Busy News Day

These are big times in the news business. Mr. Trump's former personal attorney has recently given open Congressional testimony in which he has called the President a racist, a liar and a cheat. Meantime, nuclear arms talks with North Korea have suddenly ended. Pakistan and India--both nuclear-armed nations--are once again uncomfortably close to war. And migrant children continue to be separated from their families. We will take a look at the front page of the Los Angeles Times to see how they are covering this busy news day.

Questions...

•What do you think of the stories on the front page? Do you think the editors judged the day's top stories correctly? What would you change?

•The class can read either the Sheriff story or the Trump/Senate story. Do you feel The Times' coverage of the story is fair to all parties? What would you change?

•Is the Trump/Senate story sort of story that Mr. Trump will call "fake news"? What do you think of that claim?

•The Critical-Cultural Theory states that media consumers use media messages to construct their own world view. What would a Trump or Sheriff Department supporter take out of this coverage to support his ongoing views? What would a Trump or Sheriff Department opponent take out of it? What do you think the undecided reader will take out of this coverage?

•How can the Los Angeles Times or other major new outlet cover a complex news story more credibly or effectively than a blogger than a small following?

•You are a candidate in the upcoming L.A. Unified school board election and you have found out that your opponent is a gun enthusiast who wants to arm classroom teachers. You want to make this revelation public. Are you likely to get more coverage or less coverage for this story in the Monday paper? Why?

Opportunity for Scholars and Others

If you are in the Scholars Program, an honors contract is available for Mass Comm 101. One option toward fulfilling the Honors Contract is to enter the essay competition described below. For other Mass Comm 101 students, you can enter this competition for extra credit.

Follow this link for more information about the essay competition.