St Thomas University Online News Source Article Discussion

Choose 1 of the questions below to answer. Your response needs to be at least 10 sentences total. Do not include the titles, the headlines, the quote, or the websites as part of your 10 sentences. Your sentences need to be complete, and they need to be at least 10 words each. Use proper spelling, capitalization, and punctuation so your writing is clear.

Note: The length requirements are the minimum. You can write more if you choose to do so.

Questions (Pick 1 to Answer)

1. Go to any online news source, and choose an article with an interesting title that you believe might be misleading. Read the title first, and predict what the article will be about based only on the title. After that, read the article, and give a detailed summary of the article in your own words. Then explain whether your prediction was close to the contents of the article or not. Finally, analyze what this suggests about bias in the media and the use of titles in the media. Include the question number and title at the beginning of your answer, and give the website at the bottom of your answer.

2. We all know that different media outlets report on the same stories differently depending on their political views. For example, CNN, MSNBC, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, and the Washington Post are left politically. Fox News, Blaze, CBN, Newsmax, and the New York Post are right politically. For this question, choose a topic that has been reported by both a left and a right news source. First, give a summary of each article, and expand on the articles’ main points. Then explain the major differences in each article, and explain how the same topic is presented differently. Finally, analyze what this suggests about bias in the media and the problems with people only trusting their preferred news source. Include the question number and title at the beginning of your answer, and give the website at the bottom of your answer.

3. Using this article (Links to an external site.) as a reference, search for a quote said by someone recently that has been taken out of context by the media. In the article, something Trump said was completely taken out of context and attacked by at least three major new sources. Do not use the “animals” quote from the article in your answer. Search for other quotes taken out of context, and choose one to focus on. First copy and paste the quote that was taken out of context, and explain what the person who said the quote was really trying to say or convey. After that, explain which news sources or media outlets misinterpreted the quote, and explain how it was misinterpreted by the each one. Then explain how the news sources or media outlets (or the general public) attacked the person’s quote in their articles or posts. Finally, analyze what this suggests about bias in the media and the problems with isolating quotes without looking at context. Include the question number and title at the beginning of your answer, and give the website at the bottom of your answer.