“Own Choice” End-Project Writing

Why not analyze what you think is important?

Jon Stewart, anchor of Comedy Central's THE DAILY SHOW : “a compendium of news, interviews and features, held up to a fractured mirror to reveal a greater truth” (Bill Moyers, Interview, 7/11/03).

News has never been objective.  What does every newscast start with? ‘Our top stories tonight.’ That's a list. That's an object… that's a subjective… some editor made a decision.   So why not take advantage of that and actually analyze what you do think is important...

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_stewart.html

Writers at Work: A Guided Writing Assignment

Analyze two or three newspaper stories of the “same” event.  Compare coverage of the event and how these differences affect your understanding as a reader.  Review the opening section of the chapter.  See especially “Defining Bias” (pp.0-00). 

Demonstrate your critical reading ability—that is, that you are an active, questioning reader of the news—by showing readers how your reading of an event differs, depending on the report you read and why.  You need not only to go back and forth, comparing reports, but also to go beyond and share your insights.

Selecting a News Event

Start by reviewing the day’s headlines on line. Browse through several newspapers looking for reports on the “same” event.  You can find links to both national and international newspapers at <www.newsdirectory.com> or <www.newspaperlinks.com> or by clicking on the news link on the menu at the top of the home page of the search engine Google <www.google.com> or Yahoo <www.yahoo.com>.  You can use the newspaper database LexisNexus (select national or world news) or ProQuest to find news stories. Consult your college reference librarian for help. [See also pp. 0-000.] 

Read about a number of events before selecting the event you will analyze closely; since you’ll be reading several stories on the same topic, you’ll want to make sure you select an event that interests you.  And be careful to choose an event, not a broader issue or problem.  An event is a single, isolatable occurrence that is unusual or significant—a robbery on a commuter train, the arrest of a fugitive, a peace march. Your event will be connected to a broader issue or problem    for example, the train robbery may be a symptom of an underlying problem such as urban crime or the ready availability of inexpensive handguns—but focus on the discrete event, not the surrounding issues and problems, for you will not have the space to address all the topics that focusing on an issue or problem would require.

            Once you’ve selected a news event, you’ll need to consider what you already know about it, how it intersects your own values and experiences, and where you stand on it. A good way to get started is to choose a key word related to your event and to QuickWrite for five minutes.   Below is a QuickWriting sample from the student Writer at Work whose progress we’ll follow.

Writer at Work: QuickWriting Sample

Jane Robertson

September 11th immediately came to mind, but that’s too big of an event.  Everyone’s afraid to fly now for fear their plane will be hijacked.  Not just in this country but everywhere.  I decided to check world news reports.  When I used a search engine to browse through some news headlines that contained the words “hijacking” or “hijack,” reports about a possible hijacking attempt in Sweden caught my attention.  The different descriptions of the suspect are what I found interesting.  One called him an “Arab man” and another said he was a “Swedish citizen of Tunisian descent.”  I’m interested in the effects of these reports on readers so soon after Sept. 11. 

Next, consider getting together with friends or other members of your class to discuss the event you’ll write about. Have others heard about this news story? If so, what are their reactions?

Writer at Work: QuickWriting Sample

Jane Robertson

Everyone liked my topic and confirmed I had selected a news event.  No one had heard about this story.  Someone suggested I search British newspapers since that was the destination of the plane.  We talked about terrorism, which this story brought up.

Selecting Your News Stories   

Now you’re ready to start selecting the stories you will focus on. Start by reading as many stories about the event as you can find (at least five). Each will offer you insight into the two stories you will ultimately focus on. Look for stories about this event in different kinds of newspapers, such as tabloids (e.g., the New York Post, the Boston Herald) and alternative newspapers (the Cleveland Scene, the Boston Phoenix, the Los Angeles New Times) as well as conventional mainstream newspapers (such as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Read about the event in newspapers with a conservative as well as a liberal bias (such as the Chicago Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News). If you have chosen a national or international event, consider reading about your event in foreign newspapers.  [Marginal Note or Box: For English-edition online newspapers from around the world, try : www.inkdrop.net/dave/news.html or www.geocities.com/~oberoi/newspapr.html or use the newspaper data base LexisNexus and select”World News.”]  Check local newspapers in the area where the event occurred as well as large city newspapers.  To find local newspapers, type in the name of the place where the event occurred and the word newspapers and see what comes up on your screen, or visit your library and ask the serials librarian for help.)

