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Anthropology/Sociology 344—Selling the (Fall 2014)

Instructor: Bill Grigsby Date(s): Friday, Oct 10 (7:00 – 10:00 pm), Saturday, Oct 11 (9:00 am – 5:00 pm) Location: EOU Portland Metro Center, 7732 SE Harmony Rd, Portland – Room 143 Contact: 204B Ackerman; (541) 962-3591; [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Examines the commercial and alternative , how political bias is expressed and news is filtered, the pervasiveness of and deceptive techniques employed within and outside the news media, and what alternative, non-commercial sources are available and accessible. The object of this course is to provide students with a framework for understanding commercial news media and its effect on political processes and public opinion.

This course fulfills Social Science and Culture (SSC) for gen-ed. The gen-ed curriculum assumes that ‘every educated person should have some acquaintance with certain traditional areas of human knowledge and experience and be able to synthesize and contextualize this knowledge within their own lives.’ This course is an introduction to mass news media. Because so much of what people understand about problems and important issues in our society comes from the news they watch/read/listen to, news ‘media literacy’ is a critical skill for engaged, public citizens.

COURSE OBJECTIVES 1. To raise awareness of bias in commercial news media, and how to identify it. 2. To develop/sharpen students’ 'media literacy.' 3. To expose students to some of basic concepts of propaganda and its use in news media. 4. To better understand how news affects and democracy.

LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completing course students will demonstrate capacity to: 1. analyze media bias arguments and identify ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ viewpoints; 2. identify deceptive techniques of used in news stories; 3. explain how commercial news ‘filters’ operate to censor some stories.

MEANS OF ASSESSMENT: A written assignment asking students to choose and analyze three different news outlets that represent different points on the political spectrum (50%); small group assignments in class designed to have students engaged in analyzing visual news media (25%); a short summary of readings assigned before class, addressing media bias and propaganda (25%).

REQUIREMENTS You must attend the course. You cannot miss the class and make up assignments. No exceptions. The course is taught every term. You’ll have to drop or attend during another term. No exceptions. You’ll need to gain access to the following texts: ▫ . 2013. Censored 2014: Fearless Speech in Fateful Times. Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth (eds). NY: Seven Stories Press. ▫ Linda Elder and Richard Paul. 2006. How to detect media bias and propaganda. Foundation for Critical Thinking. Purchase online at www.criticalthinkingforbusiness.org/MediaBias2006- DC.pdf. The book costs 5-$6 and can be ordered online at http://www.criticalthinking.org/store/products/how-to-detect-media-bias-amp- propaganda/167 (the bookstore usually orders copies).

Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 1 CLASS FORMAT The class will be a combination of lecture, small group discussion, video, and presentation. I do encourage you to take notes in class. They will be quite useful as you sit down to complete your post-weekend assignment.

GRADING PROCEDURES, ASSIGNMENTS

assignment description due points Participation Class attendance, participation in class discussions 50 Summary of Write a 4-5 page analysis of the Censored readings, readings summarizing and analyzing what you got out of them. Oct 22 50 Use the ‘Media bias’ handbook and other resources to identify journal Nov 24 100 techniques of and manipulation in news stories

totals 200

Grading scale

I will grade on a straight percentage: 90-100% 180-200 A Minuses will be given for the bottom third (0-3) of each range; 80-89% 160-179 B pluses for the top third (7-9). I will also use pluses and minuses positively if I feel that one's grade did not reflect his/her effort; I 70-79% 140-159 C will not use them to reduce a grade. 60-69% 120-139 D Unless I’ve made a mathematical error, all grades are final. If you Below 60% < 120 F need the class to graduate, read the syllabus and do the work.

