Analyzing Coverage of Social Justice Issues in the News: A Critical Thinking Assignment

In completing this assignment, learners will examine how social justice issues, events and the activists fighting for change are covered in the news and media. Learners will exercise their critical thinking skills to form their own ideas by exploring how the issues are covered from various news outlets. Learners will share their findings and thoughts and engage in discussion via Blackboard Discussion Board.

Learning Outcome Assessed:

· CLO 2: Analyze and apply credible research and relevant resources from early childhood professional organizations, and levels of government interacting with diverse early childhood communities in order to develop a critical understanding of the issues impacting multiple stakeholders at a local, provincial and national level.

Assignment Steps:

1. Read the news on a regular basis with a focus on issues and events related to social justice and select a recent news story as your focus (within the last 6 months). You can search for a news story on ANY social justice issue or advocacy movement. Use keywords to search on Google News, for example: Advocacy Ontario; Black Lives Matter Advocacy Ontario; Child Care Advocacy Ontario; Indigenous Advocacy Ontario; Climate Action Advocacy Ontario; Workers Rights Ontario; Immigrant Advocacy Ontario, etc.

2. Examine how various news and media outlets cover the same story (e.g. Toronto Star, National Post, Globe and Mail, TVO, CBC, Buzzfeed, etc). Find at least 2 news articles covering the same/similar story that are from different media outlets. Facebook and Instagram posts are not credible news sources.

3. Respond to the following questions in your Discussion Board post. You must include APA references (with links) for the articles you read for this assignment. Be clear and concise in your post.

A. What is the issue or event discussed in the articles and how is it related to social justice and advocacy? Briefly describe the story and how it reflects social justice/advocacy.

B. How many articles did you find about this story and what news/media outlets were they from? Remember, you need at least 2 articles on the same story/issue from different media outlets (e.g. Toronto Star & National Post)

C. Who are the experts, advocates or leaders being quoted in the article and what was their position on the issue at hand? How were they portrayed in the articles? Did media outlets differ in their portrayal of the person quoted?

D. What are your final thoughts, feelings and learnings about the story after exploring the coverage from various news and media outlets?

Read through the Discussion Board and reply to at least one peer’s post. You can comment, pose a question, highlight intersectionalities, share links to other articles etc. The aim is to engage in thoughtful discussions about current issues, events and social movements. You are encouraged to respond to comments on your own pos