WEEK SHEET
Week Three: 10/9
Announcements:
1. Again, a reminder, when doing this weeks assignments clearly label them by number and staple them together. They may be handwritten if neat, but typed is preferred. If absent you must email them to me to avoid a late penalty and to get the next week’s Week Sheet.
Reading:
Text: ADR 5 and 6, Rourke 5
Lectures: Political Ideology (plus take the survey online)
American Demographics and Public Opinion
The Media
To Do:
1. Your Ideological Profile (You need to complete the online public opinion survey before you do this assignment): Summarize your overall political ideology based on your responses to the survey. Did your final rating match with your self description at the beginning of the poll? Why or why not? Did you tend to answer consistently liberal or conservative or did your responses swing from one side to the other based on the issue. What accounts for your profile, do you notices a difference between social and economic issues that might classify you as a libertarian or populist. (about 300 words)
2. Exploring Glass Booth: This assignment will help you become better informed for the upcoming election. To do it go to http://glassbooth.org/ a. First take the quiz and explain the results it gives back to you (For fun you can take a a second time using fake answers and see what happens.) (About 100 words) b. Click on the "Explore Candidates" button on the top bar. Choose THREE issues to explore for both McCain and Obama and report back on your findings. Explain how the information on
Glassboth fit or differed with what you expected and/or highlight something new you learned about the candidate's position on each issue. (about 500 words)
3. Checking out the Blogosphere: More and more people are getting their news from alternative internet sources (that is internet site not connected to major media. Check out at least ONE of the ones listed below and write a 200-300 word report on what you find and learn there. I am purposefully keeping this a pretty open format. (Sorry, most of these sites have a somewhat liberal bias. Feel free to critique that if you wish.) (Just Google the ones you are interested in to find the site.)
TPM (Talking Points Memo)
Daily Kos
Donkey Rising
Salon
Huffington Post
Donkey Rising
The Cook Report
And if you are looking for a conservative rather than liberal perspective: The Druge Report
4. Palin, Bias, CBS, and SNL.
The Republican Party has made a case that the mainstream media has been negatively biased towards Sarah
Palin by being disrespectful, sexist, and overly challenging of record. Look at the following two clips and decide for yourself. If your computer does not have a player that will play the video, you will either have to do a free download or use a school computer. After the SNL video, Palin returned to CBS with John
McCain to set the record straight.

the CBS News Interview: http:// www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n?source=mostpop_video the SNL Parady: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/
The 2 nd CBS interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4487886n
After watching the video clips, write an evaluation of the media’s treatment of Palin. Explain whether or not you thought the CBS interviews were fair. Explain what things SNL made fun of in their parody and to what extent they distorted who she is and to what extent they simply captured it. (200-300 words)
5. Campaign Ads: Proposition 4
Proposition 4, will be voted on by California voters this November. First watch the following ad, which is in favor the proposition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn3iNn6UNaQ
After watching the ad go http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov
and click on Proposition 4 to find out exactly what the law would do.
Then write a 200 word response assess the ad. Consider the following: was the ad fair, and or accurate, do you think the ad will be effective, what message was the ad trying to get out and what fears was it playing to?
Optional for extra credit: 6. Rourke 5 - Explain in 200 words which side of the debate you support the most and way. Cite (or summarize) the most convincing argument by the author on your side.
To Think About:
1. Discuss how well the media fulfills the various roles it is expected to play in our political system.
2. Explain how the profit motive of news ownership influences news coverage.
3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of media from press to radio, to television and the internet as source of information regarding the important issues of the day.
4. Explain how the role and function of the media has changed over our country’s history.
5. Does our mainstream media enhance or diminish our democracy?
6. Describe the relationships between the media, politicians and the public.