Public Opinion and the Media

• Read the overview about framing and the media:

http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/frames.html

• Read the Inyegar article posted in Eagle Online (pdf document).

• Then watch the Bill Moyers interview about the state of the media:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch2.html

Answer the following questions in Eagle Online USING THE ABOVE ARTICLES FOR EVIDENCE.

1. How does the media influence the public or public opinion? How does your media outlet choice (from where you get your political information) impact your opinion or access to quality information?

- Also consider what we learned about how people form opinions-when is it easy or difficult for us to form opinions and about which topics...when might we be influenced more by the media?

2. What are common mistakes people make about judging the quality of their media sources of political information? How can you tell if a source is of high quality and not biased?

3. Why is understanding how the media shapes your opinion important for a democracy?