Overview
Using the textbook as a resource, students will use Chapter Two (Breaking News, Broken News) to examine celebrityhood and how style is outstripping substance, as seen in our pervasive entertainment culture (p. 53). With our current fixation on celebrity culture, are we looking to a small minority of folks who distort the truth to make a buck or enhance their power (e.g., Alex Jones)?
Part I.
What are your thoughts about our culture’s fixation on celebrityhood? Does being a celebrity work well with politics? Please substantiate with in-text citations from our textbook and another credible source. One page double-spaced. APA citations and references. Even though celebrities have freedom of speech, do they have a responsibility to the public to be conscious of the material when they promote their opinions? Use examples.
Part II.
Use one recent example from the news where feuds or infotainment are used to stimulate viewership, and eclipse substantive issues (e.g., DeSantis and Trump power struggle). Did these headlines or conflicts appear in the news, and from what source? Then go to another news source such as PBS, BBC or Guardian and see what was happening that day in the more important world and document. It is important to examine a story from multiple viewpoints and there is a free website called "Ground News" that looks at the same story from the left, center, and right. You can download the free app on your smartphone.