Infotainment Assignments

Assignment One

Students will view an episode of an infotainment program. Examples of infotainment include the O’Reilly Factor, the Daily Show, and the Colbert Report. If students do not have cable, episodes of many of these shows are available on Hulu as well as the websites tied to each individual program. Students will choose one of the lead stories and gather coverage from three conventional news sources with which to compare to the infotainment source. Students will search for bias in all sources and make a short, comparative analysis of no less than two pages. Students may want to pay special attention to the framing of the story in each source, as well as the guests brought on to discuss the story. Prior to this assignment, students will need to be familiar with the terms infotainment, lead, bias, and framing.

Rationale: This assignment will have students consider a single story from several different sources, leading to the inevitable conclusion that there is often considerable disparity in how a politicized infotainment source will cover an issue as compared to a conventional news source. Some students may identify bias in the conventional news sources, as surely there exists some there. This can be weaved back into the closing discussion, including consideration of the role of the ombudsman to a conventional news source as well as a traditional journalist’s code of ethics, and what the lack of these elements means for infotainment sources. The ultimate understanding that students will derive from completing this assignment is that infotainment sources are only beneficial insofar as the audience takes the time to be informed on the issues on their own time, drawing from a variety of sources. In short, infotainment should not be relied upon to properly inform.

Assignment Two

Students will break into groups and spend several days preparing for a mock debate on a single current issue – see the teacher for a list of acceptable topics. Each group will have three to four students, one of whom will be the actual debater. The remaining students are charged with researching the issue and preparing short list of debating points. The debate will be staged and conducted in a manner familiar to any student who has taken part in or observed a formal debate. The one difference is that one debater will be allowed to debate with no holds barred – they may use ridicule, humor, irony, and whatever else they see fit in order to make their argument. The opposing debater may only stick with the facts and a sober delivery. It is crucial that both sides stick to the topic of debate and direct their arguments at the issue at hand, never at the opposing person. Any ad hominen attacks will be penalized in terms of points as well as consideration of the winner at the conclusion.

Students will understand the disadvantages an interview subject faces on an infotainment program and gain an intimate understanding of how this ultimately unbalances the debate. Before or after the debate, students will view in class clips of interview subjects and their treatment at the hands of Jon Stewart, Bill O’Reilly, and Keith Olbermann, and compare to their treatment at the hands of Terry Gross, Charlie Rose, and others. Students who complete the assignment will pay keen attention to the treatment of an interview upon which they are relying for credible information, and seek alternate sources when they sense a disadvantageous interview environment.