Role+of+the+Media


 * The following activities are from [|Newsweek] and may be used during the course to examine the role of the media.

Activity 1:** Using the suggested websites, go online and find three interviews with journalists. Make a list of the questions asked, using two categories: the general and the specific. General questions will address their backgrounds, career decisions and practices; specific questions will address various particular issues and news events.


 * a.** Identify the three highlights of each interview, in your opinion.
 * b.** Make a list of questions for your own interview with a journalist.
 * c.** Find a local journalist that you'd like to interview. Set up an appointment, dress appropriately, and bring a working voice recorder. Make sure that the recorder is working! As well, take notes of highlights in the interview. Ask your interviewee to help you get in touch with two people who could shed additional light on him or her. Those interviews should be short, and over the phone. You will need to develop a short list of questions to be prepared for those interviews as well.
 * d.** Edit the interview (20 questions and answers will be too long, and some of the questions will not beget compelling answers). Call your interviewee to verify the accuracy of your quotes and information: this is called "fact-checking." Incorporate into your article relevant information from your short interviews: they may only be part of the introduction, or the information may be relevant to other places int the interview.
 * e.** Submit your article/interview to your school newspaper, or to a local small newspaper. You will also want to provide the journalist you interviewed with a copy.


 * Suggested Web sites**

[|www.cmpa.com] Center for Media and Public Affairs [|www.journalism.org] The Online Home of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Committee of Concerned Journalists [|www.mrc.org] Media Research Center [|www.mediatenor.com] Media Tenor [|www.mediachannel.org] Media Channel http://newswatch.sfsu.edu NewsWatch [|www.ajr.org] American Journalism Review [|www.cjr.org] Columbia Journalism Review [|www.freedomforum.org] The Freedom Forum [|www.ire.org] Investigative Reporters and Editors [|www.ojr.org] Online Journalism Review (USC Annenberg Center) [|http://spj.org] Society of Professional Journalists

Activity 2:** Go online to the September/October 2003 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, and read the articles in the section titled, "Special Report: The New Alternative". Use these articles as a jumping-off point for a thorough report on "blogs" and other alternatives to the mainstream media. Write an essay on what they are, what they accomplish, what they have to offer and what they cannot or do not provide. You may want to start by looking at [|www.drudgereport.com], one of the most popular blog pages. Does the Drudge Report have a political leaning? How can you tell? Provide evidence from the links cited rather than opinion or supposition. How do blogs differ from the mainstream media? Does the mainstream media have a political bias?
 * Activity 3:** Discuss: how has the Internet affected print and broadcast journalism? What might be the strengths and weaknesses of Internet news providers? Try to find articles on or related to this subject, using the Web sites suggested in this teacher's guide. Speculate: how do you think that broadcast media changed or affected the print media?
 * Activity 4:** In pairs, research one media-oriented Web site, be it a blog or a journalism journal online. Most of these sites provide a way to contact the developers. As a class, prepare a list of five questions you would like to ask the editors/purveyors of these Web sites. Send each site an e-mail, and if/when you receive answers, compare and compile them into an cogent self-examination of the news as provided by the on-line media.