Discuss the Political development of the Kuril issue.
MEDIA SCAN
1. Identify an on-going issue or a recent issue in East Asian politics (e.g. China grows naval might, Japan revises its pacifist constitution, North Korea’s advances its nuclear program, China-US trade war, Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests, etc.). Depending on the issue, a narrower definition might be helpful. For example, if you are interested in South Korea-Japan relations, you might want to focus on the trial over Japan’s wartime sex slavery.
2. Choose three of the media sources from the list. Your three selections should be based in three different countries. For example, a good “trio” of media sources will be New York Times, South China Morning Post, and Russia Today. With advance approval, you may substitute one site that is not on the list – note that it does not need to be an English-language site – for one that is. That site should be a major newspaper, newsmagazine, or broadcaster that generates its own world news coverage.
4. Prepare a dossier that addresses the following:
a) Issue: Define your issue of interest in a sentence or two.
b) Media sources: Name and describe each of them in a sentence (likely
incorporating the organization’s self-description or mission). Is the organization privately or state-owned? Which private/corporate or state owner? By self- description or reputation, does it have a pronounced political perspective?
c) Analysis (about 750 WORDS ITS REALLY IMPORTANT): How would you characterize the organizations’ comparative coverage of your issue? Does it converge on major points? Does it differ – and how? To what extent does that coverage draw on the same or different sources for information, analysis, and official statements? Do the organizations give fairly equal prominence to the issue in the context of other issues? What implications do they identify? What conclusions – or questions – are you left with? While you do not need to use formal academic references, you should refer to specific stories where that is helpful to your analysis.
d) Embedded links: At the end of your dossier, include links to 6-8 representative news stories from your media scan, with headlines and dates. Be sure that your list includes those to which you make specific reference in your analysis.
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage an active, critical interest in contemporary world politics as represented by media reportage. It is NOT to distinguish “bias” and “propaganda” from “truth.”
On collaboration: while it is acceptable to share story links and discuss your analysis with others, this is not a group assignment. Your analysis must be your own. Dossiers that are too much the same in their choices and analysis will invite close scrutiny considering the cautions stated in the course outline.
