Examine how political newsmaking depends on where reporters are, ...

[Arii_bell]

Examine how political newsmaking depends on where reporters are, what sources they talk to, and what sorts of video are available.
 
  Compare the roles of the limited geography of political news, dependence on official sources, and the relationship between visuals and newsworthiness in the kind of the news that the media present.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Examine what bias is. Compare and contrast charges that the media are biased by critics on different sides. Evaluate prevailing themes in political news that might influence how stories are covered.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[AngeliqueG]

Answer to Question 1

An ideal response will:
1, Explain how and why serious national news comes from surprisingly few places and how most TV news coverage is assigned to predictable events.
2, Discuss the media's dependence on official sources and how beats and news-gathering routines encourage a situation of mutual dependence by reporters and officials.
3, Compare the role of the leak in news gathering with other ways the media get information from official sources, and examine how spin has an impact on the relationship between the media and these sources.

Answer to Question 2

An ideal response will:
1, Discuss how bias is deviation from ideal standards such as representativeness or objectivity.
2, Discuss how the charges of bias are launched back and forth and how liberal critics believe the news media favor Republicans and the business establishment, while many conservative critics believe the news media are unfair to Republicans and favor liberal social causes.
3, Explain that any liberalism on the part of journalists is likely offset by the reliance on official sources that run the gamut in terms of ideology and that there is no systematic evidence that reporters' personal values regularly affect what is in the mainstream news media. Include that more often than not it is conservatives and Republicans who own and manage most news media organizations.
4, Incorporate a discussion of prevailing themes in political news, such as nationalism, approval of the American economic system, the relish the media take in reporting scandal, the trend of infotainment, and episodic and fragmented news coverage.

[Arii_bell]

Excellent

[bigcheese9]

TYSM