Evaluating the Media:
does truth matter or are alternative facts enough?
Before you begin this assignment, read
Chapter 10 in the textbook. Information
in the chapter is critical to this assignment. Additionally, the readings
provided in this assignment, are to be included in your answers.
Long ago
(when I was a student) if you needed to research a topic you would go to the
library. You would research your topic
using tools such as a card catalogue and the Reader’s Guide to Periodical
Literature. Families owned their own
encyclopedias and books of facts. That’s
how research was done. If you needed to do in depth research, you might need to
travel to larger libraries or even places where archives were housed.
What a
difference today! Open your browser and
go to Google or Bing. You can find information on virtually everything. Go to Facebook or Twitter and do a search and
you will be inundated with information. Ask a question of ChatGBT and you get
an answer. Today, however, we have a different and to my mind more serious problem.
Since
its inception there has been a problem with information on the World Wide Web. The
Web contains a mix of information of varying value. The responsibility for
determining the legitimacy, integrity, reliability, authority, etc., of web
sites and web information falls on your
shoulders. The vast majority of web documents have not passed through
any type of review process. If you go into a library, minimally you know
that a trained professional (a librarian) believes the information available is
of some value.
Donald
Trump often and vociferously referenced the “Fake News Media.” Maybe the most
famous of his many statements came (not surprisingly) in a Tweet on Feb 17,
2017 at 4:48pm.
“The
FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of
the American People!”
Now
deceased Republican Senator John McCain almost immediately responded on CNN
Meet the Press that “Dictators get started by Suppressing Media.” http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-dictators/
We are seeing that phenomenon today in
Russia. Russia has shut down most independent media and passed a law
criminalizing reporting on the war in the Ukraine. Facebook, Twitter, CNN, New
York Times, BBC and internet provider Cogent all left or considered leaving
Russia. The result of this mass exodus is many ordinary Russians still believe
there is no war and if they understand there is a war, they believe Russia is
acting in the role of liberator. https://www.norc.org/research/library/new-survey-finds-most-russians-see-ukrainian-war-as-defense-against-west.html
Where do Americans get their news:
There
are major news organizations known for the accuracy of their reporting (Reuters,
NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, PBS, The Atlantic) but of
course those are not the sources of news for most Americans.
As you
read the facts below pay particular attention to how differently Americans get
their news and which sources they view as reliable. What we often see is the source considered
most reliable by one group of Americans is often viewed as the least reliable
by another group. Compare that to the sixties and seventies when Walter
Cronkite appeared as the anchor of the CBS Evening News. As the New York
Times reported after his death “he was called the most trusted man in
America.” https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/18cronkite.html?pagewanted=all
According to a Pew Research Center
Report of voters conducted October 29-Nov. 11, 2019 Fox News and CNN were
named by the largest segments of U.S. adults as their main political news
source – 16% and 12%, respectively. Six other news outlets – NPR, NBC
News, ABC News, MSNBC, CBS News and The New York Times – were named by at
least 2% of adults. The sources named by the remaining 51% of U.S. adults
resulted in a long tail of more than 50 other individual brands. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/americans-main-sources-for-political-news-vary-by-party-and-age/
Fox News is a particularly
controversial source. Around two-thirds of Republicans and
Republican-leaning independents (65%) say they trust Fox
News for political and election news. On the other hand, Among Democrats
and Democratic-leaning independents, 61% say they distrust Fox
News for political news. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/five-facts-about-fox-news/
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019 provides
insight into the news habits of younger respondents who overwhelmingly
get news from their smart phones. Gen Y and Z respondents were much
less reliant on TV, Radio or Print that those over 34. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/inline-files/DNR_2019_FINAL.pdf
Data from a survey held in August 2022 in the United
States revealed that the most popular news source among millennials was
social media, with 45 percent of respondents reporting daily news
consumption on social networks. This was more than double the share who
got their news via radio. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1010456/united-states-millennials-news-consumption
In a 2015
survey, Facebook was identified as the most common source for news about
government and politics among Millennials. When asked whether they got
political and government news from each of 42 sources in the previous week
(TV generally, 36 different news outlets, and 5 social networking sites),
about six-in-ten Web-using Millennials (61%) reported getting political
news on Facebook. That is 17 points higher than the next most consumed
source for Millennials (CNN at 44%). http://www.journalism.org/2015/06/01/facebook-top-source-for-political-news-among-millennials/
About a third of U.S. adults (36%) say they regularly
get news from Facebook, according
to a Pew survey conducted in 2020.
Around six-in-ten adults (59%) said they distrust the
platform as a place to get political and election news, while only 15%
said they trust it. Another 19% said they neither trust nor distrust it.
Democrats and Republicans alike were much more likely to distrust than
trust Facebook for political and election news. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/01/facts-about-americans-and-facebook/
Facebook as a news source is particularly
problematic. Beginning in June 2015
Russian operatives purchased a series of advertisements on Facebook. While the operatives were in Russia, they
pretended to be Americans. In September of 2017 Facebook said it had found an
operation likely based in Russia that spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads
promoting divisive social and political messages during a two-year period. Another $50,000 was spent on potentially
politically related ads. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-propaganda/facebook-says-likely-russian-based-operation-funded-u-s-ads-with-political-message-idUSKCN1BH2VX
This of course does not include
spending on other social media such as Google, Twitter and Instagram.
