Politics and the Media
This week we are investigating politically polarized subcultures and their media platforms. We are using the Biden Town Hall (Oct 15) as a shared example event and conservative online sites as our examples of polarized discourses. (There are also left wing polarized spaces, too, of course, but we are focusing on one ‘side’ to keep it simple and on conservative spaces because these have grown in visibility and influence in recent years ). First, watch the Biden Town Hall from Oct 15 to get a personal sense of how it went. Next, Identify a highly polarized conservative media site/platform to analyze. For example: Fox.com, Breitbart, InfoWars, Townhall.com, Dailycaller.com, RedState.com, RushLimbaugh.com Analysis: 1. Just looking at the top page, how would you describe this political discourse? (Take a screen shot and share with your post) (100 words) 2. Search for the site’s coverage of/discussion about the Town Hall. What do you notice about this coverage? How does it relate to what you saw yourself? What are some expected/unexpected findings? Does the site/platform’s coverage seem to assume/take for granted some beliefs on the part of the audience? (250 words) 3. Give us a quick assessment of the site as a democratic public sphere — e.g, how accessible, open, fair, rational, informative, oriented to understanding is it? (150 words).
