MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT:
Assignment 1:
Length: 5 pages max (double-spaced, single-sided) including data chart
The media are an integral part of a complex cultural process through the many meanings of development are produced and consumed. In many ways, we learn about the world around us through media such as television, newspapers, magazines, and web-based reports. Policy decisions are also affected to some degree by media representations of environmental problems. Consequently it is important to develop the capacity to understand and analyze the ways in which environmental issues are reported in various media outlets. Despite claims to objective reporting, it is increasingly that particular ideological positions can be identified in different media sources. This assignment asks you to trace the reporting of a particular development related issue and to examine critically the underlying assumptions of the story. On one hand, the issue of ?development? is often defined broadly as problems of poverty and social inequality with various agencies and processes seeking to address these. On the other hand, ‘development’ has a wider “popular” and “public” dimension, addressed by the popular media (newspaper, films, new media etc.) which shape how people engage with the underlying issues.
The goal of this exercise is to provide with a critical sense of how popular media tend to represent “development” stories and how they may influence public perception and debates. Using relevant concepts from the course, you will assess popular sources from the standpoint of a student of development studies and carefully assess the assumptions and potential biases embedded in the different approaches to the issue.
Tasks:
a) Identify a specific development-related issue that has made the news multiple times in the last six to twenty-four months and represents an ongoing development problem of significant public interest and importance.
b) Compile available news media material on these topics (past and on-going) ? current and/or archived radio news or talk programs (from the web e.g. CBC Radio, etc.), TV or cable news segments (from the web or current programming), newspaper articles, magazine feature articles, etc.
c) Prepare a chart that presents the following information for each article/report:
1) Article source ? Where did the report appear and who produced it. Was it circulated beyond the original source (i.e., through a wire service)?
2) Information sources? What was the basis of information from the story (i.e., did the story use just one person as a source of information? Did it use government officials, development scholars, or development agency personnel as sources? Did it use a singular source or a variety of sources? Was the story primarily based on interviews? Did it involve the collection of original data? Did it rely on secondary information? If so, what kind?
3) Illustrations, identify illustrations such as photos, charts, maps, etc.
4) Headline, Is the headline alarming or reassuring? If it is neither, then it is neutral.
5) Depth, if the story provides a lot of background and explanation and is relatively long, it is in-depth. It is in some depth, if there is some background information accompanying the coverage of the issue. If the coverage is only of an event, it is superficial.
6) Coverage, sensational coverage tries to attract and scare readers. It emphasizes controversy and human drama. A low-key story sticks to the facts and offers mild opinions. A moderate story includes some controversy and drama but does not overdo the pull on readers’ emotions. It does not try to scare or anger them.
d) In no more than 4 pages, use these data and categories to support your opinions about the quantity and quality of development coverage you find in the media sources:
- What did you know about the issue before you began research
- What is the nature of the coverage of the issue (e.g., is it sensationalist? Is it superficial? Does it attempt to adopt an objective position toward the issue? What sources of bias are evident? What aspects (economic, social, health, ecological, political, etc.) of the problem are given the most attention? Which the least? What sources of information are most heavily used? What potential sources of information are ignored or given minimal coverage? What questions are left unaddressed?
- How does coverage vary between different media sources? Does any one source do a better job of reporting than others? In what ways?
- What is the dominant developmental attitude revealed in reporting (e.g., anthropocentric, ecocentric, biocentric, etc.)
- What might account for differences in approaches to covering and reporting on the issue?
- What could you suggest to improve the coverage if you don’t think it is adequate?
- How do you think that coverage of an issue might affect public opinion on the issue?