For extra credit, choose ONE of the activities below (you can do all three, but you can not earn EXTRA EXTRA credit, if you know what I mean):
1. Watch the State of the Union (SOTU) on three different channels (i.e. flip back and forth while you are watching):
note: follow specific instructions on live streaming from the news channel's home page.
- Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/
- CNN: http://www.cnn.com/
- MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/
Ok, you probably know my agenda. There's bias, right? But seriously, what do you see? Are there advertisements on the web page that lean in a certain direction? Is there a live streaming chat feed that you can follow from the channel? So what makes these networks biased? Do people turn to their channel of preference to hear what they already want to hear?
OR
2. Watch the SOTU tonight (on any channel--see above!) and Obama's first SOTU from 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTMrs9vpoqg). What has changed? Sure, the obvious stuff, like boy, Obama sure has more grey hair, but also what ELSE is different? Consider the topic of his speech, his tone, his attitude? Consider even how the audience has changed--are they clapping more, less, or just as much? Are people sleeping (sad, but it does happen!)? Other thoughts?
Disclaimer:
I know, I know. Time is money, and you have a lot of work to do. You do not need to watch the entire speech to get credit. Watch 15-20 minutes (enough so that you can make an educated comment), and then of course, get back to your less-fun homework assignments :)
