Contemporary International Problems in The News

Sen. Daniel Moynihan once said " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." A fact is verifiable, a opinion is a judgment based on facts, a belief is a conviction based on cultural or personal faith, morality or values and prejudice is a half baked opinion based on insufficient or unexamined evidence. (Adapted from: Fowler, H. Ramsey.

The Little, Brown Handbook. Boston: Little, Brown, 1986). This project aims at helping students differentiate between the fact, opinion, belief, prejudice etc. and understand viewpoints and biases in news coverage of global events.

The skills so developed can be applied towards analyzing the fake news/alternative facts.

Analyze a global news; major international news event, problem or political issue outside of US, (from last 5 years) from four different perspectives/sources.

1. An international wire service (eg. CNN, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC etc.)

2. A correspondent from a major US daily (eg. NYT, WSJ, USA Today)

3. A correspondent/newspaper in the country in which the event problem or the issue occurred. (eg. Al Jazeera, Dawn, Times of India, El Colombiana)

4. A correspondent/newspaper in a third country besides US and the one involved. (eg. The Mail and Guardian- South Africa)

There are 2 parts to this assignment

First Part - THE PROPOSAL

In your paragraph long, proposal:

1. Present the news item, you have selected.

2. Provide a tentative outline of the issue you will be exploring.

3. Identify the 4 news sources.

This exercise will ensure you have an outline and will help you in organizing and refining your ideas. Make sure that the news story is from the same date (or 48 hours apart).

For eg. Outbreak of SARS in China (2003), 4 sources would be:

1. CNN

2. USA Today

3. People's Daily of China

4. Bulgaria

Second Part - THE PAPER

Introductory paragraph: Your topic/story/news item. Explain why you chose this news item.

Paragraph 2: Outline the main points and most significant aspects of what occurred and why, as presented by a major international news agency.

Paragraph 3: Compare the wire service report with the article by a correspondent/ editorial writer in the US. Which facts /aspects of the news agency story are of most interest to the US journalist. Which, if any are disputed, which considered unimportant and ignored. What piece of information would a person relying on this news item know or not know compared with someone who had only read the wire service news.

Paragraph 4: Compare the news agency news report and the report in the US newspaper with the report of the journalist where the action took place. Does the home country journalist have some information, which the wire service and US journalist do not. Are there aspects in the story, which look like they have been censored or downplayed? What piece of information would a person relying on this news item know or not know compared with someone who had only read the wire service news and the report of the journalist from US.

Paragraph 5: Compare the article by the third country journalist with the accounts of the wire service, US journalist, home country journalist What piece of information would a person relying on this news item know or not know compared with someone who had only read the wire service news and the report of the journalist from US and the home country.

Paragraph 6: Summarize and analyze the points of similarity and difference in the four accounts. Include your own opinion as to the possible reasons behind the differences.

Paragraph 7 - Analysis & Conclusion: Do you see explicit examples of fact, belief, opinion, or prejudice? Are they reflective of the different geopolitical attitudes, ethnic/cultural differences, diverse ideological points of views, gender perspective or just diversity in the outlook of the writers? Which of the four was in your opinion most accurate, that event being seen in hindsight.

Mechanics - 4 page, font size 12, 1" margins, single spacing.

NOTE: You can change your sources from The Proposal to The Paper, but not the News/event mentioned in the Proposal

How the Syrian civil war started?

The news item I want to explore is the ongoing civil war in Syria. The area I want to explore is how the country's unstable politics have made many countries around the world set in and try and mediate the situation. The ongoing civil war in Syria has forced foreign involvement bymany different countries with very different political beliefs to have to try and understand and reason with one another.

It hasn't always been just arguments and the civil war has involved a lot of protesting, war and bloodshed. The two main sides for the people for the Syrian government which is military based and supposed by Russia and the opposition

1.BBC News

2. USA Today

3.The Real Syrian Free Press

4.Aljazeera