news-media-comparison-act.doc

1. The SCN room is booked for students to use today and tomorrow. Attached above is the assignment handouts for students to use and complete for Wednesday’s class. They will be comparing news articles from several websites, looking for examples of a bias in the news reporting from those sites. By chosing one world event to focus on and comparing the ways the same event is covered by the different news sites, students will get an idea of how bias is injected into the sharing of information.We have mentioned that writing without a slight bias is very difficul; everything we witness we filter through our perspectives and cultural teachings to process how we feel about an event so it is very difficult to not have an opinion on what you report. However, some people are more fair about how much of their bias they allow in their reporting while others are fairly sly and convincing in hiding it.
2. Do the best you can with the assignment and we will carry on and discuss some of your findings on Wednesday when I return. Have fun with it!!
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1. With half the class missing, we postponed the presentation of the Bias in News posters.
2. Students watched a few clips in the projector room that looked at ellaborating on the issue of bias in the news. They watched a documentary and were to look for examples of bias in the film and examples of reporting the facts. The goal here was to differentiate between effective ways of leading the viewer’s emotions/conclusions and simply giving them informations.

1. Students, yesterday, looked at newspapers searching for examples of bias in news articles. They were to find three articles, one editorial and one letter to the editor. These last two will obviously have bias in them as they are opinion pieces. News reports, however, giving information for the public should be as free from a leading opinion or agenda as possible. As we discussed, this is very difficult to do, to write without imputting your personal feelings on the subject.
2. Students were given a poster assignment today to work in their groups from yesterday. There were three requirements for the posters and they will be presented by their groups tomorrow.
3. For tomorrow’s class, after the presentations, students will begin viewing a video online. (See below.) The next assignment will be a written one where students will respond to the video and answer the question: bias or no bias. This is a documentary that discusses the American use of napalm during the Vietnam war and also a too-similar chemical during an attack in the Middle East. Is this video simply giving information to the viewer that was previously unknown to them, or are they turning phrases, using images, or excluding others to specifically ‘lead’ the viewer to a predetermined conclusion? Watch the video and piece specific examples to support of prove your opinion. There will be a writing assignment next.

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1. We started with a reading from the Best Selling book by Micheal Moore titled Stupid White Men.  Based only from the title of the book, students were sure there was bias contained in the book. We read through examples of ‘how’ media includes or allows bias through the medi. Through the handout given, there were a few examples of how things are worded can pass along a bias, whether consciously done by the author or not.
2. Students got into groups of 3-4, worked outside in the shade, but were focused on finding three articles, one editorial, and one letter to the editor to study and find examples of bias. (It was quite a sight to see, twenty-some kids laying/sitting out on the grass …reading the paper. lol)
3. We’ll discuss their findings tomorrow.