| Gradebook | FAQ | CRUCIBLE FULL TEXT | CRUCIBLE AUDIO-- "GOODY GOOD" for review!
Welcome to Mass Communications
I am very much looking forward to working with you this semester. To get started, please follow the directions and click the blue links below. You will receive credit for these assignments only if you follow the directions in an accurate and timely manner. TIMELINE: A couple of hours or about three nights
Outside Reading"Fortunately for serious minds, a bias recognized is a bias sterilized." B. Haydon Bias by Bernard Goldberg OR... Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind by Tim Groseclose An investigative journalism classic.
Nobody wants to know how the sausage is made... The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
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What Conservatives Want Typically, the opposite of what liberals want.
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HANDOUTS & ASSIGNMENTS |
Intro to Mass Comm:
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“...Television is not so much interested in the business of communications as in the business of delivering audiences to advertisers. People are the merchandise, not the shows. The shows are merely the bait.”
Les Brown, Businessman and Motivational Speaker
"A media source that tells us it is unbiased has already lied to us once."
Anonymous
LISTEN: The podcast, The Truth Is out There, Isn't It? explores the paradox of how knowledge can actually lead us away-- not toward-- the truth. READ: It's a fact that your brain waves change when you watch TV. If we are more open to suggestion while we watch television, what values might be slipping unnoticed into our minds? Are we being lulled into apathy about the things we should care about? READ: Stay on top of current events. Here is a link to the full, daily edition of the Providence Journal online. Enter [email protected] as the user name and avengers as the password. |
How Television Works
DO THIS: Jot down five controversial quotes from the video above, and indicate whether you agree or disagree. You will be given a moment afterwards to state why.
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You Can Do Anything: Who or what is the target of this satirical SNL skit? What is its tone and mood? How do you know? (Please excuse the crude language at the outset.)
U.S. Media Trends by Demographic
April 27, 2012
From Millenials to Boomers, males to females, and a variety of racial/ethnic groups, part two of Nielsen’s State of the Media: Advertising & Audiences Report presents an in-depth look at usage by demographic. According to Nielsen, white TV viewers use their DVR twice as much as any other group on a daily basis, yet Asians watch the most timeshifted content as a share of overall TV time. Among popular online destinations for TV content – Hulu, Netflix and YouTube – Hispanics were most likely to watch video on Netflix, while Asians were most likely to watch on Hulu and black viewers on YouTube.
Other findings include:
April 27, 2012
From Millenials to Boomers, males to females, and a variety of racial/ethnic groups, part two of Nielsen’s State of the Media: Advertising & Audiences Report presents an in-depth look at usage by demographic. According to Nielsen, white TV viewers use their DVR twice as much as any other group on a daily basis, yet Asians watch the most timeshifted content as a share of overall TV time. Among popular online destinations for TV content – Hulu, Netflix and YouTube – Hispanics were most likely to watch video on Netflix, while Asians were most likely to watch on Hulu and black viewers on YouTube.
Other findings include:
- Teens used a game console for eight minutes a night, on average, during primetime – more than twice as much as the general TV population.
- When watching TV and using their tablet simultaneously, male tablet users were more likely to look up information related to a TV program while females were more likely to up look info related to a TV ad.
- Females spend 61.2 percent of their timeshifted viewing during primetime watching Dramas.
- Online adults aged 25-54 are 23 percent more likely than the average U.S. Internet user to follow a brand via social networking and 29 percent more likely to purchase a product online that was featured on TV.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of...
Pleasure? "People are not so much denied human rights like free speech, but are rather conditioned not to care." IN CLASS
HANDOUTS & LINKS
Bias in Current News Stories Are We Hardwired for Biased Thinking? Or Are We Just Hardwired to Lazy Thinking? 12 Cognitive Biases Take the Maslow Survey The Changing News Landscape ASSIGNMENTS #1 Read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Take light active reading notes as you read. They will come in handy in helping you prepare for your upcoming reading test on the novel's plot and upcoming literature round-table on its deeper meaning. Before beginning, check out this very helpful series of short 60-Second Recap videos that will set you up to understand the book much more easily. TIMEFRAME: Three weeks #2 In preparation for task no. 3 below, print out and actively read this relatively unbiased article, "Inequality and the World Economy." Your goal is to understand at least 75 percent of the main ideas. Be sure to look up any words you need to know to help your understanding. Highlight and write in the margins. Be prepared to discuss in class what you did and did not understand. TIMELINE: Two nights #3 Write a six-page annotated bibliography that summarizes and evaluates for liberal or conservative bias six articles* on the Occupy Movement. Use proper MLA form. Easybib is your friend for this assignment. You may use three of the sources below and three more recent sources you researched yourself. Remember: The goal is to learn everything you can about the Occupy Movement. Click here for a sample annotated bibliography. Note its formatting. Set yours up the same way but use only two full paragraphs-- not three. * Five additional, well-done entries will put you on track for an "A." TIMEFRAME: Two weeks #4 Track time the time you consume the news over the next week. Print and fill in this handout each night. Bring it with you to class each day for a regular check in. TIMEFRAME: One week The Occupy Movement
