Saturday, September 27, 2014

Ferguson Videos

Take a look at some of these videos covering various aspects of the protests in Ferguson after the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, by a police officer. As you will remember, the shooting set off a massive wave of protests responding to a much longer history of racial profiling (and other related issues) in the St. Louis suburb.

For your response post, you should pick any two of these videos (as long as they are from different channels) and compare how they frame their stories. Do the videos display any sort of bias? How do they contextualize the behaviors of the protestors or the police? Are the stories objective or neutral or do they present only one side? Should they be more balanced? Do they inform, investigate, mobilize or fulfill any of Schudson's other criteria? Who is interviewed? Who isn't? Please note that most (or many) of these stories may have been shot live, which might make it more difficult to fulfill the investigative function of journalism.

MSNBC, Rachel Maddow Show, August 20, "Mixed Reaction to Media Presence in Ferguson."

MSNBC, Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd, "Reporters Arrested Overnight in Ferguson."

MSNBC, The Lawrence O'Donnell Show, "Live Footage of Tear Gas Containers."

CNN, "Ferguson and Race Relations in America."

CNN, "Fiery Debate over CNN's Ferguson Coverage."

CNN, "General: Police Should Adjust Tactics."

Al Jazeera, "Protestors Demand Arrest."

Al Jazeera, "Dozens Arrested Amidst Protests."

FoxNews: "State Trooper Slams 'Criminals' in Ferguson."

CBS News: "Protestors Arrested Planning Highway Shutdown."


Tuesday, September 23, 2014

News Links

Larry Gatlin on Fox News

Chuck Todd on Starbucks vs. Chick-fil-A

Frank Luntz Focus Group

Karl Rove Meltdown

False Balance on climate change

Monday, September 15, 2014

Revised News Links

Week Five:

September 16: Reading: SMH 177-210, “Constructing Arguments.”
Reading: SMH 270-87: “Integrating Sources” and “Avoiding Plagiarism.”
Paper I (Representations) Due.

September 18: Michael Schudson, “News and Democratic Society,” OL.
Response due.


Week Six:

September 23: Daniel Hallin, “Whatever Happened to the News?”
Robin Andersen, “Hypercommercialism,” OL.
Response due.

September 25: Reading: SMH 222-48, “Conducting Research.”


Week Seven:

September 30: Ferguson unit: Read selected articles on Ferguson, MO, news coverage.
Paul Hitlin and Nancy Vogt, "Cable News and Twitter," Pew, OL.

October 2: Reading: SMH 249-69: “Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes.”


Week Eight:

October 7: Jeffrey Jones, “Fox & Friends, News Talk,” OL. Reading will be posted to Blackboard.

October 9: Paper II (News) draft due. Meet in computer lab.


Week Nine:

October 14: Reading: SMH 288-99, “Writing a Research Project.”
Paper II (News) Due.