Reflections: Thanks to newspapers, electronic access to information, libraries, and bookstores, we can stay informed about what's going on locally, nationally, and globally. The very fact, for instance, we can experience world events via live coverage shows us how powerful the news media can be. We cannot take the media for granted. We need to look at their role in bringing events into the public consciousness and in providing vital information and commentary for sustaining a free press

Goals: My goals for this chapter are to go over a range of issues with regard to the news media and then to set out critical thinking tools for tackling both the new media in general and news articles/programs in particular.

Goal #1: To develop skills for examining the various issues that arise with regard to the news--such as tabloidism in major newspapers, a free press in a democracy, ownership and control, manipulation of the media, and professional standards.

Goal #2: To set out critical thinking techniques that help assess the news media so, for example, you are in a better position to see if the news coverage is balanced and then have the skills to analyze the articles and news shows you are presented with.

Voices of the Community: The News Media

News Coverage and Power

Being able to freely inquire into events, express concerns and raise questions is liberating. If the media uses its power wisely, institutions can change-- and even crumble. By covering political corruption or digging out newsworthy items that may have gotten buried in an informational glut, journalists do us all a great service. The media subverts its own power, however, when it succumbs to corporate interests or political double-dealing. Also, news anchors and journalists risk compromising their own role as observer and watchdog. We can't assume that all the news that's fit to print will actually reach us.

Tabloid-Style Journalism

Periodically mainstream ("legitimate") news media have been known to succumb to tabloid-style journalism. However entertaining tabloid-type articles may be, the time devoted to the sensational or titillating is time lost on other, potentially much more significant, issues.

Serving the Community

Newspapers have the means to help a community function better for its members, e.g., by acting as a networking center or a resource for helpful information. One important function of a newspaper is to serve as a watchdog over the institutions in the society. Investigative journalists are often in the position of watchdogs.

Professional Standards

People tend to trust newspapers. Even when the news media falls short of our expectations or times we are critical of journalists, we generally approach newspapers as a source of truth, a repository of facts. Occasionally those in the news media act impulsively, setting in motion rumors or unsupported claims that later require damage control. Part of the value of critical thinking skills is learning not to take things at face value. Assume, also, that there's a social conscience in the news media and audience response can make a difference. As an empowered audience, we have a role in helping sustain such professional ethics.

Presenting News in an Ethical Manner

We must guard against complacency. Our expectations of honesty provide a moral framework in which societal institutions operate. For newspapers to be a legitimate source of information, they must adhere to fundamental values around integrity. If you pick up the newspaper and suspect deception, you'd rightly question the value of bothering to read it, other than to be entertained by the stories. Whatever benefit this may have for your leisure time, the traditional value of the newspaper to report on current events would be radically altered.

A Free Press

We can only succeed as a free country and a democracy if citizens are informed and have the abilityÐand rightÐ to think for themselves. This means the right to access information and to have the critical thinking skills to reason about what you see and hear. A free press is vital as a source of information, ideas, and insights. The recognition of this value goes back at least as far as the 5^th C, B.C., when Plato set out his thoughts on the ideal society.

In Plato's day there were no daily newspapers, radios, TVs, or Web sites bringing us information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We, on the contrary, can access information and ideas quite easily. But Plato was right to worry about the vulnerability of the democratic form of government. We need to be vigilant about insuring access to information and ideas about what's going on in our world and how we might address the problems facing us as a society.

Ownership and Control

We only need to read a futuristic novel like 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale to feel the fear of tyrannical control of information or censorship of artistic and political expression. The exposure to a variety of opinions and different frames of reference is one way to stop from being too narrow-minded and dogmatic. We gain mental flexibility by being receptive to alternative points of view. Newspapers and news programs can help unveil the different facets of an issue and provide us valuable access to information and ideas. There also can be conflicts over competing interests. That is why it is so crucial that the news media seek to present balanced coverage and offer a range of perspectives on the social issues we face as a society.

