Activity Paper Assignment

As part of your grade, you are required to write a paper. The paper must have the following structure:

· The paper must be typed using regular 12 pt fonts. It should be double-spaced, 4-5 pages long, with 1-inch margins on all sides and using regular paragraph breaks.

· You will be penalized one (1) point for each spelling error and one (1) point for each grammatical error, but the maximum points lost will not exceed forty (40). You will be penalized for not meeting the minimum 4-page requirement or exceeding the 5-page limit.

· Your paper must follow an essay format. You must have an introduction, a body of several paragraphs and a conclusion.

· You do not need research outside of the book. You must use your own words. You must cite the pages you paraphrase or quote from the book. Use the following in text format when footnoting (Dye, 2002, p. 160). Any copying from the book without citing it will be severely punished.

· Do not use folders for the paper. Use a cover sheet instead. The cover sheet should state, my name, your name, title of the paper, title of the course, day and time of the class section you are in, and the date the paper is turned in. Staple the cover sheet to the top left hand corner of the paper.

· All papers must be delivered in hard copy. No e-mail or floppy disk delivery of papers accepted.

· Late papers will be penalized one full grade for each calendar day late. This includes Fridays and weekends.

· Late papers MUST be turned in at the MAIL ROOM. The date the paper was turned in MUST be stamped on it by the mail room clerk.

The paper must have the following content and must follow the sequence listed bellow:

1. Read chapter 6 of the book. Specifically focus on “Sources of Media Power” and “Politics of the Media.”

2. You must watch three local news broadcasts on three different days from the following three different TV stations: KABC, KNBC, KCBS. Local news is usually broadcast between 4 and 6 pm and at 11pm. You must watch a half-hour broadcast. List the dates, times, and stations that you watched in the introductory paragraph of your paper. Hint: tape the shows so you can go over them repeatedly.

3. Select and explain in your own words eight (8) strategies regarding media coverage from Chapter 6 in the book. Find eight different examples to support these strategies from the news that you have watched. Use a different example to explain each of the strategies from the book. Please highlight/italicize/underline the name of each strategy that you use. For example this is the way the strategy of “sensationalism” should be highlighted in the following sentence:

· On every station sensationalism was the most obvious strategy used in the news.

OR

· On every station sensationalism was the most obvious strategy used in the news.

OR

· On every station sensationalism was the most obvious strategy used in the news.

In other words, is there evidence to support the strategies laid out in the book about news coverage? What is that evidence? Be specific. For example, is there evidence that supports horse-race coverage of elections? Is there evidence that supports sensationalism in news coverage? Is there evidence that supports socialization in news coverage? Is there evidence that supports feeding frenzy in news coverage?