CHID 496 E: Focus Groups

Do you ever feel like you need a part-time job to keep up with what is going on in the world?

How often do you rely on Facebook? The Daily Show? John Oliver? Fox News? CNN? NPR? Buzzfeed? Huffington Post?

This group is entirely focused on reading, watching, and engaging with the content of current journalism and doing comparative analysis of the reports made between news sources. Enrollment in this focus group will entail reading the New York Times daily as well as engaging with readings in the course material and watching independent news reported by Democracy Now!. Discussion will focus heavily around current events, both in the United States and internationally. We will explore topics around free speech, doxxing, fake news, and access to information, particularly how these topics intersect with civic engagement, higher education, and political discourse. We will also engage in with a variety of politically slanted sources to track reporting discrepancies. Participants will be encouraged to bring in their own resources.