BSCOM 410 Week 3 The Reality of News

Identify a national story that is currently in the news.

Select two of the following major media outlets that are both covering the story:

• ABC News
• CBS News
• CNN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• NPR

Search for coverage of news story you have selected from each of the two outlets.

Note: The stories you choose to compare may take the form of a live broadcast, video, audio, or printed word (e.g., you may select a CNN live broadcast and an ABC written article.

Write a 950- to 1,050-word paper that addresses the following:

• Do both media outlets use a traditional journalistic perspective in presenting the story?  Explain your response.
• Are the sources used in the news stories appropriate or credible? Why or why not?
• Is the message of the story the same as presented by each media outlet?  What is the message of each story?
• Did one story seem more believable to you than the other?  Explain.
• As outlined in your textbook, truthfulness, neutrality, and accuracy are three criteria for determining the quality of news.  Did each story have all three?  Did one story have more or less of one of the three qualities?  What prompted you to determine this?
• Does either outlet present the story in a manner that is biased? If so, how did you recognize the bias? If not, how did the story appear to avoid bias?
• If one or both of the stories were biased in some way, what are your suggestions for making them more fair and balanced?
• Does either story include overtones or elements of racial or gender stereotypes? If so, describe.
• Do any of the stories appear to be incomplete or require additional context for viewers to fully understand the meaning?
• Could different audience types interpret the stories in different ways?  If so, in what ways?

Format your assignment according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.

Submit your assignment to the Assignment Files tab.