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.
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.
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.
