MEDIA AND GOVERNMENT Social 9 – September 10, 2013

What is Media?  Media includes newspapers, magazines, film, radio, television, the Internet, books, and billboards  News, advertising, interviews, reports, stories, etc.  The media influences our personal understanding of the world and how it works (how we perceive things around us)  Politicians develop a certain image of themselves for media to present to the public (slogans)

Which Party Do These Slogans Belong To?  “We can do better.”  “One world, one chance.”  “You bet we can.”  “Stand up for Canada.” -Liberal -Green Party -NDP -Conservative

Fact or Fiction?  Biggest challenge: finding the truth. The truth can rarely be guaranteed  The media can skew the information they present. Or, it may be that their sources were not credible  Some facts may be presented, while others are not. Then it is only half of the story

Media Examples  Parliamentary Press Gallery: an association of reporters who cover the decisions and actions of Canada’s government  Includes about 350 reporters from media outlets across Canada  Examples: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)  Association de la Press Francophone  CBC/Radio-Canada  Le Devoir (French newspaper), Ming Pao News (Chinese newspaper), OMNI Television (multi-cultural)

Detecting Bias  Bias is a type of thinking rooted in a person’s point of view.  Sometimes a bias towards one subject or another creates unbalanced information in the news.  There are different ways of detecting bias … we will read our handout together. Then we will read the examples and try to identify the bias.

Video Clip – The Onion   The Onion is a satire website, meaning that they use wit and parody to criticize certain elements of society (really just clever commentary)  What is this video trying to say about bias in the media?

Your Media Activity  Get into groups of 3 – 4 and come get a newspaper from me (Lethbridge or Calgary Herald, Globe and Mail)  With your group, flip through your newspaper, read some of the articles, and choose a recorder to write down answers to the following questions:  What story is the primary headline? Which stories seem to be getting the most attention? What are they about?  Why do you think these stories are important?  Are there any issues you are already familiar with? Which ones?  Of the articles you read, how many were positive stories and how many were negative?  Can you identify bias in any of these articles? Provide examples.