Ideas and Freedom of the Press

The expression of ideas and reasonable access to information is one element of our educational system and the role of the press in our lives. Because of this freedom, we function better as a society. That is, exposure to ideas helps us develop our own intellectual and creative potential. It also helps us learn about others and be more tolerant of potentially conflicting worldviews and ways of doing things. Without an open inquiry that allows for the expression of diverse perspectives, we condemn ourselves to tunnel vision.

Dangers of Controls

What if the media were owned and operated by big corporations, like R.J. Reynolds (tobacco), Coca-Cola, or IBM? How do you think that would change what rates as "news" and how it was presented? Linguist and social commentator Noam Chomsky sees the potential danger of the media falling under the power of the government or corporate interests. One concern of media analysts is the question of influence. The very idea of the "Fourth Estate" is that an educated citizenry depends upon a free press. We must, therefore, ensure that journalists are not coerced or otherwise pressured to push a given perspective. That's why issues like the freedom of the press become international issues.

Balanced News Coverage

One way to achieve a balance of news coverage and perspectives is through exposure to a range of publications. We can seek out a wide range of commentaries on world events. We can keep an open mind. What's front-page news in one area may be relegated to a corner of page 24 in another city's newspaper. We can also seek sources that present the interests of different cultural groups and social organizations. Watch for the potential influence of gender, age, class, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity on topics and coverage.

Six Factors for Balanced News Reading

1. Political Factor: Seek diversity of political viewpoints.
   
   
2. Economic Factor: Seek diversity in terms of financial interests and impact, class issues, and who stands to lose or gain.
   
   
3. Varying Perspectives Factor: Seek of diversity of perspectives.
   
   
4. Asymmetry Factor: Seek diversity in terms of the ways in which problems, issues, and people are described.
   
   
5. Ethical Factor: Seek diversity of ethical and religious viewpoints both within and beyond your own set of values and beliefs.
   
   
6. Otherness Factor: Seek diversity of opposing viewpoints from your self-identified mindset, challenging your worldview.
   
   

Sharpening Our Antennae

Individual Responsibility

By taking individual responsibility for keeping up on world news and current events, we can be more powerful members of our democracy. This entails going beyond a headline-knowledge of events; instead we need to read in-depth news coverage and commentaries. There are three major ways a reader can use newspapers as vehicles for social action. One is through letters to the editor. Another is through a commentary (e.g., an op/ed piece in the editorial section of the newspaper). The third is through press releases (usually sent out by an institution or an organization).

Analyzing the Newspaper

When undertaking an analysis of the newspaper, you want to be sure to do an overview of the whole, as well as going into detail on particular articles. Your first move is to get a sense of the entire newspaper. Then, you want to go into individual articles in detail, while noting the way the article functions in the larger context of the entire newspaper and of the society. Look at it as a whole document and then look at the specific elements, so you get a sense of how it works.

Style and Content

One question to ask is what makes something news -- and newsworthy? News articles are not necessarily neutral or objective pieces of journalism. Study the way the article is presented. Try to discern the author's thesis or personal slant. Note the types of evidence (if any) cited. Watch the use of quotes or expert testimony. And so on. Whenever you pick up a newspaper, survey the front page, reading each headings and subheading.

Checklist for analyzing style and content

1. Structure
   
   
2. Language
   
   
3. Symbols and images
   
   
4. Analogies and metaphors
   
   
5. Use of testimony or expert witnesses.
   
   
6. Personal slant
   
   
7. Descriptive/Prescriptive
   
   
8. Cultural baggage
   
   
9. Recognition of audience
   
   
10. Omissions
    
    

Use of Language by the News Media

In discussing style and content language is a big issue. The words we use can make a great deal of difference in the readers' understanding of an issue or an event. The use of a word or phrase can shape the meaning of an entire passage.

Accountability

The way we use those words can shade an interpretation or slant the piece from one extreme to another. This is pretty obvious when racist or sexist language is used, for such language is loaded and can have an explosive effect on a reader.

The Distinct Role of Sports in the News Media

Sports coverage has a unique role in the workings of the news media. The language, the images and descriptions, and outpouring of emotion in sports coverage gives it a kind of distinction and narrative power that other news typically lacks.

