“Everyone is biased — and that’s okay. But hidden media bias misleads, manipulates, and divides us.”
Topic: Media and Social Media Influences
This assignment will explore how prejudice, stereotypes, and oppression are displayed in the media and social media, as well as explore how areas of media either encourage or attempt to dismantle racism and oppression in society.
Social networking sites are not only a place where people affirm identity and seek community. These sites are also a venue where racism regularly appears.
According to All Sides Media, news media, social media, and search engines have become so biased and personalized that we are often stuck inside filter bubbles, where we’re only exposed to information and ideas we already agree with. We often only see information that confirms our existing beliefs. We may end up hating the “the other side,” believing they are wrong or evil. When we stay inside a filter bubble, we may miss important ideas and perspectives.
Directions
For this assignment, write a short research paper addressing how media and social media depict some of the groups and topics addressed in this course.
Start with a search for information on how both the media (news, print journalism, advertising) and social media influences prejudice, racism, and oppression. You should use the Library Database for a formal academic journal, and then support your research with general online articles and reviews from popular publications, such as magazines, journals, or other formal “news” sources. You want to select one from each “side” of the media perspectives shown on “All Sides” along with a neutral source.
https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-ratings
Do not use personal blogs or Wikipedia for your supporting information.
Write a unified essay addressing the following:
How do messages and information in the media, including social media influence racism and oppression?
What articles tend to be the most biased?
How are the oppressed groups described?
What kind of language is used to describe ethnic minorities, women, sexual identities, and other oppressed groups?
What images are associated with the message and headlines?
What kind of messages do you see on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms? Include information from posts, and comments to those posts.
If you do not participate, you can explore these sites without an account by searching for a “topic” and a “platform” by name.
Perform a search related to a course topic and social media and report your results.
What trends do you see?
Discuss the use of sensationalism and clickbait, as well as social media algorithms, and their influences on users of social media and online media.
What new information have you learned about how oppressed groups are described through the media and represented on social media?
Resources
For help with this topic, you may want to explore various movements over the last 10 years including:
Sexual Orientation: LGBTQ+
Significant events: Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and Ingersoll vs. Arlene’s Flowers
Ethnicity: Black Lives Matter
Significant events: George Floyd, Police shootings (bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52905408), Marissa Johnson interrupts Bernie Sanders rally, the passage of Initiative 940
Ethnicity: Indigenous Right
Significant events: Standing Rock, Mauna Kea, MMIW & Indigenous Rights, Sioux lands in North and South Dakota, Mauna Kea in Hawai’i, missing and murdered indigenous women
Gender
Significant events: Reproductive Rights, Women’s March, #MeToo, Brock Turner case.
National Origin: Dreamers
Significant events: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), ICE Deportations, Zero Tolerance at the Border.
Assignment Guidelines
You must submit your work in Doc/Docx, RTF, or PDF format by Sunday, November 7th at 11:59:00 pm. Your paper should be a minimum of 5 pages of writing, using a standard 12pt font in APA format including a title page and references.
How to Save in Rich Text Format
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To submit a Google Doc, open your document and select “Share” on the top right corner, and select “get shareable link” and edit so that “anyone with the link” can view. When submitting the assignment, select “website” and paste the link. Hit submit.
You may also wish to reference the Purdue Online Writing Lab
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If this is your first time submitting an Assignment in Canvas, check out the Canvas Student Guides for Assignments
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