Midterm ProjectPicking a journalist in your country

Blog grades and comments

Will begin sending you comments regarding your blogs in the next week.

You receive credit for the work, unless I send you an email regarding your blogs stating that you need to change your approach or do more

Midterm projects/presentationsCheck course website for link to midterm groups

Working in groups of two choose a country and a journalist from that country to research and present to class. Send me an email with your choice by FEB. 6

Each group member writes an individual paper—one on the journalist and one on the country

5-7 pages each

Presentation: 5-7 minutes following the winter break

Examples Daniel Pearl and Pakistan—what are press freedoms like in

Pakistan? Check Reporters without Borders, Freedom House for country reports

Sami Al Haq and Iraq—do Lexis Nexis searches for information on changes in Iraq freedom (don’t depend on Google or Wikipedia)

Anna Politskovaya and Russia—

Edward Murrow and the U.S. (circa 1950s)—Discuss his broadcasts, how he reported, etc.

Veronica Guerin and Ireland

Martha Gellhorn and the US circa (1940s and 1990s)—discuss and critique her work and the US during a specific time

Readings in Granta“The Fall of Saigon,” by James Fenton

What does this story tell you that you didn’t know about Vietnam?

Where is the “unbiased,” “objective” journalism? Does it matter that it isn’t objective?

Do you respect that he says in the very beginning that he “wants to see a Communist victory?”

Is this more powerful than “objective journalism?” How so? Why?

These are questions/ideas you can use in your midterms

Readings in Granta“The Invasion of Panama,” by Martha Gellhorn

What was going in Panama at the time regarding press freedom? What do you know from reading the story? What strikes you about the story?

How was the invasion covered by the U.S. press and how does it compare to what you read in this story by Gellhorn?

Does it remind you of coverage from another war? Grenada and Panama invasions are first military actions

since Vietnam. The press and military go to battle again. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, under the first president

Bush, delayed activating the press pool to prevent coverage in the initial stages of the invasion.

Afterward, the pool was restricted to the local military base.

Granta readingsWhat is similar about these two articles?

Granta ReadingsHappen after the war, the U.S. troops are gone—

less press control.

Depict the life of the ordinary person—give voice to the voiceless

Both have a distinct point of view

Graphic—with a focus on giving description and information that is from “their own eyes” not the official word.

Attacks “parachute journalism.” (pg. 63)

Are there any “heroes” or “villains”?

Media Journal for Feb. 4Choose an article that focuses on “celebrities”

in your country’s media.

What do you think of the coverage? Does it compare to the coverage of celebrities in the U.S.? What are the photos like? Do they cover the same celebrities as we do? Madonna, Brangelina, TomKat

Compare it to coverage of celebrities in the U.S.—if possible. For example, Carla Bruni—France’s first lady—is covered extensively in the French and international press.

You may go back in time if there isn’t anything recent in your media

Feb. 9 and 11: No Formal ClassesFeb. 9, 2009:

Watch “Young and Restless in China” and “Growing Internet Use Plays Crucial Role in China” at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/youngchina/ on your own.

 February 11, 2009:

Media Journal Assignment: Blog about the documentaries. What is your impression of China before and after the documentaries?