Unit16: The Media: "No News is Good News":

    Intro:

    The media is a cornerstone of the US and the British cultures. Here, you will reflect on the blurred line between privacy and the right to information and the changes the media is faced with. You will aslo scrutinize the violence of contemporary media or the intermingling of the media, business and politics, as can be seen in a number of scandals, such as the News of the World scandal.

    Survival kit:

    Download this file and add what you think is important (vocabulary, historical or cultural facts, grammar, ....)

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    EC2 Unit16 2020 survival kit by Pauline, Charlotte and Billy
    EC2 Unit16 Surviva kit 2019.pdf
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    Main facts + "Sex sells" (topic A):

    • Newspapers: main facts:

    Vocabulary: English online

    The British Media: Slideshare, main facts

    The Media in the US: Main facts

    Newseum

    • The right to know vs privacy:

    David Cameron and paparazzi, The Guardian

    The British media and the royal baby: cf Unit1

    George Clooney and the Daily Mail, The Guardian

    Angelina, Brad and privacy, Washington Post

    •  Sex scandals and infotainment:

    Lord Sewell sex and cocaine scandal: link1, The Daily Mail / Link2, The Guardian

    Sex and scandal: a tradition in British tabloids, The Conversation

    Junk Journalism, Urban dictionary

    TheDirty.com

    Chequebook journalism, The Guardian

    Infotain/ Infotainment, Urban dictionary


    Are newspapers dying? (Topic B):

    • The crisis of the newspaper industry (facts and causes):

    "The end of journalism as we know it", The Press Gazette

    "The Death of traditional journalism", Medium

    "Newspapers in Crisis", Serious Science.org

     

    "The Newspaper crisis by the numbers", Newsosaur

    "The Impact of Covid on the pulp and paper industry", Feeco.com

    • A few solutions to overcome the crisis:

    "The New York Times paywall", Quora

    "Buzzfeed: the 'Queen of advertising", Influence.co

    "Sex sells" cf Topic A


    "If it bleeds, it leads" (Topic C):

    The world's most powerful photographs:

    Warning: The video below contains some graphic photos which might shock you. Don't watch it if you don't feel like you're ready for it.


    Free speech, political correctness and cancel culture (Topic D/Elvi)

    • Free speech and the first amendment to the US Constitution:

    link1 / link2

    The stabbing of Salman Rushdie and the free speech debate (The NYT)

    • Political correctness: link
    • Cancel culture and and the idea of being "woke":

    What is cancel culture? (Vox)

     

    Documents to be studied in class:

    DocA (Skema 2022)

    DocB (EM Lyon 2022)


    The Media: The Fourth Estate or an accomplice of Government abuses? (Topic E):

    • Investigative journalism and the Fourth Estate:

    cf Unit11

    Investigative journalism

    The fourth branch of government, Wiki

    • Fake news, media bias and press regulation:

    Fake news (definition)

    "President Trump called the press 'the enemy of the state'", Vox

    Trump's election lies (CNBC)

    6 ways the media influence elections, Journalism uOregon

    Can anti-Trump CNN shed its political bias and win back its viewers? (Boston Herald)

    Trump, Q Anon and conspiracy theories (Aljezeera)Alex Jones and the Sandy Hook hoax, BBC News

    <-----------------

    • Media moguls/ press tycoons:

    Rupert Murdoch, Biography.com

    Jeff Bezos, BusinessWeek

    Warren Buffet, Forbes

    Chris Litch, NPR

    The world's ten largest media conglomerates, Elite Daily

    Media leviathans, The Economist



    Go further:


    Practice your vocabulary with Quizlet games created by Inès, a former student:

    Colle semaine du 14 novembre :

    Travail préparatoire :

    • révisez vos notes sur Unit16 + le recap (envoyé par mail ce vendredi) + liste de voc + petit carnet et gramm
    • préparez votre colle (en temps limité d'abord) puis en étoffant avec le recap, les expressions de la fiche méthodo, le voc et la fiche des erreurs pour améliorer la grammaire, et la prononciation à partir des erreurs récurrentes signalées sur vos fiches de feedback
    • cette semaine : doc entre IENA et Ecricome puisqu'aucun doc récent IENA ou Ecricome ne concerne vraiment les médias sans être trop proche des documents vus en cours : entraînement à la CO (comme IENA) mais à partir d'une vidéo (donc Ecricome) dont j'ai extrait le mp3 et fait un montage.

    Doc: "Mainstream Media - Enemy of the people" / Ted Talk by Bill Neely

     

    Good luck!