Courses in Media Bias and Culture Manipulation
Sep 28, 2009
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The Editors
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Mediahope.com is dedicated to educating and equipping university students to deal with the media-heavy society they face in life after college. We believe it a vital skill for today’s generation to be able to recognize, analyze, and pinpoint specific pieces of news media that are practicing faulty and manipulative types of journalism. Distinguishing truth from manipulation is not only helpful in journalism, but in life.
And so we encourage the development of courses and lessons that educate students for truth, and welcome your contributions. Do you have a course that separates media truth from media fiction? An interesting approach to training journalists to provide realistic coverage? Lessons that highlight the great variety of skills needed to cope with this, the digital age?
We’d love to hear from you. Write an article about your approach, and send it to us for publication. You may include teaching materials that illustrate your approach. Our goal: promoting education that speaks to the positive values of a wonderful nation.
To kick off this series, we feature below a new Media Bias course launched recently by Liberty University’s School of Communication:
COMS 486: MEDIA BIAS
Course Description
An examination of the manipulation and bias in mainstream American media. This course provides students with the New Media exposure necessary to seek and promote truth in journalism, thereby contributing to a more vibrant and balanced national dialogue.
Rationale
The preservation and growth of our Judeo-Christian culture relies, in part, upon media that both shape and reflect that worldview. This, however, requires individuals—both within and outside the media—willing to confront the long-standing and rampant bias of traditional American media outlets. The basic premise of the course is that aware news/information consumers and participants can counter mainstream media falsehoods and open the public discourse to truthful representations of reality.
I. Prerequisites
none
II. Required Resource Purchases
A. Varies by semester
III. III. Online Resources
A. www.mediaresearch.org
B. www. newsbusters.org
C. www.aim.org
D. Other sites as assigned
IV. Additional Materials for Learning
A. Computer with basic audio and video equipment
B. Internet access (broadband recommended)
C. Microsoft Word
D. Microsoft PowerPoint
V. Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
A. Relate a Judeo-Christian perspective of communication to the context of professional news and information creation
B. Differentiate the various roles and functions of information and entertainment gatekeepers in cultural formation and transmission
C. Analyze various qualities and effects of approaches to generating news and information
D. Describe the dysfunctions that are common in creating news and information
E. Identify the use of context in promoting positive, values-based journalism
F. Judge how various worldviews and agendas affect journalism
Course Requirements and Assignments
A. Assigned book readings
B. Class Participation
Students are required to participate in class discussions. Students meet expectations when they come to class prepared and make thoughtful comments when called upon; contribute occasionally without prompting; show interest in and respect for others’ views; participate actively in small groups and other in-class assignments & exercises.
C. 4-MAT Reviews (3)
The 4-MAT Review system is a way of responding to readings, lectures, and life experiences, requiring the learner to interact with new ideas on several levels. Each of the three (3) required papers must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document and must follow Turabian style for the title and references pages.
D. Worldview Project
The core outcome of this project is to allow students to practice the principles for understanding the effects of worldview in news and entertainment. The final presentation of the project will be an 8–12 page paper, typed in Microsoft Word, and using the Turabian style format.
E. Exams
Mid-term (10% of total grade) and final exams (20% of total grade)
VI. COURSE MODULES:
Part 1: Overview
Bias in reporting…how media use journalistic techniques to manipulate public opinion
Examination of the consequences for events and history
Part 2: Interviewing
· how journalists use and abuse interviewing to construct a false reality
· techniques for honest interviewing
Part 3: Censorship
· how, by intentionally omitting entire news stories or important parts of news stories, reporters can affect public opinion and shape government policy
Part 4: Surveys
· how the results of surveys are manipulated by the wording of the questions
· the consequences
Part 5: Narratives
· how journalists use storytelling to slant the picture of the world they send to consumers
Part 6: Putting It All Together
· The importance of fair, unbiased reporting
· How students can combat biased reporting during their careers as journalists
· How students can use and, as needed, combat biased reporting as news and information consumers