TikTok is the latest potential threat. Both
the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok’s
Chinese owner ByteDance could share user data — such as browsing history,
location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government.
TikTok said it has never done that and wouldn’t do so if asked. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-says-hell-sign-proposed-tiktok-ban-if-congress-passes-it#:~:text=Both%20the%20FBI%20and%20the,t%20do%20so%20if%20asked.
Ahead
of the 2016 presidential election, the totally without merit rumor that Hillary
Clinton and Democratic elites were running a child sex-trafficking ring out of
a Washington pizzeria spread
across the internet, illustrating how a crackpot idea with no truth to it
could blossom on social media — and how dangerous it could be. In December
2016, a vigilante
gunman showed up at the restaurant with an assault rifle and opened
fire into a closet. As crazy as this rumor was it was still circulating years
later as explained in this N.Y. Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/technology/pizzagate-justin-bieber-qanon-tiktok.html?referringSource=articleShare
In this assignment you will be evaluating different sources of information and
finally reflecting on the importance of the media. There are three separate questions to
be answered. Answer all three as numbered
and presented in the assignment.
Question 1 to be answered on Discussion Board:
imagine
you are given an assignment in your Introduction to American Government class
to research the potential ban on TikTok. You know little to nothing about the
topic, so you decide to start your research using Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the
source everyone tells you not to use that we all use. lol
Go to
Wikipedia and look up “Censorship by TikTok” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_TikTok
Evaluate that Wikipedia entry by using the material
put together by the library staff of UC Berkeley. https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/evaluating-resources
Using
the criteria/methodology described by the UC Berkeley librarians evaluate the information
presented. Do you believe the Wikipedia information is credible using their criteria? You do not need to work with all 6 in depth,
but you should list each and do an evaluation of those most important to
your conclusion. Be specific. Should you use the information in a college
level assignment? Explain. (Hint: Read
about Contributing to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contributing_to_Wikipedia
This
is important: I am
not asking you whether TikTok is good or bad. I am asking you about the use of this
Wikipedia article as a source for credible information.
——————–
Question 2 to be answered on the Discussion Board:
The
second question you are to address on the discussion board is the veracity of an
article about U.S. immigration policy. This time, the criteria I would like you to use
is provided by FactCheck.org: How to
Spot Fake News. https://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/
Does
the article https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/outrageous-border-patrol-agent-reveals-biden-regime-gives/
appear
to be legitimate or fake news? Explain using the fact check criteria.
Question 3 to be answered on
the Discussion Board:
This
question is made up of two parts. You
may combine them or answer separately but be sure to answer both parts.
3a. Do
you agree with the Tweet by Trump referenced in the beginning of this
assignment: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of
the American People!”? Explain
3b.
Why is it so important for leaders attempting to stay in power to discredit or
control the media? Explain.
Question
three should not be off the top of your head straight opinion. Reference the many readings I give you in
this assignment and the material in the textbook. I am looking for your ability to take readings presented in this
assignment and the textbook and draw conclusions. Chapter 10 in the textbook is one of the best
so specifically referencing it in your answer to question 3 will be essential
to earning an excellent grade on this assignment.
Discuss
with each other your postings. Remember discussing does not necessarily
mean to disagree or even to agree. Ask class members questions or ask for
examples and clarifications. These can often lead to better understanding of
the topics.
Critically IMPORTANT: I am not asking simply for your opinion. I am asking for an evaluation and analysis of
sources of information. While you are always free to do additional research on
these assignments, you will primarily be graded on your
ability to work with the information/sources presented in this assignment.
Be
sure to give your posting an interesting subject line that sums up your
position.
Other general grading notes:
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Under Course Information there is a document
that explains in a generic way what I am looking for in the discussions. Be sure to consult it.
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Proper grammar, spelling and punctuation are
essential. Remember you are in a college classroom discussion.
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You must use Microsoft Office to produce your
document. Other word processing programs
may or may not work. Google Docs is
particularly problematic because it will look okay from the student’s view but
not from mine. If you do not have
Microsoft Office, you can get a free version for the semester. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office
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When you post your answers, please number as
numbered above. Do not put everything together in one long essay.
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Give your posting a unique name that might make
others want to read your posting. Others will be more likely to read your
posting and interact with you if your subject line is interesting. Discussion 1 is not an interesting subject
line.
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You will not be able to read the postings made
by others until you make your own posting.
Prepare your posting in Microsoft Word and then do a copy and paste to
the discussion board. If it becomes obvious to you after you read the postings
of others that you need to add to your posting, you can do it as a reply to
your main posting or contact me by email.
You will not be able to modify your posting.
§
For an A or B grade I am looking for your
ability to relate the material to the textbook. It is tempting to write
something like the text references agenda setting in chapter 10. That is not sufficient. Tell me what the text says, and then how it
applies. If you are using a physical textbook, give me a page number (p. 222);
if you are using the online version, find the location and give it. Each page
begins with a location (for example 10-2d The agenda setting function of the
media.) Having told me what agenda setting means according to the textbook, now
apply it to what you are presenting as argument. That is what I will be looking
for.
Do
not open/start a post simply so you can read what others have written: In this
class that will be considered a form of academic dishonesty.
