How will you look at the news? Who are you? How will you look at the news?

What makes up how a person views the world? Ascribed Characteristics Achieved Characteristics Standpoint

Ascribed Characteristics ™Ascribed characteristics, as used in the social sciences, refer to properties of an individual, over which that individual has very little, if any, control. Typical examples include race, ethnicity, gender, caste, height, and sexual orientation. The term is more or less equally apt for characteristics chiefly caused by "nature" (e.g. genetics) and for those chiefly caused by "nurture" (e.g. parenting during early childhood).

Achieved Characteristics ™Achieved status is a concept developed by the anthropologist Ralph Linton denoting a social position that a person can acquire on the basis of merit; it is a position that is earned or chosen. It is different than ascribed status. It reflects personal skills, abilities, and efforts. Examples of achieved status are being an Olympic athlete, being a criminal, or being a college professor.

Standpoint Standpoint theory's most important concept is that an individual's own perspective is shaped by your social and political experiences. Standpoints are complex: while Hispanic women may generally share some perspectives, particularly with regard to ethnicity or sex, they are not defined solely by their participation in these categories. The combination of a person's many experienced dimensions create your standpoint (or Point of View) through which that individual sees and understands the world.

Standpoint Activity For this assignment each person will be creating a presentation to explain their “Standpoint.” It needs to be done on a powerpoint presentation and include a picture on every slide. You need to have at least one slide for your “ascribed,” “achieved,” and “standpoint.”

Ms. Harper’s Ascribed Characteristics Female White Education Georgia Involved Upper Middle Class Family Oldest Child

Ms. Harper’s Achieved Characteristics Graduate Teaching Married (almost ) Good at School Political Views Travel

Ms. Harper’s Standpoint White Female Travel (exposure) Education Teacher Political Affiliation

Why does this matter?? Someone tell me the story of the three little pigs. Tell the “True Story”

Why does it matter?? Perspective matters!! It changes how we view the world and events in the world Bias=prejudice in favor of or against a thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

Types of Biases

Omission Leaves one side out of an article (or series of articles) Ignores facts that tend to support the other side.

Selection of Sources Includes more sources that support one view over another. Be aware of when reporters use phrases such as “experts believe,” “observers say,” or “most people believe.” Check the political affiliations of experts. Check for equal number of people quoted by each side.

Story Selection A pattern of highlighting news stories that coincide with their agenda Ignoring stories of a similar nature of the opposing view Are scientific studies equally covered? Are two high up officials charged with the same crime covered equally?

Placement Where in the paper or in an article is a story or event printed? Placing news stories to downplay other’s views. Editors and producers agendas can be seen through placement, they print what is important to them. Most people only read headlines.

Labeling Tagging opposing groups with extreme labels Ultra-conservative or ultra- liberal. Far right or Far left Not labeling your side of the argument Calling someone an expert or an independent group instead of a liberal/conservative.

Spin When the story has only one interpretation of an event or policy and excludes the other. Reporter’s subjective comments about objective facts. My perspective is better than yours.

Practice Watch the following clips: How do they seek to portray each candidate? What do they focus on? How do they portray the candidates’ mothers? What is the difference between the two speeches at the end? Which types of biases did we see? How are these clips biased? Which direction?

So then what do we do?? Do you think it is possible to have unbiased news??

Checking your facts

Snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/

FactCheck.org FactCheckED.org

PolitiFact.Com Obama-meter

OpenSecrets.org

TruthorFiction.com

Tools of the Trade Keep an open mind Ask the right questions Who is speaking? Where did they get the information? Can I prove this claim wrong? Cross-Check Consider the Source Weigh the evidence

Authority .com .org .net .mil .gov .edu .au

Rank these in order of Authority http://random.blogspot.com http://www.random.gov http://www.columbia.edu/~jrandom http://www.random.com