MM 140: Mass Media and Society

Current Events & Media

30 points

From the syllabus: An important part of understanding media is the act of actually reading media. In this assignment, you will focus on “what’s happening in your own media world.” You will have the opportunity to engage with media through finding current events throughout the semester. You will be challenged to find topics that interest you and learn to be a critical consumer of information.

You are asked to read the news and find current events that you not only find exciting and applicable to your life but also align with topics discussed throughout the semester. Please note that because this activity applies much of what we have learned throughout this course, it is worth quite a bit more than most activities.

First, find TWO current events that you find interesting and apply to one or more of the topics below. Dictionary.com defines a current event as “present-time newseventsconcerning important people, places, things, and ideas.” For this assignment, you must identify current events that have been in the news media in the last two months. As you search for current events, consider the following topics we have covered:

·  Concerns for the newspaper industry

·  Yellow journalism

·  Ownership of TV, radio, newspapers

·  Impact of magazines

·  Arguments surrounding books

·  Evolution of the media world

·  Media usage

·  Mass media and democracy

·  Media inventions

·  Influence of PR and advertising

·  Terms and Condition Agreements

·  Media file sharing (i.e., music)

·  Media conglomerates (i.e., Google, Facebook)

·  Legality issues and concerns in media

·  Digital media

·  Persuasion vs. objectivity in media

Second, once you have found your current events, you are asked to write a 1-2 paragraph explanation for each current event outlining how it represents your chosen topic(s). The writing should include the following for each event:

·  Title, author (if available), name of media source, date of publication of the current event

·  Brief summary of the story (avoid copying from the source)

·  Brief summary of the chosen applicable topic

·  Specific explanation of how the story represents the chosen topic (be specific here!)

Paragraphs should be well organized and objective. However, these are just paragraphs, not fully developed papers! You are graded on choice of current event, full explanation, and detail.

Please copy and paste BOTH of your current events together into ONE forum post on Moodle.

Third, responses to the forum posts are required. You are required to read at least THREE posts and reply to at least ONE post. Responses should include your critique of the application of the current events to the selected topics as well as offer additional ways to explore/analyze the selected current events. Responses should be at least 2-3 meaningful sentences for EACH current event.

Grading Rubric

Requirement / Point Value
Two Summaries of Current Event (includes title, date, publication, etc.) / /10
Summary of Topics applied to each Current Event / /5
Connection between current events and topics / /8
Forum Response / /7
TOTAL / /30