#5 Rewrite one of your annotated bibliography entries as a 45-second summary. Paste your summary into this online teleprompter. Rehearse your summary script several times by reading it aloud until you can deliver your summary as close as possible to 45 seconds consistently. Save your script on a thumb-drive so that we can copy and paste it into the teleprompter for you class presentation. #6 Research one topic from one of the websites below on corporate culture, and plan a two-minute speech to teach the class about what you learned. Print and fill out this speech organizer to beforehand. Your speech must contain accompanying visuals which you may reference directly from the website. (In other words, you do not need to create a PowerPoint.) CORPORATE CULTURE 1) Collection of Ads 2) "The Happiness Conspiracy" 3) Design Your Own Logo 4) Subliminal Advertising 5) PR Firms' Influence 6) Best Way to Reach College Students 7) The Language of Advertising 8 )Propaganda Techniques 9) Ads that Would Never Fly Today 10)"The Sneaky Psychology of Advertising" 11) 47 Things Marketers Know about You VIDEO Satire SNL Taco Town The Corporation (Complete Documentary) The Corporation Part I Questions The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Fight Club clip OUTSIDE READING Brave New World by Aldous Huxley FOR TEACHERS... Propaganda in Advertising |
"The young always have the same problem-- how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another." Quentin Crisp, Author and Actor “A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact." Daniel Kahneman, Psychologist and Nobel Laureate
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Print & Online Journalism
OUTSIDE READING
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
Research five stories on the "How To" tab of poynter.org, and type three-page annotated bibliography of article to be shared with your group. Make sure everyone in your group is reading different articles! PROJO ONLINE Providence Journal un= [email protected] pw = avengers BEING A REPORTER Stalking a Story Day in the Life of a Journalist Day in the Life of a Crime Reporter How to Conduct an Interview Interview in Action Day in the Life of a Photojournalist This Week in Pictures (and captions) BIAS IN CURRENT NEWS Maynard Institute for Journalism Education INTERVIEWING YOUR SOURCE * Newspaper Assignment Expectations * Interview and Story Template Open-Ended Questions Leading and Edit-Questions Important Interview Tips Article Proposal Sheet LINKS Inverted Pyramid Writing Leads "Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Dead, Vader Says" AP Style Guide Norms Headline Writing Feature Writing "Are Some Teens Wired to Binge Drink?" Column Writing Yes-Test Photo Captions Photojournalism Winner Gallery You Don't Say JOURNALISTIC ETHICS Bill of Rights Part I: Case Studies Part II: Video Lecture INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM Feature on The Jungle The Jungle PDF LAYOUT & DESIGN STUDENT EXAMPLES The A-Blast The Uproar The Rider ASSESSMENT Newspaper Project Rubric Reflection Essay on Group Roles Peer Evaluation & Group Performance Form Weebly Help Using Weebly to Lay Out Your Publication TEACHER HSJ.ORG POYNTER.ORG Daily infographic.com |
COPY WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
"Copy" in the journalistic sense is anything that is intended for publication in a newspaper, whether it be straight news, features, columns, editorials. etc. All copy must be formatted in double columns and adhere to the AP Style Guide Norms, or it will be rejected by your teacher and your student editor. Use this Checklist for Success before submitting your straight news story to your editor.
NEWSROOM LINGO
By the end of this unit, you should have a solid understanding of each term above. If you don't, you are responsible for looking them up online and learning them. Try here too.
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Broadcast News
Take the Pew Political Typology Poll
Video of Poll Findings Political Cartoons Fill out the Poll from the Point of View of Three Talking Heads Role of Free Press in a Democracy Effects of Media Outlet Competition "How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory" Outfoxed Jon Stewart vs. Tucker Carlson Talking Points and Persuasion Additional Assignment After watching "ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN" READ THESE HERE AND HERE PRINT VS VIDEO Compare a story reported in print to a story reported via video |
BROADCAST NEWS ASSIGNMENTS
Teleprompter Summary Read a current event news article. Write a 30-second summary. Paste your summary into this online teleprompter. Rehearse your summary script several times by reading it aloud until you can deliver your summary as close as possible to 30 seconds consistently. Save your script on a thumb-drive so that we can copy and paste it into the teleprompter for you class quiz. In-Depth Report Write, videotape, edit, and produce a 2:00 (exactly) unbiased, in-depth report on an important issue facing high school teens. Use the class' characteristics of an in-depth report to guide you. BELOW: Check out this in-depth report from Mr. Brocato's class on sleep deprivation. List the characteristics of a good in-depth report. The Myth of Violence
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Common TaskCURRENT COMMON TASKS 2014-2015 Your common task is a Round-Table seminar on bias in The Crucible. Fill out this self-assessment survey immediately following the discussion. PREVIOUS COMMON TASKS Previous Common Tasks:
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FAIR USE
All handouts and documents created by the teacher may be used and distributed freely.
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