For this discussion, we are going to look at a topic that has literally been all over the media outlets: Is the media public enemy #1? While a distrust of the media has been rising in the past decades, we are at a new crossroads with news reporting and information sharing. Read the following articles and then do any additional research as necessary and then answer the following questions:

https://www.macalester.edu/news/2017/04/how-news-has-changed/

https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2018/08/06/trump-amps-assault-media-enemy-people

https://reportgarden.com/2017/09/18/social-media-political-landscape/

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/

1.) How has media changed over time? Does the way information is delivered impact the message being delivered? (think about the game of telephone we used to play as kids–does word of mouth, reading a newspaper, watching the evening news, reading an online news article or getting information on social media impact the message?)

2.) Is the assault on the media new? Why are we hearing so much about it these days?

3.) Because candidates and lawmakers have unlimited access to social media, has this changed the exchange of information between citizen and politician? Explain.

4.) President Trump claims the media is public enemy #1. Do you agree? What is he basing these claims on?

5.) What about the “fake news” claims? How valid are these claims and how seriously should these claims be taken? If there really is a rise in fake news, how should we, the voters in this country, respond? How can you spot the fake news? How will you as a conscientious voter (or potential voter), delineate fact from fiction and spot the bias in most news organizations.

6.) Finally, as a citizen, potential citizen, voter, potential voter, what are your overall thoughts about the media? Do you trust the information being delivered is the truth? How will you decide who you will vote for, knowing how information is delivered and the potentiality of it being fake, biased, etc?

This

assignment must follow MLA guidelines, be typed in Times New Roman, 12

pt. font, and be a minimum of 1000 words with a works cited page. The

works cited are not included in the minimum word count. Any articles/web

links given in the assignment prompt MUST be cited in your paper and

works cited. Any additional research must be cited as well.