Connection Between Our Culture and the News Media

Discussion

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

· Textbook: Chapter 5, 6

· Lesson: Read this Week’s Lesson which is located in the Modules tab

· Initial Post: minimum of 2 scholarly sources (must include your textbook for one of the sources). Follow-Up Post: minimum of 1 scholarly source for your Follow-Up Post.

· Your Initial Post and your Follow-Up Post must be based on the same Option that you chose in order to receive credit for both posts. 

Initial Post Instructions

For the initial post, respond to one of the following options, and label the beginning of your post indicating either Option 1 or Option 2:

Option 1: The framers of the Constitution were concerned that everyday citizens would not be able to understand or comprehend the makings of our government. They felt that everyday citizens were uninformed and did not care what was going on in our government. Even today we see where citizens are interested in government affairs seemingly only if our country is in turmoil such as unemployment, recessions, civil unrest, etc. Do you agree with this assessment? Are we uninformed? Do we wait till a crisis happens to voice our opinions?

Option 2: Many experts see the media as biased and more like infotainment. In fact, many people have turned to social networks as an outlet for news instead of CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN and other news stations. Do you see this as an issue? Do you see the news as biased or unbiased? Should there be more restrictions on the news stations?

Be sure to make connections between your ideas and conclusions and the research, concepts, terms, and theory we are discussing this week.

Writing Requirements

· Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside source) for your Initial Post, and 1 scholarly source for your Follow-Up Post.

· APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Course Outcome

This week we are focusing on three course objectives: 1) applying basic political theory and ideologies to government systems, 2) explaining the primary forces that influence individuals’ political ideas, values and beliefs, and  3) analyzing the role public policy plays in our daily lives.

Our U.S. Constitution was created in the summer of 1787 and went into affect after its ratification in 1789. How successful has the U.S. been at creating a stable democracy?  Garry Kasparov, Russian chess master and political activist, suggests that “It is the existence of democratic institutions that enable different people to express their points of view within a legal framework that sets the boundaries of the political process” (Gessen, 2018, para. 5). Do you agree?  Have we been able to create and maintain such a situation in the U.S.?

Source: Gessen, M. (2018, December 4).  Garry Kasparov says we are living in chaos, but remains an incorrigible optimist. Retrieved from

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/garry-kasparov-says-we-are-living-in-chaos-but-remains-an-incorrigible-optimist (Links to an external site.)

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