Exploring Sensationalism, Bias, Objective/Balanced Reporting and Parody News
Period 1 Activity
1. Go to the following link to find 2 TABLOID stories that you consider to be sensationalism in journalism: www.top10links.com/cat.php/News:Newspapers:Tabloids
2. Check out the op ed pages and columns of 2 major newspapers (New york Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, etc.) to find articles that have a slant or bias.
3. Find 2 articles on the front pages of these major newspapers that seem to be well-balanced and objective.
4. Finally, check out The Onion for parody at: www.theonion.com/content/
5. Share you findings with a partner and together post a reply to this assignment for credit.
6. Finish editing articles. Work on your FUTURE BOOK (10 articles you would like to write this year).
14 comments:
The first article we found that we thought to contain sensationalist journalism was a National Enquirer article with headline "'Palin' Porn Flick". The article was about how people made a porn video based on Sarah Palin, but the headline made it seem like it was the vice presidential hopeful herself.
The second containing sensationalism was a Weekly World News article entitled "Obama Nude" This headline is meant to grab the reader's attention, but is only about him being a live model in college.
An article on the op-ed page of the New York Times entitle "Health Care Destruction" shows some bias. The writer discusses the difference between Republican and Democratic healch care, and his first sentence is a jab at Sarah Palin: Sarah Palin ended her debate performance last Thursday with a slightly garbled quote from Ronald Reagan about how, if we aren’t vigilant, we’ll end up “telling our children and our children’s children” about the days when America was free.
Another artilce, "Palin and Populism" by Peggy Noonan for the Wall Street Journal is also slightly biased against Sarah Palin. She slams her magnetism and the way she winked at the camera.
Two articles which are well-balanced are the "Dow Drops 400 Points Below 10000 Amid Global Selloff" and "Full of Doubts, U.S. Shoppers Cut Spending", from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, respectively. The articles are objective and very well-balanced.
Meredith Jeffers
Lauren McGuire
Mary Rice
O.J Simpson found guilty as charged
O.J simpson is definetally guilty. he should have been in jail for life a long time ago. He was never a good guy. This article, though it was short, was full of opinions. Some say he's guilty. others say he isnt guilty. This article allowed personal comment and therefore made the article fuller
Shontia Myricks
Rachel Tobin, Jessica Jackson, Amanda Ghysel
1. Sensationalism-http://www.nationalenquirer.com/oprah_winfrey_sued_by_sex_abuse_headmistress/celebrity/65539
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/britney_spears_sex_tape_adnan_ghalib/celebrity/65506
2.Bias-http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/guilt-by-association-response/
(seems anti-McCain)
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/palin-back-in-florida/
(seems anti-Palin)
3. Balanced-http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06games.html?ref=todayspaper
Tabloid Sensationalism
1. Angie Kids Kidnap Fear
2. Oprah Sued By Sex Abuse School Headmistress
Biased News
1.Obama Nude- Weekly World News
2.Billion Dollar Boondoggle- Business and Media Institute
Balanced and Objective
1.New York Times- Stocks Fall Sharply On Credit Concerns
2.Washington Post- U.S. Implements Financial Bailouts
Molly Snell-Larch and Nahoma Presberg
The article on Sarah Palin was very interesting. The controversy between the vice presidential candidates is very serious. The article allowed some comments. that made the article fuller and longer. It also made it more interesting.
Shontia Myricks, Amane Amireh
I read the article about OJ simpson and how the contrevesy of how his actions hurt other people. The article didnt really pull me into the story because It didnt bring me in and they didnt have enough evidence.
Alicia Green
>O.J Simpson found guilty
>Brawl between ANTM contestant and Hairspay star
Both the articles were very full of opinion and personal ideas. the article about o.j simson was very biased and tyhe added info frm his ex wifes father was very unnecessary.
the article about Nikki Blonsky and Bianca Golden was nothing but drama and gossip
~jamilah
1)an article that has sensationalist is "Palin Porn Flick." The headline makes you curious. Another article that has sensaliosm is "Obama nude"...what?! it grabs your attention
2)Two bias articles are "Palin gets harder beating for being a republican women," and "Palin and popualism."
3) Two articles that are well balanced are from two seperate articles but the same topic about Dow dropping 400 points beloew 10000 amid global selloff
1.)-New York Daily News-
-Gossip Girl's' not just by the numbers-
-Eli Manning, Giants stay perfect with 44-6 rout over Seahawks-
Though the New York Daily News has the word “News” in it, it takes stories that are more like tabloids such as the two above and hypes them up which creates a completely stupid story and turns it into a sensation with useless information and needless hubbub.
2.) Dow Drops 400 Points to Below 10000 Amid Global Selloff –Wall Street Journal-
Wall Street Tumbles Amid Global Selloff –New York Post-
Very Alike?
3.) –Dow Drops 400 Points to Below 10000 Amid Global Selloff –Wall Street Journal-
I thought that this post was the most unbiased news because you can’t become biase to facts and the fact is we are in a global crisis and possibly a new depression.
4.) I think that the onion was a funny parody on news today, showing the biase in media and the sensationalism on some lives, and the distreatment of others with the article on mule deaths of late.
Nautica Lawrence
10/5
Sensationalism (National Inquirer)
1. ENQUIRER EXCLUSIVE; Swayze Worsens
2. Oprah sued by sex abuse school headmistress
Bias/ Slant (New York Post)
1. Palin Wins Big With A Reagan-Like Flair
2. Next Plan Won’t be Made in USA
Well-balanced /Objective
1. Race gets ugly as insults start to fly
2. California bus crash leaves 10 dead
Parody (The Onion)
1. Obama promises to stop Americas shi**y jobs from going overseas
2. Disney lab unveils its latest line of genetically engineered child stars
Kadisha Phillips
Zachary Lohouse
Jahmal B. Golden
Articles with bias or slant
“A case McCain must make,” New York Post
This article favors Senator John McCain very heavily as opposed to Senator Barack Obama. This can be seen in the lines in which the writer refers to Obama’s ‘allies,’ as his ‘buddies.’ This wording can be interpreted as a racist remark in not one but many ways. Also, he really gets bias when he says, and I quote “maybe Obama hasn’t seen the news” with blatant insult, he claims that Obama is ignorant to New York’s situation.
Two sensationalist articles are
“Potter Dame Breast cancer” and
“Swayze worsens” both from the national enquirer.
Whilst they are both completely consistent of falsehoods, they excite the readers, which is why they could be called sensationalist
One parody article is,
“CC sabathia” it shows the strengths and weaknesses are not what one would consider as a weakness or a strength.
the two articles that we found that were sensationalist were "Plain Pron Flick" and Britney Spears sex tape.
the two op-ed pages were the " The Measure of a President" this seems bias, and its anti obama.
another article was "Kiplin’ vs. Palin " this was a very intresting article it was very bias
Two articles that were well balanced were "using video games as bait to hook readers" and "Full of Doubts, U.S. Shoppers Cut Spending" these are very balanced and objective articles.
Christina McCoy
Shana Harris
Animals are dying, and it's ALL OUR FAULT! Sources from mirror. co.uk say that 1/4 of the world's animals and half of the apes and monkeys are endangered. Fortunately, 5 percent are making recovies.
A sensational article says that white woman distract people from real problems.
-miller and jonathan
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