For this assignment, you will use a graphic organizer to monitor and analyze multiple global news outlets
across a period of time. Once you have completed your organizer, you will answer key questions about
the media’s coverage of a story and how this coverage changed and developed over time.

Choose media outlets that provide daily coverage. Monthly periodicals and journals are not a
good choice for this assignment, but many weekly news magazines also have websites that
provide more frequent reporting.

Use your graphic organizer to keep track of a news story as it unfolds across a period of time.
Choose a story that is likely to have continuous coverage. For example, a breaking news item will
probably have follow-up stories over the next week, while an in-depth profile of a writer or artist
will probably not be updated.

Consider how the story evolves depending on the handling of new events, information, and
perspectives in news articles. Consider how media outlets report the effects of the news story,
and note how the sources present opinions on the story in the form of editorials and op-ed pieces

In addition to the notes you take in your graphic organizer, keep track of the titles, authors, and
URLs of articles you read as the story develops.

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

1. Review your graphic organizer. What was the most important piece of information in the story,
and on which day was this information first reported? Which media outlet covered this
development first?
2. Review your graphic organizer. What were the similarities and differences in how the media
outlets reported the story? Which outlet provided the most information?
3. Which media outlet offered opinionated coverage in the form of editorials or op-eds? Were
different opinions presented across the media outlets? Did you detect bias in how the news was
reported?
4. How would you describe the development of this news story to someone who has not been
following it as closely as you? How would you summarize the most important factual information?
How would you convey the variety of opinions related to the news story?