists themselves. Frequently, this attention has come in the form of criticisms of how the media presents the news. The media has been criticized for many
possible forms of bias –ideological bias, selection bias and commercial bias. Among the specific criticisms of the press are that its coverage of the news is overly
negative, lacking in substance, and driven by crisis.
Ideologically speaking, charges of liberal bias are probably the most frequently heard, but many liberals believe that news coverage contains a lot of conservative
bias as well. Begin by reading the handout on evaluating the media from Brill’s Content. Brill’s Content was a magazine devoted to reporting on the media, especially
the news media. This article discusses how to be a critical consumer of news.
1. After reading the Brill’s Content article visit the next two sites. The Media Research Center https://www.mediaresearch.org/ is a conservative organization that
maintains that media coverage is biased towards the left.Ensure you have discussed Brill’s Content in your paper.
2. The group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, https://www.fair.org/, is a liberal watchdog group that holds the opposite opinion. Read what these sites have to
offer (briefings, reports, etc.). Which side (AIM or FAIR) has a more convincing argument? AIM https://www.aim.org/
Explain. Again, ensure you discuss in your paper.
3. Now do some investigating of your own. I want you to do some reading or viewing of the mainstream media. Does the coverage that you see/read tend to favor one
viewpoint or party over another? Discuss. Do you detect any patterns in what reporters choose to cover and how they report it? Discuss. How do you evaluate the
criticisms leveled at the media raised in class or on the websites? How does MONEY play a role in media bias – give me specifics?
4. Respond to these questions by examining articles in several recent issues of one of the major U.S. newsmagazines, Newsweek , Time, or U.S. News and World Report.
They all have websites that post articles if you don’t have access to print editions. Alternatively, you may watch the nightly national news broadcasts on any of the
major networks for several days.
Be sure to discuss specific examples in your paper.
Conclude the paper with a discussion of what role you think the media should play in a democracy.
Any articles that you quote from or cite in your paper should be included in a bibliography. For examples of how to cite works for your bibliography check out the
Center for Academic Excellence web-site https://www.ccis.edu/departments/cae/.
Click on the Writing button on their homepage and it will take you an area where you can click on examples of citation styles. You may use either MLA, Turabian, or APA
style. This paper should be about 3 to 10 pages in length, not including the bibliography.
Guidelines for writing a formal paper
One inch margins on all sides of your paper. To do this: Open up your Word document. Click on “FILE”. Go down to “PAGE SETUP”. Click on “MARGINS”. Ensure ALL margins
are set to 1 inch.
Double space your paper
Indent all your paragraphs! Paragraphs should be indented 5 spaces.
If you cite, you must cite properly. You are welcomed to use any citation format you desire such as MLA, Chicago, Turabian, APA, etc as long as you use one correctly.
Make sure you have a Bibliography page.
DO NOT USE CONTRACTIONS IN FORMAL WRITING. In other words, do not use contractions like: Don’t, Can’t, He’ll, Isn’t etc. Spell out the WHOLE word…do not, cannot, he
will, etc.
Spell out numbers less than 100. For example: “I have been voting since I was eighteen years old.”
Please analyze. Do not use conjecture or “feelings”. That is best left to a philosophy class. Use data to support your thesis.
Please make sure you have an:
introduction (tell me what you are writing about)
Body of the paper (tie all your paragraphs in)
Conclusion The biggest mistake students make. A conclusion is a summation of all your main points that you make in the body of your paper.
Please make sure that you have paragraphs…..I have had some folks submit a 4 page paper that was ONE paragraph!
Please refrain from using the word “feel”. Use the word, “believe” instead. Example: “I believe that Congressional elections need to be overhauled”
If you use any pictures (photographs) of any kind, you MUST cite the photograph from the website or the photographer you got it from. Otherwise, it is considered
plagiarism.
Remember, if you use any part of someone’s idea, you MUST cite your source. It doesn’t matter if you paraphrase their idea or use word for word….you must cite. Yes,
I check all citations to ensure they are accurate and correct.
Please put your name on each page of your paper
Please number your pages.
Please use 10 or 12 pitch and Arial or New Times Roman fonts only.
I have a tool in which I use to catch “plagiarized” information which is TURNITIN.com, so please always give credit to a person(s) if you have used their ideas or
words. Please re-read my section in the syllabus about cheating, as plagiarism is a form of cheating.
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