Imagine you are a political writer with your own blog. You write about current events and what they mean for the U.S. government and its citizens. For this blog post you will choose an event from the last three months involving U.S. political issues or policies related to one of the following:
The U.S. President.
Congress.
Administrative departments.
Political activists.
Judicial rulings.
A campaign.
An election.
Next, choose one reputable news source that has reported on your chosen event. Be sure it is a news source that offers well-written and well-researched news. It is recommended that you choose from one of the following news sources:
Liberal leaning news: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Vox, HuffPost, Politico, CNN, Time Magazine.
Conservative leaning news: National Review, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Federalist, Fox Online News, Washington Examiner.
Centrist News: NPR Online News (National Public Radio), Reuters, BBC, CNBC News, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Pew Research Center.
To see ratings of news sources, visit Media Bias Ratings.
For the first part of your blog post, provide a brief summary of your chosen current event. You should be conscious of your own bias and make every effort to avoid biased, opinionated, emotional, or judgmental language in this summary. That means avoiding words such as always, obviously, clearly, etc.
This PDF contains helpful tips for avoiding judgment statements: Objective Language [PDF].
In addition to providing a brief summary of your chosen current event, your blog post should answer each of the following questions:
What specific branch of the U.S. government is involved in this current event?
Who or which groups are affected by this event?
What biases or leanings exist in the media source you chose? Give examples. Were these counterbalanced in any way?
What are your opinions on the issue?
Your blog post should be typed in a Word document and meet the following requirements:
A one- to two-paragraph summary of your chosen current event.
One to two paragraphs for each of the four questions provided (see above), for a total of at least four paragraphs.
Content of the blog is based on information from your selected news source or other reputable sources.
Two to three pages in length.
