Assignment
In Manufacturing Consent (2002) Edward Herman & Noam Chomsky (H&C) give us the Propaganda Model, whose thesis is that "...the Media serve, and propagandize on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them." This paper will test this thesis using the paired case study method.
Article: "Manufacturing Consent- The Political Economy of the Mass Media" by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky.
The cases that you will be comparing are the Hong Kong Protests and the Gaza Protests of 2018 You have been provided with two databases of articles, one for Hong Kong and one for Gaza. You are not required to read every article, as there are well over 200 articles. Instead, you will perform both a quantitative and qualitative analyses of the articles in the databases.
Articles:
"A Day, a Life: When a Medic Was Killed in Gaza, Was It an Accident?" by David M. Halbfinger.
"Anger in Hong Kong After Student Dies From Fall Following Clash With Police" by Austin Ramzy and Ezra Cheung.
For the quantitative analysis, you will utilize the variables H&C have identified (number of articles, number of front pages, column length etc.). You will need to create a table similar to the one in Manufactured Consent which illustrates the differences between the two events.
For the qualitative analysis, you will compare the key words utilized in both the headlines and body of the articles. For key words and headlines, the database has already pulled keywords for you and displays the titles of all articles. Utilizing Ctrl-F you can quickly find how many times certain words and phrases appear.
For analyzing the body of articles, select 3 articles per event (therefore 6 total) and compare and contrast the robustness and accuracy of the details provided about the events. You will need to identify the lens and filters applied to these stories, and comment on the elite interests that may be at play.
Your papers should follow this basic outline:
a. Introduction and summary of H&C's Thesis
b. Summary of the paired case study methodology
c. Introduction of the two cases (this will require looking into the reasons the protests started/continued)
d. Findings: do the data support or not support H&C's propaganda model?
e. Explain how you conducted the quantitative analysis and display chart. Explain your findings and you may provide your opinion as to why you believe there are differences.
f. Explain your qualitative analysis and provide your opinion on the lens and filters that you believe were applied.
g. Conclusion.
Format your assignment according to the give formatting requirements:
a. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
b. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
c. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.