Assignment descriptions Analysis of readings from Project Censored I’ll ask you to write a 5-6 page summary and analysis of the readings I’ve assigned you from the Project Censored Book. I do not want a repetition of the stories censored in the book. Here’s what I expect: 1. Pick the three censored stories do you consider most important, summarize them and justify your choices. Use one of the original sources for the stories—not just the write-up in the Censored book (at the end of each story are the sources and links/citations to the original stories). You should read the summaries for all 25 top stories—but only need to write on three. 2. Why do you think these stories have been censored (there are articles in the book that will help you work through this question)? Be specific on this one—what kinds of factors might lead news outlets to not carry a story (is it the quality of the story, the powers that might be affected by it, a lack of interest among readership/viewers, etc.). I’ll look to make sure you’re using some of the other assigned chapters in the book to help you with this analysis. You can be critical of the stories and how they were put together—but make sure you distinguish between the student-authored summaries of the stories, and the actual stories as written by the —go to the original stories linked at the end of the write-ups. 3. What do you think of the book? I would like to see a pretty well thought-out analysis. I’d also like to know where you might agree/disagree with authors, and why. There are two issues here—one is specific stories in the book that you read, the other is the totality of stories that rarely appear in mainstream, commercial news outlets. Make sure you touch on each of these. To do this assignment, you’ll need to read the following chapters from Censored 2014: A) The top 25 censored stories (introduction & chapter 1, pp 25-135; B) Also read additional chapters:

Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 2  ‘Junk food news and news abuse’ (chapter 3)  ‘ in action’ (chapter 4)  ‘ backfires’ (chapter 5)  Use chapters 3-5 to inform the paper—in non-gratuitous ways. To do well:  Make sure you summarize/analyze three stories—each will be worth about a third of the points, so if you only do two, you’ll be missing 1/3 of the possible points. Also, you need to work in the other chapters you’ve read into the write-up.  Be critical—that means spend some time analyzing the story, maybe even doing some background research elsewhere if you have questions. Regardless of your views on the stories, I want to see that you understand what this book is trying to do. How did the author(s) use sources?  Think about why most of these stories rarely if ever get covered in mainstream news. Are they untrue? Are they unimportant? Would they offend powerful groups? If so, which and how? You will have been exposed to the news ‘filtering pressures’ from class. Consider applying them.  A concluding paragraph about the value of this assignment. What did you get out of it? Whatever that turns out to be, I’d like to see some deeper reflection here. If you learned something, flesh it out. If you didn’t, do some informed speculation as to why not.

Criteria Description Pts possible Following Choosing three stories, incorporating other chapters 10 guidelines Demonstrate you’ve read not just the write-up, but the original 10 Description of material stories Discuss the story’s importance, critique the reporting, speculate 20 Analysis as to why it was underreported (informed by class material) Writing Make sure your paper is proofread, your ideas well-organized 10 and presented Total 50 Worth 50 points, due before midnight Oct 22. You can submit your assignment to the Blackboard link. No .wps file extensions please! (.rtf or .doc or .docx works).

Spin journal You will analyze two news stories, choosing 3 different news articles covering each story in the news. You'll be looking for evidence of bias, filtering, etc.—differences in coverage explainable in terms of biased reporting. The bias could be political, could be commercial, and the use of techniques designed to deceive, either by the news media outlet or by newsmakers. The book ‘How to detect media bias & propaganda’ will be indispensible—you’ll want to read through it carefully, probably more than once, to help you identify and describe the techniques of manipulation covered by the authors. This assignment will be easier for you if you pick stories where there are some pretty clear differences of political opinion, and the stakes are high. Spin involves the manipulation of language, used to defend one’s views, attack others’, move public opinion, etc. It is but one of many techniques used to persuade. For instance, was the war in Iraq about freedom and democracy? Or empire and oil? Why were their (alleged) weapons called ‘weapons of mass destruction’ while the US weapons had names like ‘daisy cutters’ and ‘bunker busters?’ Do the enemies of the U.S. really hate our freedoms? Or do they have quarrels with U.S. foreign policy? Did the US military ‘torture’ prisoners, or engage in ‘enhanced interrogation?’ Is a

Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 3 person who supports a woman’s reproductive rights pro-choice, pro-abortion, or anti-life? Are those who oppose abortion pro-life, anti-abortion or anti-choice? Is the republican party really the party of ‘family values?’ Are the democrats really the ‘tax and spend’ party? Is Obama really a socialist? Is withholding evidence of state-sponsored spying on US journalists really about national security, or avoiding bad press? There are many tricks of the trade, and part of what I’ll be looking for is to see if you can identify them when they are used by people in the news, and those who report the news. Deception could come from individuals quoted in an article, it could be the spin of the media outlet or the author of the story, or the author might take an entirely uncritical view of quotes or statements in the story (reporting newsmakers’ spin as straight news). Even the headline of an article can be spun— so watch for spin, deception and propaganda in different places.

