Reference no: EM133316420

Exercise 1

Question : What is objectivity in journalism? What is bias?

Question :What are the ways that bias can be manifested in news stories?

Question :What is connotation? How can the connotations of words introduce bias into a news story? Do connotations and evaluative language always introduce bias?

Question :In journalism, what is the difference between news and opinion?

Question :According to Pew Research, what is the difference between factual statements and opinion statements?

Question :What are the factors that might lead someone to think that a news report is biased when in fact it is not?

Question :What is commercial bias? What are some of the ways that commercial bias influences the presentation of the news?

Question : What is pandering? What is sensationalism?

Question : Does research support the idea that there is an overall, systematic leftward tilt in mainstream news media?

Question :Is the mere expression of opinion in a news piece a sure sign of bias? Why or why not? What makes an expression of opinion biased?

Exercise 2

Examining the following excerpts from opinions published online and (1) identify any word connotations and other evaluative terms, (2) indicate whether the wording introduces bias, and (3) determine whether the opinions expressed are supported by evidence.

1. One thing no liberal will ever turn down is the opportunity to get a standing ovation for accusing someone else of racism. Democrats have placed their opening bid in the immigration talks on Trump's 10-yard line-a hilariously unbalanced "compromise" that is worse than their original proposal. Now, they are battering him with accusations of racism to force him into an amnesty deal that he was specifically elected to prevent.Forced to choose, soccer moms are going with MSNBC-and, hey, if that means we'll still have Rosa to clean the house, well, that's OK, too!

Liberals have gotten a free ride for too long on using phony claims of "racism" to promote policies that hurt black people but help themselves. It's like spoiling a kid; by the time he's 15, it's impossible to get him to clean his room.The virtue signalers have been out in force lately, putting in museum-quality performances ever since receiving an unsubstantiated report about Trump's alleged "s---hole countries" comment in a private meeting.

2. Rush Limbaugh is coming for your children. Not in the flesh, thank God. But on his radio show last Thursday, the right's favorite gasbag announced that, after a two-decade hiatus, he is returning to the publishing world, this time with a history lesson for the grade-school set.

The title of his forthcoming book is Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans. As befitting an author of such extraordinary narcissism, the book's hero is "a fearless middle-school history teacher named Rush Revere, who travels back in time and experiences American history as it happens," and the book's cover features the colonial-themed caricature of Limbaugh that also serves as the logo of his patriot-themed brand of iced tea.

Michelle Cottle, "Rush Limbaugh Has No Business Teaching History to Our Kids,"

3. The great myth of many is that the left cares about people, that the compassion in American politics is almost exclusively found in the Democrat Party.

It's the exact opposite. Look at the people that vote for 'em. They're all angry. They're all miserable. They all feel left out in one way. They all need therapy. They're all constantly enraged. And you know why? Because nothing the Democrat Party ever promises 'em happens. Their lives do not get better. They've allowed themselves to become victims, thereby waiting for everybody else to do something for them because they've been convinced they can't do anything on their own because they're a victim, the deck's stacked against them.

So they're waiting for the Democrat Party, they're waiting for the Democrats and the American left to make things better. How do they define that? Making things better is punishing their enemies, not really making things better for them. I defy anybody, other than the wealthy Hollywood tech sector and the Wall Street sector, [to] go out and find your average radical leftist Democrat voter, and you will not find a happy person. And you will not find a person satisfied with what the Democrat Party has done to improve life for those people.

4. TRUMP MUST BE IMPEACHED. We can NOT wait until November of 2020 for that to happen. We simply won't make it til then. The country we know as the United States of America will not be the same after three more years of Trump. You know it and I know it. Turning the TV off and trying to avoid the daily insanity won't make him go away.

Donald J. Trump has proven himself to be completely unfit for office, a threat to our country and an imminent danger to this world. He is also not well. He is a malignant narcissist and an active sociopath. Because he holds the codes to, on his own, launch nuclear weapons, he is a singular threat to humanity.

5. Almost every day brings news of awful crimes, but some are so heinous, so horrendous and malicious, that they dwarf all else. One of those rare events took place on July 17, when Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot down in Eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.

The Guardian of Virtue in the White House denounced it as an "outrage of unspeakable proportions," which happened "because of Russian support." His UN Ambassador thundered that "when 298 civilians are killed" in the "horrific downing" of a civilian plane, "we must stop at nothing to determine who is responsible and to bring them to justice." She also called on Putin to end his shameful efforts to evade his very clear responsibility.

True, the "irritating little man" with the "ratlike face" (Timothy Garton Ash) had called for an independent investigation, but that could only have been because of sanctions from the one country courageous enough to impose them, the United States, while Europeans cower in fear.

6. By all accounts, the flooding that has inundated Iowa-along with much of the Midwest-has been devastating. So naturally, when Rep. Steve King traveled to Iowa this week, he offered words of comfort and promises of assistance.

Nah. After all, this is noted white supremacist and hatemonger Steve King. Instead, he opted to insult the New Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina, claiming that some unnamed FEMA official-perhaps created in King's fevered brain after an evening of perusing Stormfront-told King, "We go to a place like New Orleans and everybody's looking around saying, who's gonna help me, who's gonna help me?"

And then, of course, this anonymous-imaginary?-FEMA official allegedly went on to praise Iowans because they help themselves "rather than waiting for outside assistance." Because of course those overwhelmingly white Iowans are busy "helping each other" and pulling themselves up by those old bootstraps, unlike, say, those predominantly black New Orleanians, who are just sitting around waiting for a handout. Subtle, Steve. Jackass.