Media, Fake News and Manipulative Strategies: A Comparative Analysis

Comparative analysis of manipulative strategies

Previous journal have emphasized the importance of asking questions to determine the bias of authors and their texts, the use (and often flaws) of argument or persuasive techniques used by authors, metaphors and extended metaphors that often conceal more than they reveal, and specific genres that can function as satirical commentary on social, economic or political issues. Building on these concepts, our assignment for this week is to read Kent Lewis's chapter introduction on "Media," McLintock's "Cancerous Journalism," and ONE of the following articles: Jason Wilson's "How Conservative Media Transformed the Covington Catholic Students from Pariahs to Heroes," OR Neil Macdonald's "Reporters are 'Used' all the Time. The Wilson-Raybould Story is no Exception." Ever since the U.S. election of 2016, we have been inundated with references to "fake news" and stories of election manipulation via various forms of social media. We have been reminded over and over of the power of social media to influence major events through media manipulation, both locally and globally. Kent Lewis addresses many of these concerns in his introduction to "Media," although terms like "fake news," "misinformation" and "disinformation" were not as popular or much-used phrases at the time he wrote this intro. Barbara McLintock, too, as early as 2004, addresses the role of fake news and media manipulation in her article for The Tyee, "Cancerous Journalism." For this journal assignment, you will read Lewis's introduction to "Media" and McLintock's article, "Cancerous Journalism." Read also EITHER Jason Wilson's "How Conservative Media Transformed the Covington Catholic Students from Pariahs to Heroes," OR Neil Macdonald's "Reporters are 'Used' all the Time. The Wilson-Raybould Story is no Exception." Using Kent Lewis's introduction to "Media" (as well as previous chapter introductions as appropriate) for context, compare the manipulative strategies and use of social media to influence the public in McLintock's "Cancerous Journalism" to ONE of the two more recent articles mentioned above. Do you see a big difference, aside from scale, in the forms and types of manipulation used in McLintock's article to those used by these later demonstrations of manipulative media?