Wag the Dog Movie Questions

Hello,

Answer the following questions about the film "Wag the Dog" on your blogs. All posts should be up NO LATER than Wednesday January 20th.

1) Explain the metaphor 'wag the dog'. What does the title of the film suggest?



2) Who is Mr. Fix-it? What does he do?


3) What is the significance of the producer's house being bigger than the White House? What message does that relay?


4) Explain the significance of ' We remember the slogans, but we don't remember the war,' in terms of media's effectiveness.


5) Explain the significance of “Of course there’s a war; I’m seeing it on TV!” in terms of media’s effectiveness. 


6) Who seems more powerful, the producer, or the President? Why?


7) The merchandising of products such as the “303 Burger” which Schuman “ate” behind enemy lines is often reflected in our society today. Provide another example of this type of merchandising. 

Holocaust Website

Hi Freshman!

Today (Friday) You will be doing a webquest about the Holocaust.

Spend the period browsing through different articles on the website below:

http://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/the-holocaust-a-learning-site-for-students

Read at least four articles, try out some of the activities. Then, type a one page response to the following questions:

Why did this happen? What stood out most to you as you were browsing the website?

All The President's Men

Here is a link to background articles and timeline for Watergate and the investigation by Woodward and Bernstein

http://jea.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/specialreport.pdf


Answer the following questions on your own blog by FRIDAY MAY 1ST:
1) What does Bob Woodward have to do to get information about the Watergate break in?

2) How difficult do you think it was to get information about a story BEFORE the internet? What would reporters have to do instead?

3) Why did Bob Woodward have to be careful about not being followed when he met with Deep Throat?

4) When Carl Berstein (Dustin Hoffman) gives Woodward the name Kenneth H. Dahlberg what does Woodward have to use to find a phone number for Dahlberg?

5) The story of Dahlberg's check ending up in the account of a Watergate burglar ends up being on the front page but it is "below the fold." What does that mean?

6) How did Bernstein get Mitchell (former Attorney General) to confirm that he was the one to control any of the secret funds?

7) What did Donald Secretti do?

8) Why do you think they need so many people to confirm information?

9) Why do you think people keep saying how much they "love this country" as they are nervous and unsure about whether to publish the stories? 

10) What was the end result of the work done on Watergate by Woodward and Bernstein?

Good Night and Good Luck

Please answer the following questions


1) Why were CBS executives and its journalists so hesitant about questioning Senator McCarthy?
2) What method did Murrow and the other journalists use in the first story against McCarthy? Why did they choose this way to tell their story?
3) Describe McCarthy's appearance on Murrow's program. In your opinion, was it positive? Negative?
4) Why did Murrow's schedule get changed on CBS from a nightly program to Sunday afternoons?
5) What does Friendly and Murrow refer to as the "downfall of television?"
6) What ended up happening to McCarthy?
7) What was Murrow's speech at the beginning and the end of the film about?

Please post your blogs NO LATER THAN FRIDAY APRIL 10TH.

Outfoxed and other views on media

All year we have been discussing and researching how journalists have a responsibility to present information to the public in a objective way. Lately, much has been discussed as well how the media can blow issues (like Ferguson, or more locally North High), out of proportion. They can often make an issue seem bigger than it really is. 

Over the next fews days we are going to examine one view of Fox News, in a documentary called "Outfoxed." It is one group's viewpoint of the journalism, or supposed lack there of, that Fox News is doing. But are they alone? We will look at a few other points of view through the next few days as well. Keep in mind the following questions:

Do journalists have a "moral responsibility" to the public?

Are people on TV "journalists?"

What could news networks do differently?

Sales pitch

DRAFT A LETTER that we will send to businesses asking them to purchase ads. Post it to your blog. Why would a business want to buy an ad with us? What do we have to offer them? Google some ideas if you need to.

The "other" side of the story

Some of you were quite surprised when I told you that people were protesting in support of Dzokar Tsarnaev. If you went on the Twitter hashtag #tsarnaev during class yesterday many skeptics were posting just as often as reporters from the courtroom. What is THEIR story to tell and is it the responsibility of journalists to report this as well? 

Read the articles below, and comment on this post with your reactions/thoughts. 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/12/30/chased-from-the-courthouse-bombing-skeptics-continue-ask-questions/T6QSoAg1HfaLgPnQtX4hYN/story.html?p1=well_TsarnaevTrial_subheadline

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2015/01/05/dire-questions-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-trial/

I don't mean to say that in any way are these people in the articles onto something, there is a conspiracy out there about nearly everything, even the Newtown shootings. I was at the marathon that day. I just mean to present to you all sides to an issue, and show how news media can choose to cover it. What is the tone the reporters use? Do they seem to agree, or do they want to present the people in the articles are a little off the beaten path?