Mass Media

Mass Media
The media has always played a major role in American Politics. Today two networks on cable,
MSNBC and Fox News have established themselves as the major networks that tend to espouse
a certain political view. MSNBC tends to play to a more liberal prospective whereas Fox News,
more of a conservative prospective.
Your assignment is to view a show on each of the networks between the hours of 8pm-11pm.
You will watch a full episode of each on the same night and submit the following:
0 Name the show/host/date of each show. ‘ g
a 0 Discuss in depth the main topics of each show.
0 Did you detect a political bias throughout the shows or did you find it more objective
throughout the shows? Please provide examples.
0 Do you feel that these shows bring a positive or negative aspect to our nation’s political
discourse? Why or why not? Please provide substantive reasoning.
0 Compare and contrast the style and substance of each show.
0 Are you at all likely to watch one or both of these shows again? Why or Why not?
Please make your paper a complete five pages.
Here are the shows you can choose from (1 from each column):
MSN BC Fox News
8-9 All in With Chris Hayes 8-9 The O’Reilly Factor
9-10 The Rachel Maddow Show _ 9-10 The Kelly File
10-11 Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell 10-11 Hannity