Current Events Class #3

This Friday we discussed some of the topics from the film Manufacturing Consent.  It analyses the way the news does and does not covers topics and explains the biases that emerge from the business side of the news needing to appeal to owners and advertisers.  As an update to its coverage of East Timor, since the film was made (1992), East Timor has been able to gain its freedom from Indonesia, and formally became an independent nation in 2002.

One topic which shows different biases in the news very well recently is the Occupy Wall Street protests.  They are portrayed much differently in the mainstream new, the very conservative news (such as Glenn Beck), and the very liberal news (such as Democracy Now).  They all report true facts, but cast the story in radically different lights by their selection of which facts to report.

Assignments for this fortnight are:

1. Continue watching or reading the news to keep up on current events.

2. Write a paragraph or two about something interesting you learned in the news.  Be sure to tell us why you found it interesting.  (Bring your paper to class with you.)

3. Read the Thousand Year War, Preface though chapter 8.  (or more if you want to)