This assignment is not that different from the short media assignment you did in January with the difference being that you are being asked to keep a journal of the media you consume in the course of your everyday life. It also expands our analysis beyond simply news media and extends it to film, television, streaming, and social media.

You are still going to analyze how labour and class issues are treated in the media but it will be of media that you normally use, view, or read. Of course, this is not enough pages to do a meta-analysis of how the media frames labour. You will need to chose certain examples to examine. 

Whatever sources you choose ask yourself; do you see evidence of what Martin suggests? i.e. the submergence of issues of citizenship, political activity, and class relations, and elevating issues of consumption and the myth of a class-free North America? Do you see evidence of the filters of Chomsky and Herman’s propaganda model at work? These are the key questions you should use to begin your analysis. If you focus on film, television, and streaming, then Storey (on line)  will be helpful and you do not have to limit your self to Martin.

Details:

Journal:

Keep a well  documented journal of the media you consume for one week.

Clearly recorded dates, times, type of content, and a short synopsis. Each entry should have an annotation ( a short synopis of the media read, viewed, or listened to.)

The format is up to you but the criteria is to be comprehensive.

Analysis:

Your journal should have a short synopsis of each entry. However, there is a separate paper (of approximately 5 pages) that provides a more in depth analysis. This can be of trends that you noticed in your own habits or of a select number of entries. Choice of media to highlight and analyze should relevant to course, by that I mean about depiction (or lack of depiction) of class or labour and class issues and ideas. 

Evidence should adequately support your analysis, without undue repetition. Your  analysis of your journal should move beyond simply reviewing or describing the media to meaningfully engage important thematic and interpretive issues around labour and class issues. 

Marking Criteria:

/5         Well documented journal. Clearly recorded dates, times, type of content, short synopsis. Choice of media to highlight and analyze is relevant to course. Concise description of the media source content with relevance to course highlighted.

/5         Analysis of content, themes of course integrated into analysis with relevant references to text cited. Evidence adequately supported the analysis, without undue repetition. The paper moves beyond simply reviewing or describing the media to meaningfully engage important thematic and interpretive issues around labour and class issues. 

/5         Develops ideas cogently, organizes them logically, and connects them with clear transitions. Each idea, or theme, effectively supports the main points of the analysis.

/5         Spelling was accurate. Grammar was correct. Quotations and citations were accurately and properly attributed to their sources. Paragraphing was sensible. Writing was clear and easy to follow

Total /20