Assess 3 sources of news by Gretchen Monroe

Instructions

gmonroe4 — 2024-01-14 19:44:18 UTC

Write your name at the top of a Pad. (You will eventually have 3 total)
Watch one of the news shows (Stephen Colbert, CNN, Channel 8).
Think and assess for yourself if and how the show demonstrates elements of news. (I have attached docs to remind you of our class discussions on news.)
Under your name on the Pad, label your Pad with the show source you just watched (CNN, Stephen Colbert, or Channel 8).

Answer the following for each video:

What elements of news do you see in each video?
Prior to watching each video, did you have any feelings of bias towards the source? If so, did the video affirm or deny those feelings?
Do you think this source should be trusted for news? Why or why not?
Repeat for each of the 3 shows.

gmonroe4 — 2024-01-14 19:44:51 UTC

gmonroe4 — 2024-01-14 19:46:54 UTC

Stephen Colbert Show - watch through 3:09

gmonroe4 — 2024-01-14 19:53:43 UTC

Channel 8 Perry Iowa School Shooting

gmonroe4 — 2024-01-14 20:00:34 UTC

CNN report on loose bolts on Boeing jet

gmonroe4 — 2024-01-14 20:02:26 UTC

Sam CNN

2024-01-16 15:19:02 UTC

I certainly saw timeliness, seeing as this happened very recently. I saw proximity, because he was right there in Portland where it happened, and also flying is an experience that almost all Americans have done at some point. There isn't too much impact, other than the Boeing stock tanking. There's not really any prominence. There is a lot of oddity, because this hasn't happened before as far as I'm aware. There is human interest and currency, and the audience is very broad. Before I watched this video, I did have some bias against CNN just as a legacy media that is very left-biased and doesn't always play fair politically. This did deny that thought a little bit, because it seemed like a very neutral report. However, this is a neutral topic, so I still am not sure if CNN is biased or not. Ultimately, however, I do think they can be trusted for news based off of this report.

It does seem that some topics are portrayed neutrally, even when a news source can be considered "left" or "right" leaning.

Sam channel 8

2024-01-16 15:30:40 UTC

There's definitely timeliness, specifically when this article was written(not really anymore). There's proximity for us because it happened just a state over. There isn't much impact, just because this is a common occurence enough that one death doesn't raise too many eyebrows. There's certainly conflict, but not any prominence, and also these days there isn't too much oddity. The human interest is certainly there, and the currency and audience are also clearly present. There is policy clearly, which we see when gun laws are brought up later in the article. Competition is there, and presentation was adequate. I had no bias for or against this source, and this article didn't create any in me. It was neutral as far as I'm concerned, and was about the same article we read earlier from a different news source that I'm forgetting, which is obvious because both are from AP. I do think, after reading and analyzing, that this news source can be trusted.

Gannon

2024-01-16 15:33:16 UTC

CNN

1. You can see timeliness because the incident happened over the weekend so it happened recently. You can see proximity because the people in Portland are going to care. I think the US as a whole might care because they might question Boeing as a company when flying. We are seeing Impact/consequence because the US is questioning if Boeing is a reliable jet or if they should look at other options. Another impact is that Boeing's stock started to go down after this incident. You can also see oddity/rarity in this because doors ripping off a jet is not something you really see everyday. There is currency with this story because CNN is talking about this story, and I also saw this story on ABC news. The audience is probably national because I assume that a lot of people across the US are seeing this story.

2. I have some bias against CNN because I know that they are more liberal when it comes to the presentation of their news. You can see this when they portray the Republican party in a negative way. In this particular story, I feel that CNN was more neutral. It is hard to be biased in a story like this one.

3. I think that CNN can be trusted for the Boeing story because I feel that it is hard to make this story political. But I also know that CNN is on the left side, and that affects their neutrality when it comes to stories. I think that when it comes to CNN that you have to approach with caution.

I think caution is a good watch word when you read any news at this point!

Sam Colbert

2024-01-16 15:42:07 UTC

The timeliness is obvious as this is very recent, but the proximity isn't really there though because we live in Nebraska and Colbert lives in New York. The impact is clear, because as he said "if you flew here, you're walking", because a lot of people fly and this affects them. This also affects the Boeing stock, which is important to our economy. There isn't much conflict here, it's more of just something that happened and now Boeing has to do something about it. There's no prominence, but this is clearly an oddity because this hasn't happened before as far as I'm aware. The human interest/emotion is clear because we all could've been on that flight and one of us could've died by falling out, which is very scary. The currency/competition is clear because we can see just in this assignment that two sources are reporting on it, meaning it must be valuable news. Audience is clear because this applies to everyone, and policy is possible as we might see some new regulations roll out in light of this incident. The presentation is well done. Going into this, I did have some bias against Colbert, just as a late night talk show host and also a clearly left leaning reporter. This did affirm my thoughts, just in the sense that he prioritized comedy over reporting, which there's nothing wrong with, I'm just not going to validate him as a trustworthy, reliable news source. So overall, no, he shouldn't be trusted for news because he clearly prioritizes entertainment.

