Analyzing News Media
The media’s role as a source of information is one that we are highly dependent on. We depend on the media to tell us about things that are going on in our cities and states, in our nations, and in other countries so that we can make informed decisions. Rarely, however, do we critically think about the creation of the message or the media organizations the deliver those informative messages to us.
For this assignment, you will choose one media entity to analyze the content of news media. You may choose a local, national, or international news source. Choose a time that allows you to view, read, or listen to the source for a one- to two- hour block of time. Because of the nature of immediate updates in digital media, it will be important to analyze a specific block of time. Here ae some suggestions for capturing news that is not in print format:
* Television News: Set your DVR so that you will be able to revisit the recording for the analysis.
* Radio: Find the online componenet for the broadcast, and use Audacity to record the news talk show of your choice.
* Website: To truly capture the news from a website for a particular time frame, you should save the webpages to your computer so that you will have a record of them to analyze as you have time.
For the analysis, you must:
* Identify the author of the message.
* Explain the creative techniques used to capture the attention of the audience.
* Identify and explain the values and points of view that are contained within the message and those that are ommitted from the message.
* Discuss how different audience members may interpret the message.
* Adhere to the News Media Analysis Template.
The analysis must:
* Be a minimum of two pages and no more than three pages in length (excluding the title and reference pages) and be formatted according to APA style.
* Include at least three sources from the reading for the week to support your ideas. The list of sources must be formatted using APA style.