Title: Unit 4: Social Issues & The Media
Course: Advanced Composition for the Digital Age SP14 > Section: Unit 4: Social Issues & The Media

Social Issues & the Media. How the media shapes public perception.

Social Issues & The Media
Estimated Completion Time: 15 hours

Unit 4 Social Issues: Objectives

Perception of what is going on in the world is shaped by the type of information people access; and the type of information people access usually aligns with their current world view. What this means is that a person's opinions are created by what they see presented to them and they tend to only watch presentations and listen to people with whom they already agree. It is a vicious cycle.

If you only watch the type of news that presents a side with which you already agree, how can you ever trust that you are getting accurate information? This tends to be why very few people ever seem to change their minds. They're never confronted with facts that challenge their beliefs; they just keep watching and listening to people that agree with them. During the 2004 presidential campaign, it became popular to criticize people for changing a previously held position. They're now called "Flip Floppers" and are all but disregarded. Abraham Lincoln flip-flopped on the issue of slavery and yet he is regarded as one of the greatest politicians this country has ever seen. Is it really so bad to change your mind if presented with a better argument?

You can watch it happen on Social Networks as well like Facebook and Twitter. Very few arguments on that site go very far. If someone doesn't like what a "friend" or "follower" is saying, they just block them, end of argument. It happens on discussion forums as well. Someone doesn't fit in with the group? Ban them. It's getting easier and easier to shut out ideas that conflict with your own. It's becoming harder and harder to keep an open mind even though that's what everyone says they have and want others to have. Do they really?

There is a quote generally attributed to the late U.S. Senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." There are resources available that will help you check the facts so that you can better inform your opinions and back them up.

The assignments in this class are not to tell you what to think, but teach you how to think and help you express those ideas. For the purposes of this assignment, we're going to use a tool from a non-partisan, non-profit organization called FactCheck.org.

I encourage you to spend some time checking out the FlackCheck.org (FactCheck's sister site) resources where you can search for all kind of materials on government information and various groups that monitor how the media handles stories. These groups provide an important service that help people to find what are real facts instead of statements by people trying to convince you of a point of view.

Step 1: Spend some time clicking on some of the links for each section provided. Read some of the resources you find relevant to your interests, or just pick one at random to see if you can catch someone misinforming the public on an issue.

Step 2: Because of the hyperbole and figurative speech that exists in typical media presentations, it can be difficult to determine the real facts or even have a realistic understanding of an event. Time for you to determine what's credible and what isn't.

Link to Project Submission: Unit 4: Assignment: Social Issues

Participation: Share your thoughts about some of what you've read on the Social Issues & the Media Discussion Forum and respond to others. This discussion forum will remain open for the duration of this course and users may post as many topics as they wish. It's okay to disagree with people, but keep it respectful and avoid personal attacks.

For more information, you can subscribe to the FactCheck Podcast on iTunes. This will provide you with information that is current relating to issues in this country and how they are presented by politicians and the media.

Move on to Unit 5: The Written Word

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