I appreciate that you noticed that two sources reporting on something makes it seem valuable as news. It was important to acknowledge your feelings about Colbert, and to determine that they were affirmed. Do you think many people are willing to do this kind of mental work before reading or watching news?

Hope CNN

2024-01-16 15:42:18 UTC

Within this report I definitely saw timeliness and proximity, considering that it happened very recently. This event greatly impacted the Boeing aircraft company. I don't think that it was very impactful for US citizens, however; I think it could potentially spark emotion in readers. The report invoked the feeling of fear in the reader. Which could cause people to be more critical and careful regarding air travel and airlines in general. Another element seen was oddity, because this isn't something people would suspect to happen. The main fear about planes is that they will crash, not that a door will rip off. I did have some bias, knowing that CNN takes the stance as a left-sided news source. This story is based on a very neutral topic. Therefore, it is hard to tell if it is a reliable or biased source. In my opinion CNN can be trusted, regarding stories like these. Going into other articles; however, I would definitely be skeptical.

I noticed that you can take an article and see that some sources considered "left-sided" can put out news that is neutral. Excellent observation!

Gannon

2024-01-16 17:28:28 UTC

Channel 8

1. Timeliness is pretty good. The story is 12 days ago, so it isn't a lot of days away. There is proximity especially in Perry and Iowa as a whole. I think a lot of the US would care because the US cares when school shootings happen. There is no oddity or rarity because school shootings have almost become normal in our society. There is human interest/emotion with this story because people can feel sadness for the people in Iowa. There is currency because a lot of news outlets are reporting on this.

2. I did not really feel any bias towards Channel 8 news. I think that they are a reliable news source. I have watched Channel 8 news before, and I think that they are good. The video didn't really affirm or deny my feelings because a topic like a school shooting is more fact based.

3. I think that Channel 8 can be trusted, especially when it comes to this specific story. This story doesn't really allow for bias to creep in because it is more neutral and matter of fact.

Do you think local news might be more neutral than national news? Curious to think about.

Gannon

2024-01-17 00:15:35 UTC

Stephen Colbert

1. We can see timeliness because this incident happened recently. Proximity is also a factor here because a lot of people fly, so they want to be informed about events like this. An impact is that Boeing's stock went down, and it might affect peoples' plane choice when flying. It is an oddity because I haven't seen this really happen before. The human interest/emotion is relevant because people might have a feeling of fear. Currency is also there because we see that CNN, Stephen Colbert, and other news sources are reporting on this incident.

2. I did have some bias towards Stephen Colbert because I didn't really think that he was a news reporter. I was a little confused when I saw him on a list with CNN and Channel 8 because I didn't really view him as a reliable news guy. I viewed him more as someone who did comedy. After watching the video, it affirmed my feelings about Colbert. He did report some similar facts to CNN, but he used the facts as satire/comedy.

3. Colbert would not be trusted for the news because his show is more comedy focused then news focused. He was taking a story that appeared in the news and was using it to make sarcastic marks about the bolts not being tightened or whatever. I don't think Colbert every intended for his show to be used as news because I think he wants to be more comedy driven, and because of that he is not a trusted for news.

I appreciate your observations! I am curious - do you think it might be considered inappropriate to make remarks about bots, considering the end result of the plane section coming off? Should we considered some things inappropriate to joke about?

Hope Channel 8

2024-01-17 12:43:01 UTC

You can see timeliness in this article, not necessarily now, but at the time it was written. There was most definitely proximity, considering that we live just a few hours away. There is impact and consequence for the people involved in the event, but not really for the reader. Unfortunately school shootings are a common event, so when a story like this comes out people don't think too much of it. Which shows that there is a lack of oddity in this story. Emotion and human interest are also there, these types of stories always stir up sympathy and sometimes fear into the reader. These kinds of stories definitely attract the US as an audience, considering how it has become a norm in our society. Competition and currency are also there. Going into this article, I didn't have much bias. It was pretty neutral topic, so it didn't really allow me to form an opinion on the source. Overall I think Channel 8 news can be trusted

Interesting observation!

Hope Colbert

2024-01-17 12:58:55 UTC

The timeliness is definitely there. There isn't a whole lot of proximity. There certainly is impact though. This event taking place causes a lot of fear to be apparent in people, especially since the average person has flown at least once in their life. Which points back to the element of emotion and human interest. It also has an impact of the Boeing company itself. This could also affect how people go about traveling in the future. People might be more cautious about which airline or airplane they choose to fly in. Currency and competition is also there, since a lot of news outlets have been reporting on this lately. I did have some bias. I knew that that Stephen Colbert was mainly known for being a talk show host and comedian, not a news reporter. This video did affirm my beliefs about him. It seemed like he was solely driven by the need to entertain. He didn't place priority on informing his audience, instead he made a joke out of current events that are happening in the world. Colbert is not a trustworthy source for news, because his main intentions are to make people laugh. If his main purpose is to entertain, then he is going to miss a lot of details that actually matter. This makes him an unreliable source for news.

I appreciate your insight into what he said! Good recognition of the feelings you "brought to the table" regarding the show, and seeing how entertainment and news are indeed two different things.