For next week, Sept. 18

See information about media effects readings, below on Sept. 11 entry--there are links instead of handouts. Be sure to check out the "Girl Like Me" link, in terms of effects, and we'll continue our discussion of race and reporting (and the video we watched in class on Sept. 11). We'll also tackle the Jessica Lynch and Shoshana Johnson case (see links in Sept. 11 entry).

Here's a short example of a ministudy (choice 2):

I examined the "Home" section of the New York Times, Sept. 11, 2008. Although it was a 10-page section, three full pages were advertising. For this analysis, I used both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. First, all stories in the section were coded by byline (whether male or female), sources used (male or female), and subject of stories (whether focused on a man or a woman). Second, all photographs were analyzed and described for a more qualitative measure. Another qualitative measure was attempted by scanning all stories for descriptions of people. These descriptions were analyzed and compared, to determine how gender and race may have played a role in these descriptions.

In terms of the quantitative measure, 5 stories were written by men, and 6 were written by women. Sources in these stories were evenly divided between men and women, with .....

OK, this should help you get started on your own ministudy--let me know your questions.