Some basic rules ▫ Same topic please! For each story you choose, choose articles covering the same topic. In other words, choose three articles covering the same story in the same time period, so they’re comparable. Stories change fast, so the further apart your three versions are in time, the more likely they’re not comparable. I’ll notice. And . . . this isn’t a history class—don’t choose a story from the past. There are stories every week that will work for this assignment. ▫ Things to avoid. Among the three articles you choose to compare for each story: ▪ Avoid editorial articles—focus on news stories—they’ll be easier to compare (though you could supplement them by reading a couple editorials to help you with your analysis). Now it may be true that some news is editorialized, but you should be able to tell the difference between an article that is reporting, versus one that is clearly an opinion piece. Stick with articles that at least claim to be news. You will lose points if you don’t. ▪ No more than one newswire story (e.g., Reuters, Associated Press). Many news organizations subscribe to newswires and can use their stories in their own papers/websites. That means that they may reflect more the perspective of the newswire than the subscribing organization (but the organization did choose to carry it, right?), and you may not find variation from one site/paper to the next if they’re both carrying the same newswire story—nothing to compare, and that won’t be good for your analysis or grade because you should have caught it when documenting the source. It also means that the same AP or Reuters or Cox story covered by two outlets is going to read pretty much the same. So part of this assignment requires you be able to identify a newswire story. Basic news literacy. ▫ Choosing stories, sources. For each story, you must choose one article from each of these three groups: . Right-leaning: FoxNews, Washington Times . Center: Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, CNN . Left-leaning: Common Dreams (from the news stories column), ProPublica, or Reader Supported News (do not choose the op-editorial pieces!). . If you’re not finding the same story across three sites, try some expanded choices at ‘Front Page News’ (www.eou.edu/socmedia/frontpage.htm). But if you leave out representation from the right, center, or left in your analysis, it will come out in the points.

Resources: The Media bias and propaganda book (downloadable pdf) gives you examples of deception in action. I would recommend ordering it through the Critical Thinking Foundation’s website, though. However, there are many places online that may help you think through this assignment.

Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 4 News weblogs There are many ‘weblogs’ whose owners analyze, critique, and/or fact-check the day’s news. . You can find a small slice of the more trafficked ones at www.eou.edu/socmedia/news.htm#blogs. . Right-leaning can be found here (dated, but still a good list) . The blogs will give you many ideas about various angles taken in stories.

Watchdog sites These sites keep an eye on news outlets and coverage they suspect of bias: . FAIR (fairness and accuracy in reporting) . Center for American Progress . media matters, . mediawatch, . mediachannel.org, . NewsMax . AIM (accuracy in media) . Some of these have their own biases, so be careful.

Resource sites . sourcewatch covers the PR industry and media spin . Fact Check. Pretty much what it says, but it doesn’t cover a wide range of stories. . These are sites where you can look up individuals, organizations, people used as experts on TV and in print, etc. Watchdog sites could have their own biases, so be careful—this is one of the more effective means of using 3rd parties—as supposed impartial arbiters of other media. It’s your job to figure out which sites might lean conservative or liberal, or seem to be mostly providing ratings ‘bait,’ which points of view represent conservative or liberal stances, and you might have to do some homework to do this (some of the above sites should help). Remember—sometimes ‘left-right’ controversies are just distractions—there may be other biases at work. Also, you can get resources from the news page at www.eou.edu/socmedia/news.htm (note the ‘tools’ section). You will produce a report, covering news stories from different sources. It should be 5-6 pages in length, double-spaced—plus a short conclusion. Here’s how points will be assigned:

Requirement description points Story/article choice Choose from each ‘group,’ a story of political importance 25 Summarize each story and use the tools given to analyze each Summary/analysis/writing 50 version of it; support your conclusions with evidence from the articles Documenting sources I want full citations, not URLs (each missing cite = 1 point) 10 Demonstrated use of blogs, other websites to do research on Using resources 10 story topic, watchdog sites, and the ‘How to detect bias’ book a concluding paragraph analyzing/critiquing what you learned Final reflection 5 from this process, and from the analysis of the story Total points 100

Papers are due before midnight, Nov 24.