Once you have read a wide variety of stories on your event, choose two to focus on.  (You may want to choose three, depending on your focus and information.)  In any case, the representations of the event should be sufficiently different so that you can contrast them successfully. Compare carefully before you decide.

Writer at Work: QuickWriting Sample

Jane Robertson

I read a number of articles (7 actually) and compared five before settling on two that described the suspect’s origin differently.  I found it helpful to compare descriptions of the suspect side-by-side before deciding.  I was tempted to include one report that came from more of a tabloid type newspaper in London, but I decided after some group discussion that the focus was too different.  The report was more about the supposed gangster background of the suspect and didn’t really fit.

See the two news stories Writer at Work Jane Robertson selected. 

The first report, which does not include a by-line, was provided by the news service Reuters founded by Paul Julius Reuter, a German-Jewish born British journalist.  Almost every major newspaper in the world today subscribes to Reuters, which employs thousands of journalists. This event was “breaking news”—it had just happened.  The online version (which appears here) was filed early the morning after the event.  The New York Times used a briefer and slightly different version of a Reuters report in its evening hardcopy edition.

The second report was provided by the United Press International (UPI) news agency, which was one of the three biggest news agencies in the world, along with the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, but it has dwindled in size.  UPI is the only major news service under private ownership.  Today it is owned by News World Communications, which is owned by the Unification Church. The church owns the Washington Times, a conservative, right-wing newspaper.  Although the newspaper is not profitable, critics claim that the Church continues to finance it because it gives the organization “a political mouthpiece in Washington D.C. and Congress.” <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Church>.

Sweden Says Hijack Suspect Planned U.S. Embassy Attack

By REUTERS

New York Times

www.nytimes.com

August 31, 2002

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Swedish man of Tunisian origin, arrested on suspicion he was about to hijack a plane, was planning to crash the aircraft into a U.S. embassy in Europe, Swedish intelligence sources said on Saturday.

The man was arrested on Thursday—almost a year after the September 11hijack attacks on the United States—when a gun was found in his luggage as he boarded a flight to Britain from a small airport west of Stockholm.

Police were looking for four more men, including an explosives expert, who worked with him on the plan, the sources said.

“We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a U.S. embassy in Europe,” a military intelligence source told Reuters.

The 29-year-old suspect had been moved to a high security prison and was expected to be charged on Monday.  Police said they were investigating the man’s background and looking for any possible links to militant groups.

Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen said the man became a devout Muslim in the last few years, regularly visiting a mosque in Stockholm.  The paper quoted his friends as saying he often spoke of fighting for Islam but was not a member of any organization.

Passengers on the plane flown by the Irish budget airline Ryanair included people traveling to an Islamic conference in the English city of Birmingham.  Those heading to the conference had been questioned but were not suspects, police said.

LOADED PISTOL

Security officials at the small Vasteras airport, 100 km (60 miles) west of Stockholm, said they found a pistol in the toiletries bag of the man, who had previous convictions for theft and assault.

Expressen said the gun was a 6.5 caliber pistol, loaded with three or four rounds.

“The arrested man will be questioned during the weekend, because the prosecutor has a deadline—Monday midday—to apply for a court appearance,” said police spokesman Ulf Palm.

__________________________________________________

Arab man charged with hijack plan

Al Webb, United Press International (UPI)

Washington Times www.washtimes.com  August 31, 2002

LONDON—Swedish police yesterday charged an Arab man who tried to bring a loaded pistol onto a Stockholm-London flight with planning to hijack the jetliner.

