Media Bias Assignment

The good news: You will have to watch an hour of television. The bad news: You don’t get to pick the hour. Your assignment? To examine television news and news/discussion programs for evidence of bias. You should look for obvious political bias favoring Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives. You should also look for examples of the biases that Gladstone discusses in her book. You will need to prepare a two-page report (no more than three under any circumstances) on the hour you watched, analyzing the bias that you see. NOTE: All of these programs will contain at least some bias. It may not be political, but there will be examples of several of the bias types identified in the reading.

Due Date: To turnitin.com by 10:00 PM on Monday 19 December 2011. NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED after 10:00 PM on Tuesday 20 December 2011.

As a reminder, the biases you need to look for are: Political Commercial Bad News Status Quo Access Visual Narrative Fairness Any other type of bias you happen to notice.

Your report should analyze bias in the way stories are covered and discussed, but also in the way the stories are chosen. You must provide specific evidence of bias. See the example on the next page.

For example: Your report need not be in strict essay form. Follow the format below for the heading, and then feel free to put the type of bias you found and then write a paragraph or two analyzing the ways in which the bias was evident. See the next page for an example of what I’m talking about.

The assigned topics are on pages three and four.

See me if you need help. Your Name Public Policy Mr. Maguire 19 December 2011

Report on [Insert Name of Program] Network: [Insert name of network] Air Date: [Insert date(s) and time(s) of broadcast] Political Bias: SAMPLE

Narrative Bias:

Bad News Bias: By focusing the first 12 minutes of the program on the disappearance of a young girl from her home, the program demonstrated bad news bias. The choice of this as the lead story of the broadcast shows bias because this story directly affects only one family, or a small community of people. Selecting it for a national newscast is a way of scaring people.

Concern for their own family members might encourage people to watch, even though there is no threat to themselves or their own loved ones. This might also be an example of commercial bias, as it could demonstrate a greater concern for ratings than for informing viewers about stories that are more likely to affect them. Topics (Section 2)

NOTE: Programs marked with an asterisk are 30 minutes long. You should watch two programs.

Student Program 1 M. Porco Good Morning, America 7-8 AM (ABC) 2 A. Landgrebe Today 7-8 AM (NBC) 3 J. Berkowitz Early Show 7-8 AM (CBS) 4 D. Baker Morning Joe 7-8 AM (MSNBC) 5 A. Dekidjiev American Morning 7-8 AM (CNN) 6 Z. Bond Fox and Friends 7-8 AM (Fox News) 7 M. Della Cava America Live (Fox News) 8 M. Naclerio The Situation Room (CNN) 9 R. Wolf Fox Report (Fox News) 10 S. Cromwell ABC World News* 11 G. Akuetey CBS Evening News* 12 A. Tuller NBC Nightly News* 13 P. Goebel O’Reilly Factor (Fox News) 14 A. Grossman Hannity (Fox News) 15 V. Keating Ed Show (MSNBC) 16 N. Clay Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) 17 D. Doyle The Last Word (MSNBC) 18 D. Mikelis Daily Show* (Comedy Central) 19 J. LaSorsa Colbert Report* (Comedy Central) 20 S. Marandi Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) 21 H. Caligor Hardball (MSNBC) Topics (Section 1)

NOTE: Programs marked with an asterisk are 30 minutes long. You should watch two programs.

Student Program 1 C. Babbit Good Morning, America 7-8 AM (ABC) 2 J. Lappin Today 7-8 AM (NBC) 3 B. Berman Early Show 7-8 AM (CBS) 4 J. Ballan Morning Joe 7-8 AM (MSNBC) 5 G. Miconi American Morning 7-8 AM (CNN) 6 K. Johnson Fox and Friends 7-8 AM (Fox News) 7 K. Friedkin America Live (Fox News) 8 C. Selvaggio The Situation Room (CNN) 9 P. Ogoo Fox Report (Fox News) 10 N. Allen ABC World News* 11 J. Cohen CBS Evening News* 12 C. McFarland NBC Nightly News* 13 A. Umehara O’Reilly Factor (Fox News) 14 C. Williams Hannity (Fox News) 15 S. Lee Ed Show (MSNBC) 16 Z. Fenton Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) 17 R. Harada The Last Word (MSNBC) 18 C. Rawanduzy Daily Show* (Com. Cen.) 19 N. Lenchner Colbert Report* (Com. Cen) 20 M. Lipstein Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) 21 A. Belbusti Hardball (MSNBC) 22 A. Donat Special Report (Fox News) 23 N. Brechtel Channel 2 News at 11:00* 24 A. Reda Channel 4 News at 11:00* 25 B. Langer Channel 7 News at 11:00*