Media Analysis Paper

Due Wednesday, June 2 (upload your paper to Canvas by 11.59 pm)

For this assignment you will write a short 4-page paper that provides a critical analysis on a topic based on a form of mass/new media. The paper is worth 34% of your total grade. You must select a topic from the list below.

The paper must be 4 pages, in Times New Roman or equivalent font, double-spaced with 1” margins and MUST have a thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph. The paper must also include a separate bibliography page listing the references you used in writing the paper. The bibliography (also called a “works cited” page) as well as in-text citations should follow the MLA citation style. A good resource for examples of MLA formatting is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL):

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/ mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html

Note: please do not use any web services (Citation Machine, etc.) that claim to create citations automatically from a link—they will always produce incorrect formatting, which will result in reduced points.

In the paper, you will address the prompt you are responding to in the following ways:

1.Coming up with a thesis/answer to the prompt (you state this in your introduction).

Example: If the prompt asks “Does digital technology constitute a threat to privacy?,” then your introduction should indicate what your answer is going to be.

2.Providing a description (what it is) of the issues at stake in the prompt. For this description include the relevant aspects as though you were talking to someone who knows little about the subject.

Example: You need to address issues like: what is the meaning of privacy? What new technologies should we be talking about? What are some of the changes in our conception of privacy over the years?

3.Providing a set of arguments in response to the prompt to make your case. When analyzing the topic, you need to have relevant evidence for the argument you are making.

Example: You may want to discuss the famous Warren-Brandies Supreme Court judgment on privacy; or you may discuss leaks on Facebook, or how advertisers use cookies.

In order to gather appropriate evidence, you must have between 4-5 sources in a separate bibliography. While you may use Wikipedia as a starting point for your research, only ONE cited source can be from Wikipedia. You must provide citations for any sources that you use, and the citations must be correctly formatted according to the MLA format.

4.Including a conclusion that revisits your thesis and the argument made in your paper.

The media analysis paper has to be uploaded to Canvas by 11.59 pm, Wednesday, June 2. If your media paper is late without proper excuse, the grade penalties will be as follows:

5.Please indicate on the top of your paper which prompt you are responding to. Example: If you’re attempting the prompt on ‘Streaming Media,’ put Prompt 3 at the top of your paper.

TOPIC LIST:

1.News Today

The Internet presents a significant opportunity for lowering the barriers to journalistic publication: blogs and podcasts allow anybody to publish their thoughts and investigations to global audiences, and the low price of creating digital news content (as opposed to the huge expense of publishing a newspaper) means that consumers can easily access a wide range of opinions and perspectives. At the same time, this lowered barrier to entry does not automatically carry the same standards of fact-checking and objectivity that we expect from print journalism. In other words, the recent phenomenon of “fake news” is enabled by the ease of publishing online, and social media allows for misleading content to be effortlessly republished and amplified.

Write an essay that explores some of the following questions: Do the possibilities of the Internet outweigh the dangers of the unchecked spread of misleading and biased information? How do we eliminate the spread of false information, and how should these changes be balanced with the freedom of expression online? How can we ensure that the production and publication of news online contributes to an educated citizenry instead of sabotaging its participation in democracy?

2.Social Media

As the second half of the course has suggested, in the last few decades the so called “legacy media” (newspapers, radio, television, film) have been replaced in usage and social relevance by a whole range of social media technologies and platforms. Write an

essay that chooses (preferably one) popular platform – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or something else – and provide an analysis that answers some of the following questions: What is the social function of this platform (what does it do for us)? What are some of the positive aspects of the platform? Some of the negative aspects ? When people use this platform on a regular basis does this impact their personality in some way?

3.Streaming Media

The standardized programming of television and radio through the 20th century made it possible for people in different households across the nation to collectively share in the same cultural experiences: from tuning in to radio broadcasts of Franklin Roosevelt’s “fireside chats”, to the television broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing, to the later airing of popular dramas or sitcoms like E.R. or Friends at a consistent time. These shared experiences created a sense of community in the sense that people could talk to each other about shows they had all watched.

Internet-based streaming media services in the areas of video (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu) and music (Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music) are challenging the dominance of the previous broadcast models of television and radio: instead of relying on predetermined broadcasting schedules and content, consumers now have full control over their viewing or listening activities. Write an essay that examines the effects of streaming on contemporary audiences: Is infinite choice necessarily a good thing? What is consequence of algorithmic recommendations (used in e.g. Netflix and Spotify to suggest similar shows or songs a user might like)? How do phenomena like “binge watching” or “Netflix and chill” affect our social lives?

4.Culture and Identity

In the lectures we saw how two cultural forms (rock n’ roll in the 50s and sitcoms about women in the 60s and 70s) were related to social factors and the politics of identity (the need for teenagers to be oppositional by means of music; the growing consciousness that women were just as capable as men in terms of self-reliance and professional competence). Write an essay choosing one specific cultural genre or form (Examples: Rap and hip hop, memes, a person’s Facebook page, reality television, superheroes in movies, BTS and the Korean hallyu, Japanese horror, Justin Bieber and other teenage cult singers – you can choose anything you think is worth analyzing).

Your paper should briefly describe the genre but mainly consist of identifying and explaining the social and cultural factors that lie behind the emergence and success of the phenomenon you are looking at.

5.Global Media

The lectures on global media touched upon the rise of Netflix as well as the theoretical concepts of cultural imperialism and cultural globalization. The Cultural Imperialism approach dictates that the world is dominated by western media and products—media and information flow unilaterally from West to the Rest. The Cultural Globalization approach criticizes this concept and states that the flow of media and information is multilateral, meaning it flows from many sources to many receivers. Analyzing Netflix’s business/revenue model, content, accessibility, etc., write an essay detailing under which theoretical concept would you place the streaming platform of Netflix and why? In other words, is Netflix (and other such streaming platforms) changing the nature of global media?

Research & Analysis

The paper should demonstrate adequate research and analysis. Research is demonstrated in three ways: by providing data that you have got from these sources, by quoting these sources directly (with citation) and finally by paraphrasing arguments that a source makes about a certain phenomenon or issue.

Analysis refers to placing the topic within a larger context, placing and evaluating the arguments that others have made concerning the topic, and finally, by providing your own “thesis” about the topic.

Argumentation & Creativity

Your paper should (ideally) demonstrate excellent argumentation and creativity. Excellent argumentation means that your research and analysis are rigorous, clear and coherent. Creativity means you are demonstrating originality in terms of the thesis you are proposing, your analysis of the topic, and your take on what previous authors have said about the topic.