POLICIES, EXPECTATIONS Academic integrity The university's official position: Eastern Oregon University places a high value upon the integrity of its student scholars. Any student found guilty of academic misconduct (including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, or theft of an examination or supplies) may be subject to having his or her grade reduced in the course in question, being placed on probation or suspended from the university, or being expelled from the university--or a combination of these. (see section II of the 2002-03 Student Handbook, p. 32ff, and p. 41 ff; also this page for examples, more guidance at the Online Writing Lab (www.eou.edu/writelab/plagiarism.htm). Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 5 My interpretation: Plagiarism is taking credit for work, ideas, papers, which are not yours. Universities make lots of literature available for a nominal fee, the bargain being that if you use the ideas of others, you'll credit them. So it isn't just wholesale theft, but as the above says, deception, misrepresentation, etc. Be sure you're familiar with what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it. Penn State University has a useful page worth reading on plagiarism (www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/mod9/plagiarism.htm). I recommend you look at it before you turn in papers in this class or others. If you're caught plagiarizing, you'll receive an 'F' on the assignment and possibly for the course. Doing your own work turns out to be more rewarding in the long term.

Due dates and late assignments Assignments are expected on the day they're due. Late assignments will be assessed a penalty (one letter grade for each day, increasing with lateness). Please turn assignments in directly, using the assignments link in Blackboard. If you’re not sure how to use it, let me know. If you have extenuating circumstances for being late with an assignment, I'm always willing to listen, but in fairness to others who've managed to get them in on time, later notifications or assignments turned in will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis—contact me. Expectations I will justify my lecture and reading material, assignments, etc., by showing their relevance to the overall course objectives. I will provide a friendly environment for discussion of ideas, try to make you think, impart personal experiences relevant to course material, and be generally accessible, approachable, and clear and precise about course expectations. With respect to coverage of content, I tend to emphasize depth over breadth—I would rather cover less points thoroughly, at a reasonable and engaging pace, than pledge strict allegiance to a course schedule. We’ll likely not get through all the material. In turn I expect students will do their own work, use or develop critical thinking skills and be able to express them on paper or in class discussion, speak up when unclear or in disagreement on a concept, either exhibit college-level writing skills or seek help to improve them, and refine note-taking skills. I expect papers that are well-proofread. I'll look for progress in developing abstract thinking skills and students' abilities to focus on the “big picture”—key concepts delivered in class, their relevance to course material, the real world, etc. Discussion in class will focus on ideas. It’s a short but intense weekend. We can debate people’s ideas in a respectful way, but personal attacks on individuals will not be tolerated. You’re expected to show respect to everyone in the class. If you have questions about what’s appropriate in class, follow the Golden Rule. Students with disabilities Any student requiring assistance or accommodation from me in performing course-related work should make his/her needs known to me in a timely manner. If you have a documented disability or suspect that you have a learning problem, you are entitled to reasonable and appropriate accommodations. But you must work with the Disabilities Services Office (Pat Arnson, Director, [email protected], or Lynn Tilley, [email protected]). The office is located in Loso Hall 234 (phone 541.962.3235).

Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 6 Class topics to be covered: Is there bias in commercial media coverage? What pressures exist that filter the news we receive? What kinds of techniques of persuasion and deception are used? How does and propaganda fit in? What is media literacy, what kinds of alternative news sources exist?

Videos we may watch (most are excerpts) Some web resources: Outfoxed Consuming Children There may be some additional resources of Unprecedented / Uncovered A Century of Self interest at the Anth/Soc 345 course: Merchants of Cool The Persuaders https://people.eou.edu/socmedia/readings/ The Corporation Numerous video clips online Manufacturing Consent Ad and the Ego

Tentative schedule Friday Topic(s) 7:00 – 7:30 Introductions, syllabus 7:30 – 8:00 Bias in news media? 8:00 – 8:15 Break 8:15 – 9:30 What kind of bias? 9:30 – 10:00 Fox, corporate concentration Saturday 9:00 – 10:45 News ‘filters’ 10:45 – 11:00 Break 11:00 – noon Censorship Noon – 1:00 Lunch 1:00 – 2:15 Propaganda 2:15 – 2:30 Break 2:30 – 3:15 Propaganda (cont’d) 3:15 – 3:30 Break 3:30 – 4:30 Techniques; 4:30 – 5:00 Loose ends, assignments

Anth/Soc 344 Fall 2014 / 7