Assignment paper
Students will write an essay responding critically to one of the following statements in relation to the module on “The Fourth Estate in a New World”.
The Fourth Estate in a New World
Essays should be 1600 words (excluding reference list) and synthesise evidence from at least 4 scholarly sources. You are also encouraged to supplement these with relevant, high quality non-scholarly sources, such as news pieces from The Conversation (use your discernment here and we will discuss this further in class). Essays should demonstrate critical thinking with regards to news media and draw on relevant key concepts and media theory from the course (highlighted each week in the lecture slides) to evaluate the significance of this theory and inform the analysis. All essays should make an evidenced and well-considered argument and demonstrate considered and nuanced thinking.
Critically discuss one of the following statements:
a) Traditional journalistic values have radically shifted since the birth of new media.
b) Filter bubbles make the role of journalists obsolete.
c) The public defunding of journalistic institutions today renders Herman Chomsky’s (1988) propaganda model irrelevant.
d) Citizen journalists and social media today hold more sway than the “Fourth Estate”.
e) The news is ideology without intention.