There are many ways to tell a news story. In class, we talked about the factors that shape news production, especially in terms of social and political systems, economic forces, and news media routines across organizations.
In this essay, students will analyze the coverage of a single news story from 2020 across two different news sources. The news story itself should be as specific as possible to facilitate comparison. For example, you would not want to compare coverage of “the coronavirus” across two stories, but could perhaps examine a single stage of that larger story – for example, the first US cases or CDC travel recommendations as of a particular date. Ideally, the stories you choose to compare would be from the same date, but could potentially be a day or two apart so long as they focus on the same specific news event.
In order to draw from class materials, the focus of this assignment is newspaper stories (either in print or online). You should compare and contrast the two stories you have selected:
1.
Social or political forces AND news media routines.
How do you think coverage of this story aligns with journalistic norms or models regarding the role of the press in the United States? How does it fit (or not) with traditional news values that determine which stories get covered?
2.
Economic forces.
Who do you think the audience for this is? Why do you think this is
from what you see in the story? How do you think this story fits with the bottom line for news organizations? As part of this section, you should consider how the story might appeal with the two major sources of revenue for media (and newspapers especially): subscriptions and advertisers.
3.
Organizational forces.
Based on coverage of the story, what are the specific norms of the organization or media company releasing this news story? You should go beyond simple right / left dichotomies (e.g.,
Wall Street Journal
is conservative and
New York Times
is liberal) to consider other organizational norms that shape story choices, although political lean may be part of this argument.
For each of these elements, you should draw both from the course materials (the readings and the lectures) as well as from the media content itself. You should interrogate specific choices made in the news stories you have selected. This can include sources, multimedia elements (e.g., images, maps, infographics), types of evidence, and perspectives or frames of the issue. You should use the course material as evidence for your analysis of these choices.
You cannot receive full points on the assignment unless you use course material as part of your argument.
The paper should have an introduction that clearly lays out what the paper is about and why it is important to examine differences in news reporting. You must also include a conclusion that summarizes your main points. Ultimately, do you think the two stories are more similar or different in the way they cover the event? Do you think social forces and news norms, economic incentives, or organizational norms are most powerful in shaping the story across outlets?