1 Media Commentary Portfolio Due: Week 6 Weighting: 25% Word limit: 800 words +/- 10% (not including references) Reflection on portfolio of quality media commentary This is a media commentary research task. You are asked to focus on one of these topics: 1. Migrant Workers 2. Illegal Immigrants 3. Refugees & asylum seekers 4. Migration 5. Racism 6. Nationalism/Populism 7. Multiculturalism; 8. Religious Diversity You may take an Australian focus, an international focus (comparing across contexts, global reflection of a trend), or focus on another country such as the UK, Germany, France, the US, or Singapore. You should have read the set readings for that week before embarking on your media research. The task involves reading a wide range of quality news and opinion sources (Australian and international) and compiling a portfolio of 3 opinion commentary pieces (OpEds) on the topic. You are asked to provide an 800 word reflection on the OpEds, zeroing in on what you learnt, what was impressive about the piece; and what you thought it could have covered but didn't. You may concentrate on ONE of your THREE OpEd pieces, or reflect across all three. These are to be submitted through Turnitin. You must include a Bibliography with links to news sources and commentary consulted and under a separate heading a list of your three ‘Portfolio’ opinion pieces with live links to the full text.2 Detailed advice Students are required to research quality news and opinion sources (Australian and international) – reading a wide variety of news reporting and opinion commentary from respect media outlets. You are then asked to compile a portfolio of 3 opinion commentary pieces on the topic. You are asked to provide an 800 word reflection on these materials. The aim of the exercise is to learn where to seek out and assess informed news reporting and opinion commentary on important social issues. Your research should include quality news sources and QUALITY opinion pieces published in newspapers, blogs, or magazines covering social issues. Your reflection should include things like: • What did you learn about the issue? • What was compelling in these opinion pieces? Perhaps something new or a new take on it? Or reinforced what you already knew. • What made the piece a particularly good piece of commentary? What made it informative? What were its weak points? • Was it well argued or were there logical flaws or non sequiturs? • Would you consider it well informed, relying on reputable sources, and research? • General reflection from you having read a spectrum of opinion and reporting on this topic? Following your reflection you must include a full reference with title, source, and link to the source. If you have print edition, please provide an online version, or a scan of the story. These are to be submitted in Week 6 on Monday 3rd April 2017 - by 5pm. A list potential sources is provided below as a guide to get you started. Please do your own research though.3 HINTS & TIPS Find a topic that both interests you and about which you can find interesting and informed media commentary. Be careful to distinguish between low quality tabloid style rants and well informed, carefully argued opinion pieces (OpEds) and journalism. For example, the ‘DailyMail.co.uk’ is not what I would call a ‘quality news source’. If the web page has bikini girls and celebrity stories you are probably looking in the wrong place! Try well regarded sources such as though listed on the next page. You may include one ‘bad’ piece of reporting to highlight issues of misrepresentation, misinformation and weak argument. In your reflection you should point this out, and talk about what the issues were and how other reports or OpEds better informed you. Types of News & Opinion: OpEd: An op-ed is an opinion piece on a newsworthy topic. OpEd is short for ‘Opinion-Editorial’. Op-eds (so-called because they typically appear opposite the editorial page of newspapers) provide an opportunity for experts to inform and stimulate public debate – and sometimes help shape policy. An OpEd is different to a news report in that it is a reflection and commentary rather than reportage. News story: A news report about a current issue informing the reader of essential facts about the situation. Investigative Journalism: Here is a nice website setting out the difference between daily news and Investigative Journalism: http://journalismfund.eu/what-investigative-journalism4 Some sources (an initial guide – not the only places to check): The Guardian (Australian edition; international edition, UK edition etc – each has different content) New York Times Washington Post The Conversation (www.conversation.com - you can click different editions at the top left – Australia, UK, France, US) Le Monde Der Speigl The Sydney Morning Herald The Australian The Monthly (www.themonthly.com.au) New Matilda (www.newmatilda.com) The Huffington Post The London Times The Independent VOX http://www.vox.com/ ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/analysis-and-opinion/ Daily Mail; Breitbart.com etc are NOT reputable news sources. FAKE NEWS & REPUTABLE SOURCES See the Huffington Post guide to spotting Fake News: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/fake-news-guidefacebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169 Washington Posts “Fact Checker” is useful: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/factchecker/?utm_term=.88bb30758a05 And The Conversation ‘Fact Check’ pages: https://theconversation.com/au/factcheck See the ‘Fake News’ guide I’ve put together – PowerPoint slides available on the iLearn page.5 This graphic is a bit US-Centric but is useful to give you a sense of where news sources sit on the political spectrum. It was created by Vanessa Otero (http://www.allgeneralizationsarefalse.com/?p=65) In terms of Australia, I would put Fairfax papers (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age) around about the mainstream middle, skewing liberal (in US terms), while The Daily Telegraph would sit around about where Fox News is (Murdoch owned).