MEDIA UNIT WEBQUEST

Answer the questions below as you work your way through the webquest. You will need to answer the questions on a sheet of your own notebook paper, as you will not have enough room on this sheet to do so. Please be sure to write the underlined title of the section of the webquest that you

are working on and number the question that you are answering so that I know what you are answering when I grade this. Each question has a website(s) that you will use to answer the question/ parts of the question. This handout will also be posted on my blog… I recommend that you pull it up and just click on the websites that way instead of typing the whole address. Please take your time looking at the various websites as we will

have a unit assessment over the material that is covered.

“The Art of Getting the News: Exploring Media Bias” http://www.umich.edu/~newsbias/index.html

1. What you see is not always what is really happening. Explain how the photo is proof of this.2. Now click on “What forms does news bias take” on the left side. Go to WORD CHOICE. Explain how this can

affect a story.3. Look at Example One: explain how wording affects this story. (Look at the examples and then read the

“Analysis” box.4. Look at Example Two. How does geography affect sports reporting? Give an example of a headline you might

never see in Atlanta (you think of this on your own)5. Look at Example Three. How can word choice turn fact into opinion?6. Now click on OMISSIONS. When/how does this occur?7. Why is what is omitted just as important as what is published?8. Example One shows the same story as reported by two different news sources. How did omission lead to two

different impressions of the same event for the reader?9. Now click on LIMITING DEBATE. How is this accomplished?10. Why is this so effective?11. Why is Example One a good example of this?12. Now click on STORY FRAMING. What is this?13. Why is it so effective?14. We are now finished using this website, but let’s see if you can take an event that is described to you and “spin”

it… in other words, you will control how we perceive the event. The event is as follows:A group of teens at Sprayberry want to be able to walk across the street to Chick-fil-a for lunch and believe that it is their right if they are over the age of 16. They decide to write an article for the school news paper detailing their argument. How might they use the techniques above to make sure the readers sympathize with them?

How could they word their headline to get our sympathy? (Word choice) What information might they omit? (Omissions) How could they limit debate? Who would they potentially NOT want to talk to/interview for the story?

(Limiting Debate) How could they frame the story so that gets the most attention? (Story Framing)

First Amendment/Freedom of Speech

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/press/overview.aspx (Read only the first paragraph, bullets and second paragraph)

1. The press really does have almost complete freedom. What can the government NOT due with respect to the press?

2. Why is interpretation of this amendment a challenge for the Supreme Court of today?

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=251&year=2009 Look at the world map Freedom of the press and answer the following:

1. Describe the world map in terms of freedom of the press… do most nations have a free press? Etc.2. Explain what you think a “partially free” press means.3. Now click on a country that is “Not free” and read the information under the map. Give specific

example of how the press is restricted in that country… in other words, why is the press not free there.4. Now that we know that in the United States we have a VERY free press… do you think there should be

limits? Look at each of the examples below and give your opinion. Should this speech really be free or not? Defend/explain your answer/reasoning (simple “yes” or “no” answers will not get any points).

Should hate speech be protected? Example: should a group of people be allowed to print flyers using racist words to promote a rally in which they are going to speak out about how much they hate people with purple hair and how inferior they are.

Should libel be protected? Libel is when you print something that is untrue and in turn you cause damage to a person’s reputation. What if I print something that I believed to be true?

Should threatening speech be protected? If I go around saying that I am going to burn down the houses of any person that has green hair and I also print bumper stickers that say “Burn down the houses of the Green Hairs”… should I be able to do this?

First Amendment Court Cases http://www2.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/fop.html

1. Click on “Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier”. Look at “The Facts of the Case” and after you read over them, click on “The Decision”. What did the Supreme Court ultimately decide?

2. Explain why you agree or disagree with this ruling.3. What does this ruling mean for you as a high school student with relation to “free speech”?4. What does “censorship” mean?5. Using the court case above, give your opinion on what should happen if the following situation were to arise:

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are students in your high school who committed suicide after their families tried to keep them apart due to their age differences; Romeo being a senior and Juliet a freshman. Your student newspaper wants to devote most of the next issue to this news story, with additional articles on student reactions and a psychological piece on teenage suicide. The administration, on the other hand, has told your newspaper advisor not to touch this story, claiming that the surrounding professional newspapers and broadcast media have covered it in depth, and citing their authority to "censor" and "prior review" according to the Hazelwood court decision.

Did the administration act appropriately? Explain why or why not.

Freedom of Speech and National Security… the case of WIKILEAKS

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/26/wikileaks-documents-show-successes-and-failures-of-afghan-police-and-army/?hpt=T2

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/08/07/wikileaks-fighting-worldwide-rewrite-content-protection-laws/

Wikileaks is a very recent case of freedom of the press. In July 2010 (very recent) an online sourced “leaked” many classified documents about the War in Afghanistan. These documents contained information that was not supposed to be know to the public, and more importantly… the enemy. Click on the two links above and read over the story (I’ve given you CNN and Fox News to look at). Once you know more about the issue answer the question below:

1. When it comes to National Security (protecting our country and its people) should there be limits on Freedom of Speech and of the Press? EXPLAIN your answer… why do you believe as you do.

2. What do you think should happen to the person who leaked the documents? 3. Should Wiki be forced to take the information down immediately? Why or why not?