                Authorities at Vasteras airport, 60 miles northwest of Stockholm, said they found the handgun in the 29-yar-old suspect’s hand luggage and grabbed him as he tried to board Ryanair FR685 Thursday evening as it prepared to leave for London with 189 passengers aboard.

                “We believe he was going to hijack the plane,” Swedish police spokesman Ulf Palm said.  The airport had been put on increased alert with the approach of the anniversary of the September 11 hijack attacks on the United States.

                The gunman, identified only as an Arab born in Sweden to Tunisian parents, was formally charged with planning to hijack the aircraft, and authorities said he also may be charged with illegal possession of a firearm.  Television and radio reports said he was ordered held in jail pending a hearing in a Swedish court next week.

                Police said the suspect and some 20 companions were en route to an Islamic festival in Birmingham, England, when he was apprehended.  The other members of the group were reported to have been released after several hours of questioning.

                Scotland Yard police in London said it was working closely with Swedish police and that anti-terrorist and Special Branch detectives were flown to Stockholm yhesterday to question the gunman.

                Elin Dermeborg, a Swedish social worker who was one of the Ryannair passengers, told reporters when she landed in London that “there was a group of about 20, some were wearing Muslim clothing, and they said they were on their way to an Islamic summit meeting in the U.K.”

                In Birmingham, some 3,000 delegates were attending yesterday’s opening session of the Sixth Islamic National Conference, a festival for followers of Salafi, a fundamentalist sect.  Terrorist specialists said Salafi teachings are popular with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda organization.

                Bin Laden and al Qaeda engineered the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash of a fourth jetliner in Pennsylvania.  More than 3,000 people died in the attacks.

                Abu Khadeejan, one of the Islamic meeting organizers, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio the Birmingham conference was sponsored by salafipublications.com, an online company that he insisted had no connections with terrorism.

                “The one thing salafipublications.com is known for is refuting and exposing those types of ideologies within the fold of Islam that try to put forward the type of viewpoint that you can hijack and take the lives of innocent individuals,” Mr. Khadeejan said.

                As Swedish police awaited arrival of British detectives, Mr. Palm confirmed that they were investigating a suspected link between the arrested man and terrorist organizations.  “We can’t rule that out, and that is something we’re looking into,” he said.

                He declined to release further details about the suspect.  “We are going to hold back on the information for the nearest future since this is now a criminal investigation,” Mr. Palm said.

Analyze

Now that you’ve chosen the stories you’ll focus on, create a framework for analysis. (See “Creating an Analytical Framework,” Resources, p.00-000.)  Consider the headlines, introductions, emphasis or focus, the connotations of words chosen, details included or omitted, choice and type of sources, and the slant of the newspaper.  How is each presentation organized? 

_______________________________________________________________

Writer at Work: Jane Robertson  

Jane Robertson chose an attempted hijacking as her event and focused on stories in two newspapers: the New York Times and the Washington Times.

Reflect

QuickWrite for five minutes about what would your understanding of the news event would be, if you had read only one of these presentations.

Writer at Work: QuickWriting Sample

Jane Robertson

Seeing the word “hijack” in both headlines scares me.  I’m still scared to get on a plane.  If I only read the report that was in the WT, I would feel more afraid.  I think it’s the word “Arab” in the headline and the link to terrorist groups.  Arab + Terrorist + Hijack.  The WTC hijackers were mostly from Saudi Arabia.  So I read this report and think Oh no, another hijacking. And he was headed to some Islamic conference for followers of somebody linked to bin Laden.  This report scared me more.  The report in the NYT seemed more informative with a let’s wait and see attitude.  I didn’t realize until I was making comparisons that the NYT didn’t even use the word “terrorist.” 

Discuss

In small groups, give a brief summary of the news event you selected and discuss your analysis—differences you noticed and how they affected your reading of this event.  Draw on your notes, observations, and reflections.  Try your reading out on your classmates and see whether they come to the same conclusions or have any other insights or perhaps some questions.

