Media Influences on American Culture
Questions (Brief Discussions)
1. What advantages do traditional media have over emerging media and vice versa? What are the shortcomings of each type of media?
2. If you are a reporter with access to all forms of media distribution, which do you choose first to tell a story? Why? Explain how you might have answered this question differently 20 years ago.
3. What news stories have been consistently covered by mass media outlets? Has this agenda-setting been followed by larger social media news sources? Do you notice postings and discussion of the same news items on your social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter? What is at least one example of a news event, or an alternative that you discovered on social media?
4. Where do you get your news? What role does network news play in the news you receive?
5. Who are the new gate keepers? Any old ones still around? Who are the more popular new ones?
6. How has the Internet become a tool of democracy?
7. What would result from the old-style type of gatekeeper having that same type of control over the Internet?
8. What are the largest circulating newspapers in the U.S. today? Who owns them? Who owns network television? What else do they own?
9. The video approaches the use of iPads or similar devices without considering the idea of accessibility of these items. Are these mobile devises accessible to you? What are the implications of having no access to these types of devices as a student today?
Review the Week 1 readings and videos.
Select and complete one of the following assignment options:
Option A
Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you answer the following questions:
• What were the major developments in the evolution of mass media during the last century?
• How did each development influence American culture?
• What is meant by the term media convergence, and how has it affected everyday life?
Conclude your paper with a reflection on why media literacy is important for responsible media consumption today.
Cite at leason one citation from your readings or another scholarly source (not a blog, forum, or random website) for your assignment
Format your essay according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment to the Assignment Files tab.
Option B
Choose three cultural products you have viewed, read, or otherwise interacted that are examples of distinct forms of mass media.
For example, the biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow is an example of a cultural product of the mass media channel of print publishing and, more specifically, Penguin Books.
Another example is the cultural product The Walking Dead, whose mass media channel is Television, and more specifically AMC.
Write a 700- to 1,050-word personal essay that describes your three selected cultural products.
Include a discussion of the following in your essay:
• In what ways did your examples shape, change, or reinforce your own cultural values?
• In what ways do you think they shape, change, or reinforce the cultural values of our society, in general?
• What is media literacy and why is it important?
Cite at leason one citation from your readings or another scholarly source (not a blog, forum, or random website) for your assignment
Format your essay according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment to the Assignment Files tab.