Analyzing Sports Coverage

We can learn a lot about our society by turning our attention to sports. Often much more dramatically than other forms of journalism, sports coverage has the potential to reveal: Cultural Values And Beliefs, Notions Of Heroism, Gender Roles And Expectations, The Evolution Of Language, Ethical And Social Norms, and Contemporary Mythology.

Sports Coverage Check List

1. Examine the reasoning -- zero in on arguments, assess the strength of evidence cited in support of the conclusion.
   
   
2. Analyze and evaluate -- check for warranted versus unwarranted assumptions, potential sources of bias or prejudice, stereotypical thinking, and the use of images and symbols.
   
   
3. Watch for visual and verbal messages in the presentation of information and the use of images/photographs.
   
   
4. Check the use of language -- watch for loaded terms, biased language, asymmetrical descriptions, repetition, metaphors and poetic expressions to convey an idea.
   
   
5. Notice inductive and deductive lines of reasoning -- watch especially for use of analogies, reliance on statistical studies, cause and effect reasoning.
   
   
6. Be on the alert for fallacious reasoning -- in particular check for the fallacies of ad Populum (appeal to the masses), ad Verecundiam (irrelevant testimonials of famous figures in place of solid evidence), ad Hominem (personal attack), ad Hominem circumstantial (discrediting by social or political affiliation), and Question-Begging epithets (slanted language biasing an interpretation).
   
   
7. Be aware of the frame of reference -- check to see what other perspectives might be taken on the situation and how things would change if other voices were heard
   
   
8. Watch for cultural or ethnic sensitivity -- check the values and world view implicitly presented, narrowing or broadening our understanding of the people or issues involved
   
   

Cultural Values and Beliefs

Sports coverage in general is value-laden. Study the way people are described and look at the narrative dimension. Examine the use of language, colorful descriptions, nicknames and other ways of referring to athletes. Watch for both overt and subtle differences in the coverage of sports figures and events. Look at the broader social context. We need to consider the different spheres that tie into this superstructure, and see what values and beliefs underlie each sphere.

Use of Language in Sports Coverage

The words we use reveal a great deal about our attitudes, values, interests, and prejudices. Sports coverage is often lively and colorful. writing tends to be more clearly subjective, with the author's own voice adding a stamp of uniqueness. The use of language is not a neutral affair. Words and images shape our thoughts and fuel our imaginations. They can bring us to our feet and inspire us to action.

Examining Assumptions

In undertaking an analysis, it is important to look at any assumptions that lie behind the reasoning that is in operation. When the assumptions are warranted, the reasoning is strengthened. But when the assumptions are unwarranted, the entire argument is weakened and can be brought down.

Social Context

To understand an issue or an event in history, we need to root it, socially, culturally, and historically. Only by placing the issue in context can we see what baggage is being carried along with it and what parameters must be used in assessing its significance. Look at the big picture and see how the various (economic and other) forces shape the direction of events. We can examine how these forces are perceived by the media and by the public.

Sports Stereotypes

Embedded in cultural attitudes are myths and stereotypes. This is as true in sports as in other aspects of our society. We still find stereotypes and myths about athletes. Then there are myths. There's the myth of the lovable athlete who helps poor, disadvantaged children, the myth of the underdog who comes up from behind and surprises everyone, myths about perseverance being more important than talent, and so on.

Heroes and Role Models

Think of the functions heroes serve in our society and why we need to have them. For some, athletes are clearly role models, whether we like it or not. Others disagree. Like it or not, they often serve as role models and are expected to dispense folk wisdom accordingly. With such power and significance, it is no wonder that the nightly news devotes time to sports coverage.

Sports and Morality

It is interesting to consider the assumptions and values we hold about sports. These assumptions and values shape a set of prescriptions about what we expect to see. They also tell us what we consider permissible behavior by individuals and teams, what we should tolerate on the part of fans, and what sort of relationship we want athletes to have with the general public.

Politics and Sports

Every so often, controversies arise in sports or with regard to individual teams or athletes. It's unusual, but not impossible for issues around religion or politics to affect the way in which an athlete is perceived.