Learn More

Using an Internet search engine or the resources available at your college library, do some background reading (about the people involved, the place where the event took place, surrounding legal or social issues) to place the news event you selected in context.

Writer at Work: QuickWriting Sample

Jane Robertson

I did some background reading about Islamic fundamentalists and the Islamic conference many people on the plane were planning to attend.  I also looked up “Salafi,” a fundamentalist sect supposedly popular with the al Queda organization.

Write

Now you’re ready to start drafting your essay.  Because your readers are likely to be unfamiliar with the event, you’ll need to provide (1) a brief summary of the event and (2) some context. A good summary of a news story will tell the reader what happened, who was involved, and what were the causes and results. A good summary will also be concise.  What should you leave out? Supporting details, direct quotations, repetitions and digressions, qualifying words and phrases---and your own opinions or reactions.  A summary does not include your point of view.  Think of a summary as an abbreviated or condensed version of the event. 

            The context should provide readers with sufficient background information to make sense of the material in the stories. Draw on your background reading to provide this information. (Peer reviewers can help you decide how much background a reader will need to understand the event and your analysis of the two stories about the event.)

            The balance of your essay will be your analysis of the news stories. Review the notes you made in your analytical framework and any ideas you generated through QuickWriting and discussion with classmates. Choose the three or four categories from your analytical framework that best demonstrate the differences between the two articles. This should be the focus of your draft.

Writer at Work

________________________________________________________________

Robertson   1

Writer: Jane Robertson

Analyzing the News:

Hijacking Suspect Arrested

A Swedish citizen of Tunisian descent was arrested in Stockholm (August 30, 2002) on suspicion that he was about to hijack a plane.  A gun was found in his luggage as he boarded a Rynair flight to Birmingham, England, where an Islamic conference was being held.  The suspect was held for questioning

This attempted hijacking was especially alarming because of the timing—just a few days shy of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks when two hijacked passenger jets were flown into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center with disastrous results. Despite the homegrown terrorist attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City, September 11 etched in the popular memory the link between terrorism, people of Arab heritage, and Islam, at least for readers who did not delve beyond “headline news.” 

How are readers of “headline news” affected?  When readers see the headline “Arab Man Charged with Hijack Plan” in the Washington Times (WT) around the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, they are sent in a direction that they aren’t when they read “Swedish man of Tunisian descent.”  Negative images of Arabs have been around for some time.  Fanatical, dark-complexioned Arabs armed with weapons have appeared in popular films (“True Lies,” “Back to the Future,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark”). 

The report in the New York Times appears straightforward, even objective, as if the reporter is trying to stay out of the picture by relying heavily on authoritative sources such as the police, Swedish intelligence, and military intelligence.  The reporter is careful to say that a man was “arrested on suspicion.” There are few qualifying adjectives or adverbs in this report.  The reporter does refer to the suspect’s recent religious affiliation (“a devout Muslim in the last few years” who made “regular visits to a mosque in Stockholm”) and mentions that passengers “included people traveling to an Islamic conference.”  The report that appeared in the WT, on the other hand, links Islam and terrorism.  Readers know from this report that the suspect was going to an Islamic festival in Birmingham, England.  And we are told that the festival was for followers of Salafi, a fundamentalist sect.  “Islamic fundamentalists” easily comes to mind and the association with terrorism, which is where this report goes next: “Terrorist specialists said Salafi teachings are popular with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda organization.”  Then there’s a reminder to readers that Bin Laden and al Qaeda “engineered” the September 11th attacks.  Even though one of the festival organizers insisted there was no connection with terrorism, the report seems to have made the connection already.  The denial comes too late in the report.  Also, some readers may have only read part of the article.  And if they read to the end, they learn that the police are investigating “a suspected link between “the arrested man and terrorist organizations.”  “Terrorist” is used threes times in the report in WT; however, the word is not even used in the NYT.  Instead, the report states that police were “looking for any possible links to militant groups.”

