Many Americans look to the news industry for information on the world's happenings. But is this a good idea? Many would argue that the news has a responsibility to find the "larger truth," whatever that may be, and communicate that truth to the rest of the world. Others believe that the news should not report anything but the facts, and let the people come to their own decisions about what the truth really is (see Rosenblatt and Katz in the first edition of Common Culture).

The subject of the American news media has generated a great deal of debate and writing. In this section of Writing 1, you will have to look at this topic very thoroughly. In fact, the final research project is on the topic of broadcast news, be it Nightline or Hard Copy. This portion of the page has some info you may find useful in such a study.

This is a group project, because it is a big subject, and because (despite the John Wayne yup-ah-larn-better-on-my-own way most of us have been conditioned to think) we tend to do our best work in groups where ideas can cross-fertilize and complementary talents emerge. Moreover, most of the significant work you do in your life will be with a team of people. Because the subject is so important, I want everyone to have the benefit of each others' findings, so the last classes will be devoted to presentations (which will also be videotaped for future class use). If you want to be sure that you understand how to do formal academic research, I'd advise your group to present a written version of the project, but the presentation can be lively and creative as you want. For example, one group did a Jeopardy game show introduction with three categories (local, national/international and entertainment); virtually everyone knew the make of OJ's car and Madonna's baby's name, but only one person knew who Trent Lott was.

*If you want to explore the more entertainment-oriented aspects of broadcast news, check out these sites for Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, and Extra!

*The recommended books list has a number of good books on the news,

including

The Wizards of Media Oz by Norman Solomon

Breaking the News

Here are some more:

News: The Politics of Illusion Lance W. Bennet 1996

TV and Tabloids PN 1998.3 F 37 S52 1995

Believing the News PN 4867 B37

How to Detect Bias in the Media

There are also a number of good sites on the WWW:

Here are links selected by students in this class:

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) is a liberal organization to counter the more conservative Accuracy in Media (AIM).

Noam Chomsky archive and some other references

Here's a journalism paper by class alums.

Links to broadcast news organizations on the WWW

Here's adam