Here is a link to the nightly news scheduling along with some personal
recommendations to start with. My recommendations do not reflect my personal belief
system. I am familiar with most all of the news anchors and their ideologies, I am
simply giving you the names of the most talked about, most widely watched, and most
respected (in their field) journalists. If after you get a feel for a particular show/host, and
develop a strong distaste for it/them, feel free to watch another program. The important
part is that you can accurately describe why it is that you feel the way you do in an
objective fashion.
http://www.foxnews.com/fnctv/
Special Report w/ Bret Baier - 6pm
On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren - 7pm
The O’Reilly Factor - 8pm
Hannity - 10pm
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/schedule
Recommendations - Politics Nation w/ Al Sharpton at 6pm, Hardball with Chris Mathews
at 7, Rachel Maddow Show at 9
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (unfortunately his programming is no longer prime
time, but may be available online)
Anderson Cooper 360
CNN Tonight
This assignment is not meant to be difficult or time consuming. After doing it once or
twice, I am confident you’ll find it simple and rewarding. This type of analysis requires
you to think independently, there is often no right or wrong answer. It is meant to help
create a culture of awareness in our class room. This will enrich our learning
experience by giving us access to more topics to discuss in class. Watching the various
programming will also help shape your political identities by exposing you to current and
relevant ideas and opinions from all sides of the political spectrum.
Again, all I am looking for is the following:
1. What programs did you watch? (Name of show, time of show and name of network)
2. Why did you chose that show? (There may not be a good answer to this at first, but
as the year goes on and you develop likes and dislikes, it is important to explore
WHY)
3. What was the main topic of the news you watched?
4. How were each of the news stations different? (How the facts were emphasized,
reported, left out; who was interviewed? Was there a certain style of the program that
you can articulate?)
5. Overall takeaway for the week. (1-2 sentence conclusion, again...may not be overly
insightful at the beginning, but you’ll eventually have more to say here)
If you have any further questions, post them on the FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1452305235039330/