Culture Clash

Format

Use a word processing program on your computer (like MS Word) to type a 1000-word (minimum), double-spaced essay with one inch margins all around.  Use a normal font (Times New Roman, Courier, any default, etc.).  You do not need to include your name or class information, just a title and then the text of your essay.  No citations or references necessary.  Double-check for spelling, grammar, and organization to present your ideas in the best light possible.  Save essays in a MS-Word compatible file format (.docx, .doc, or .pdf) and upload them to Canvas.  

 

Content

This essay will engage two concepts from our last set of lectures: cultural values and cultural definitions (and in this particular case, the way they affect news media coverage). 

Recall that the term “cultural definition” refers to “the facts and impressions a society attaches to an object/person/situation”—basically, what our brains seem to instantly know about what we’re seeing in our immediate environment, how we should feel about it, and what we might do about it.  In class, we discussed the definitions of childhood that have changed over the years: from the definition of a "child" as an "adult in training," who should be treated seriously; to the definition of a "child" as "a special stage of life" in which young humans should be protected and encouraged to have fun.  Stretching this idea into the world of news coverage, we can imagine that different journalists might have different "cultural definitions" of the items, people, and/or issues that they’re covering.

In our most recent lecture on politics, we noted that news coverage in the mass media—TV, magazines, newspapers, websites, etc.—has become increasingly biased, with different sources often reporting on the same stories, but drawing from different cultural definitions of what’s going on or who is involved.  They may reference particular stereotypes or use biased language to help them reach particular target audiences.  For this essay, you will compare and contrast two versions of the same news story, then explain the different "cultural definitions" expressed by each.

 

Your essay must contain four elements:

1. Two news articles reporting on the same story. You don’t have to provide an APA or MLA citation, but give me enough info that I can find the same sources: either a link to a website or the name and date of the publication; or a copy of the actual article—cut and paste is fine, scanned or photographic images…just so long as I can tell the article really exists, and I can tell who wrote it, where it was published, and when it came out.  ***These should be news stories, NOT editorials.  Editorials will be clearly labeled as editorials, and aim primarily to express the author’s opinion about an issue, not to inform the reader of the facts of an issue.***
2. Brief summaries of each of your two sources. Talk a little about the basic issue or event covered, then get into the similarities and differences between the pieces.  Do they take a different tone, use different language, focus on different details, quote different people or sources, suggest different future outcomes…basically how do they “spin the story” in different ways? 
3. Explain the cultural definition(s) you think each author is arguing for, which leads them to write about the same issue or event in different ways. Note a few details from the articles to support your claim.  There’s no right or wrong here, just tell me what you think they think, and why.
4. Explain what cultural value(s) you think are important to each author, and how those values might be related to the cultural definition they argue for.  For example, if you "value freedom," you may "culturally define gun ownership as an individual right"; but if you "value safety," you may "culturally define gun ownership as a risk to children in the house"…etc.  There’s no wrong answer here, as long as you make a good case for the link between definition and value.
5. Finally, close your essay with a  reflection on how you feel about news bias. Were you shocked by the similarities or differences you found?  Do you think it’s possible to write without bias, and should we?  Or is it okay to express different beliefs when reporting the facts of events?