While both news reports describe the alleged hijacker’s pistol as “loaded,” the NYT chose to capitalize “LOADED PISTOL” and make it a sub-heading, which gives this information more emphasis.  The NYT also provides specific details: “a 6.5 caliber pistol, loaded with three or four rounds.”  It is interesting, however, that the NYT refers to the alleged hijacker as “the man” or “the arrested man,” or “the suspect,” and the WT refers to him several times as “the gunman.”  The WT report, however, links “Arab” and “loaded pistol” and “hijacking.”

Reporters chose how to describe the suspect and event—what words to use or not use and what information to include or exclude.  The “news” comes across differently.  The report that appeared in the NYT is informative, and the reporter uses words that don’t evoke a negative connotation—choosing, for example, “the man” over “the gunman” or “a Swedish man of Tunisian descent” rather than “an Arab man.”  The report in the NYT does not even use the word “terrorist” while the report in WT connects “Arab,” “Islamic,” “fundamentalist,” and “terrorist” and in doing so, alarms readers, and gets them, especially if they are passive readers of the news, to make this connection and maybe to go further and fear all Arabs or associate all Arabs with terrorism or violence or criminal activity. 

Casually linking “Arab” and “hijacking” is a troubling reminder that readers should approach newspapers with a critical eye, rather than glancing at the headlines.  [jh1] How are readers of “headline news” affected by these negative images?  When readers see the word “Arab man” and “hijack” around the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, there is a strong, prejudicial connotation.  Looking through newspaper articles on this particular incident, some journalism outlets attempt to stick to the facts and remain responsible; others, like the one that appeared in the Washington Times, highlight these negative connotations. 

Works Cited[jcc2] 

 “Sweden Says Hijack Suspect Planned U.S. Embassy Attack.” New York Times Online 31 August 2002. 

Web, Al. United Press International. “Arab Man Charged with Hijack Plan.” Washington Times Online 31 August 2002.

________________________________________________________________

Revise

Now that you have a complete draft of your essay, exchange drafts with a classmate.  Read your peer’s draft once through quickly to get an overall impression and then, in a sentence or two, summarize the writer’s main point. Next, read the essay a second time and consider the following:

When your draft is returned to you, read the comments your classmate made and ask her or him for clarification (if needed).  Next, consider your own draft in light of the guidelines above.  Then, taking your own and your classmate’s assessments into consideration, decide what you need to rework in your draft and revise.

________________________________________________________

Peer Review                                                                                        Questions & Responses

Writer at Work: Jane Robertson

Analyzing the News: Hijacking Suspect Arrested

I think your main point is that learning about another possible hijacking so soon after the traumatic World Trade Center attack was alarming, and news headlines and reports increased or decreased the alarm, depending on the words used.  It’s true that after Sept. 11th, terrorism became linked in people’s minds with people of Arab heritage and Islam, and a news reporter or editor could play on that link or not.  I found this part interesting.  Your point is that news comes across differently in the reports you read—one report is more alarming than another. 

Did the writer give a clear and concise summary and provide enough background for you to understand the event?   Your summary is clear and concise and you gave just the right amount of background.

 Is each point supported sufficiently? You included good examples throughout.  I think you could include maybe one other example of the portrayal of negative images of Arabs besides movies. You used some statistics (how many times “terrorist” was used).  While you noted that the NYT “relied heavily on authoritative sources,” it might carry more weight to include a number (like you did for the use of “terrorist”).

What has the writer done well? I liked your observation about the effect of linked words (terrorism, fundamentalist, pistol, Islamic) and your point that even though a festival organizer insisted there was no connection with terrorism, this denial came too late in the report.  Readers by then will have already made up their minds.   I think your analysis is strong.  It helped me think about reading the news critically.  It’s easy to think when you read a news report that you are reading what actually happened.  While there is always bias in any reporting, some reporters or editors of newspapers with a slant they want to get across go further away from “objective” reporting.  

How could the essay be more effective?

