1. (150-200 words–you may write more if you want to. You will use this information in your Project 2) Read the module pages The Media Spectrum: Eleven Types of Media.. and Defining the “Fake News” Problem. What does Melissa Zimdars tell us about the issue of the media? What does she mean when she says the media lies on a “spectrum?” (Define spectrum and distinguish this from a binary way of dividing up content). Is the media either 100% true or 100% false? Is it a black & white issue? Why does she say it more complicated than that? Is there any way to get rid of unreliable, non-objective information?
2. (150-200 words–you may write more if you want to. You will use this information in your Project 2) And from the Defining the “Fake News” Problem, answer these factual questions and share your opinion. Silverman and another expert did research in 2016 on the most popular stories about Trump in European websites. He and Lawrence Alexander, media analyst for Global Voice, discovered that hundreds of websites were being produced in a small city in Macedonia. What did Silverman find out from these teenagers? What were they doing and why? And what is your opinion? Does it matter whether that people are using social media to spread stories that might be misleading, based on false evidence, partly false, or completely a lie?
3. (100-150 words–you may write more if you want. Based on the readings from this week, what is visual literacy and how can we develop it? Why is visual literacy an important skill for us in this contemporary age? In your opinion, why is it so hard to “know” what a picture means? And why, in your opinion, is it so easy for various kinds of media to manipulate public opinion using images?
4. (400 words or more–enjoy this and just be creative. There is no “right answer.”) List the five modes of communication and use two of them to analyze ONE specific item of news from the links I have put below. Begin by jotting down the following seven facts about the text (what we call the rhetorical situation): author, title of article, publication title (not the platform where you found it), date, intended audience, genre, historical context. Then, answer the following questions: Visual mode: How does the news item use images? Do the images make the news story seem more real? Do the images make us feel angry? Sad? Shocked? Does it appeal to ethos by making the speaker look more credible? More believable? More trustworthy? Linguistic mode: How does the news item use words, text, font, font size, and language? Does it make it seem more official? Or more trashy? Does the text make you believe the story? Why? Aural mode: How does the news item you chose use sound? (It must be a video or audio story, not a print story). Does the sound make it more realistic? More authentic? Does it bring you into the scene? Does it build up the credibility of the people who are talking? Does the sound bring back memories of anything, or symbolize something that makes you feel a certain way?
Choose ONE of the following news stories for #4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZITnT2rVmiM (Links to an external site.)
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/26/weather/heat-wave-forecast-west-east-coast/index.html (Links to an external site.)
https://www.tmz.com/2021/06/28/lil-nas-x-bet-performance-kiss-hater-clap-back-diddy-praise/ (Links to an external site.)
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/28/business/bitcoin-price-mexican-billionaire/index.html (Links to an external site.)
Trigger warning: this is a report on a possible hate crime
https://www.wcvb.com/article/winthrop-massachusetts-shooting-june-26-2021/36851581#
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