Deadline: Week Fifteen in class

Directions:  First, you will have to choose a major current international story (example: Palestine/Israel conflict, war in Iraq, China/US relations...).  You will first need to locate an official government news source that addresses the topic you chose (ex: the White House,  U.S. Department of State or other...).

Second, you need to watch/read about that same story/topic in any mainstream U.S. media source (example: CBS, New York Times...).

Third, locate three international news sources that address the same story on the Web (or through satellite if you have access).  Watch/read a substantial amount of the foreign news focused on that story.  Try to choose at least one media source from the originating country (example: Chinese media source if the story originated in China...)

Then, write a 500-700 word essay comparing and contrasting the different sources, including the American.  The two goals of this exercise are to compare and contrast the U.S. and foreign media coverage and to understand what role government officials play in shaping and framing the news.  So, you will need to refer to the lectures about media/politics and the more recent lectures on covering the world and covering war. Give yourself enough time to locate a major story that is covered by all the mentioned sources. Also, focus on critical analysis and not description, and reference the sources at the end of the paper.  Be critical and provide evidence!

Here are some tips:
--  How was each story framed and what/who was the focus?
--  How much space/prominence was each story given and where was it located (top story, lede...)?
--  How was the headline written? What impression did it convey? What assumptions does it hold? (ex: evil group of terrorists killing civilians for no reason)
--  Who were the most dominant sources used in the stories? Was it mostly officials and politicians or regular people or others? What countries, political parties, ideologies and demographics do the sources belong to? Which officials/people were given more prominence and space?
--  Which coverage (international or U.S. media) was more consistent with that of the U.S. official government sources?
--  What were the images in your head of the people, places, situation presented in the story? (example: a desert country with backward people and chaos...)
--  Did the coverage of the foreign media add to your knowledge of the situation? Did it alter or reinforce your view? How?
--  Add your own thoughts and observations.

The following is a list of links to some foreign media (you can choose others, including those in a foreign language):
Al-Jazeera (Qatar)
Haaretz (Israel)
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
India Daily (India)
Paknews (Pakistan)
BBC World (England)
France Daily (France)
The Guardian (England)
Tanzania News (Tanzania)
Inside China Today (China)