I think your conclusion could be stronger so that you really get across how you want to leave your readers.  I stopped after “…critical eye” in your first sentence.  I don’t think the comparison “rather than…” works.  Readers should read a whole news report but realistically they won’t and may just carry away their impression from the headline.  Reading the article critically is something you did well.  Can you address the importance of learning to read critically in the conclusion?

Response to Review & Revision Plan

I think my reviewer made some good suggestions.  I was trying to think of other examples of Arab stereotypes.  I spent time finding some examples of movies but not in finding other examples.  A good point about using statistics as well for sources used.  What does “relied heavily” mean?  I should back that up.  And, yeah, I wasn’t happy with my conclusion.  I put so much time into getting the points of comparison down and effects that I didn’t have enough patience to go over my conclusion.  It helps me to know that the analysis is sound and I can go concentrate on my conclusion, which is important.  Yes, I need to think more about where I want to leave readers.  The review was really helpful.  I appreciate knowing what I did well and what else I can do.

Jane’s Changes after Peer Review

Jane noted that the NYT mentioned 9 sources and she added a literary reference in the following sentence: Fanatical, dark-complexioned Arabs armed with weapons have appeared in popular films (“True Lies,” “Back to the Future,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and in literature (Albert Camus’ The Stranger, for example). She also revised her conclusion and added two more references.

Jane’s Revised Conclusion with additional references

    Where does the responsibility lie for getting “the news” straight?  Are reporters responsible?  But reporters work for newspapers that are more or less conservative or liberal.  And editors rather than reporters write the headlines.  Readers cannot just pick up a newspaper or go to one online to learn what happened.  It is true that basic information is usually provided (who, what, when, where, how), but then the choice of adjectives and verbs and what information is included and what is excluded must be taken into account by critical readers of “the news.”  What if, in this case, for example, readers only read the headlines?  What associations would they perhaps unconsciously make if they see “Arab” linked to “Hijack” after the September 11th attacks and prior exposure to negative images of Arabs?  And even if a newspaper tries to be more objective or factual regarding the reporting of a news event, someone is still selecting what to report.   

Readers need (1) to become more aware of who is publishing and writing “the news” and (2) to learn to read more critically.  The development of critical reading abilities requires some education.  However, according to a recent study (“Study: Most College Students Lack Skills”), more than 50 percent of students at four-year schools lack the skills to perform complex literacy tasks, such as understanding the arguments of a news editorial.  And what about the rest of the population?  At the moment, it doesn’t seem that critical reading is valued. 

Many students today do not even have to take lecture notes—they can listen to podcasts.  If they do go to lectures, PowerPoint presentations often highlight points professors think are important.  A critical reader is a questioning reader, but who can ask a question in a group of 100-500 students?  How do students learn to interpret?  “Regrettably,” writes former college teacher Antonia Clark in a guest editorial (The Seattle Times, Jan. 6, 2006), we have become a nation of highly skilled technicians; we are not an educated populace, and only an educated populace can function effectively as a democracy.”  She continues, “It is not enough to teach the rudiments of reading and then let students loose to interpret more and more complex texts…”  Perhaps the results of this study will cause some changes in the curriculum of formal education and, as Antonia Clark hopes, “we will once again be a nation of readers and independent thinkers.”

Clark, Antonio, “We need to slow down and become readers again,” Seattle Times on the Web  6 Jan. 2006.  18 Feb. 2006 <http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=antonia06&date=20060106&query=We+need+to+slow+down+and+become+readers+again>.

Feller, Ben, “Study: Most College Students Lack Skills,” Guardian Unlimited on the Web  19 Jan. 2006.  18 Feb. 2006 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest>. This AP article is no longer available at this site but is available at the following URL for USA Today: <http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-01-19-college-tasks_x.htm>.

[pg3] 

 [jh1]My reviewer didn’t think I stated my final point clearly enough, so I made the language in my conclusion a little stronger and more assertive.

 [jcc2]Please make sure these citations follow MLA style in all particulars.

 [pg3]