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Week 1 Some ways that news matters

(Note: For this week only, discussion list postings are due before Thursday at midnight; for the rest of the semester they are due Sunday at midnight.)

• Jim Edwards, "Wrong Turns," Brill's Content, January 2001, pp. 113-169. http://www.uvm.edu/bhreserves/soc/edwardsts043.pdf

 
How does Edwards explain why it took so long for the problems with Firestone tires to become noticed by the national media? How does this story illustrate media gatekeeping? the reliance on official sources? the interaction of journalists and government? What does this tell us about how the news media works?
 

• Katherine Rosman, "JonBenet, Inc." Brill's Content, February 2000, pp. 96-107, 128. http://www.uvm.edu/bhreserves/soc/jonbenets043.pdf

 
What does Rosman think of the news value of the JonBenet Ramsey story? What factors lead the story to be so heavily covered? How does this case illustrate the effect of economic trends on journalism? the effect of source reliance? of the importance of visuals?