The Wilting Climate Change Debate coding data

It is very apparent that this article is written from a liberal writer when coding for the bias of the author. For this article I decided to code for how many paragraphs were based in opinion and how many were based in fact. I calculated that of the 10 paragraphs of the story, seven were reliant on facts. Consequently this shows that despite the author very strongly stating his opinion in the article, there is a very significant amount of factual evidence to back his argument up rather than simply bemoaning the Republicans for ignoring the climate issue. This is useful to note given that only four out of 15 reviewers ranked the story below a 3.0, which indicates most reviewers think that the story is at least relatively goo journalism. In addition it is important to note that the facts of the story were rated by all of the reviewers as a 3.7 in total.

Opinion on NewsTrust

At first I was incredibly skeptical of NewsTrust. It seemed as if it was simply going to be a site that anyone could post one without having any sort of differentiation about who was a qualified poster and who was not. It would have been somewhat useful for people to be able to post reviews of articles as a way of allowing them to be more involved with media outlets. However, I believe that it is very useful that the people who are reviewing articles on the site are reviewed as well. Doing this allows there to be a far greater element of credibility to the site rather than having it be made up of people who trash articles that they do not agree with.

I think the system that requires members to build up their credibility is very important given that as can be seen many places on the internet, that there are people who are not necessarily qualified to comment on certain subjects. Consequently, I would not change anything about the site. In it’s current state there seems to be enough oversight. If the site flourishes as it should, however, there will obviously be a need for greater oversight.
I feel that in order to help the site thrive and attract more traffic, the management of the site should try to establish relationships with media outlets around the country that will allow for there to be a NewsTrust link on every story on the media outlets’ websites. In addition to raising the profile of the website, it would also help out the news organizations providing the links because they are openly having their writers work examined.

I am very interested in finding out the political leanings of the people who review different articles, how they choose to rate them and how the higher level members of NewsTrust view their reviews. This would be an interesting topic to look at given that I feel that there is a huge risk for people to give stories negative reviews based on what they believe.

Creditability of the Daily Show

For more than a decade news outlets have reported on people around the country using "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central as their primary news source. While it may seem absurd on the surface, the show has been able to inform it viewer while still mocking other media outlets and politicians alike.

A 2007 study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press indicates that six percent of people under 30-years-old admired "Daily Show" host John Stewart as the journalist whom they admired most, beating out all others besides Bill O'Reilly. It is important to note that people over 30-years-old in the survey were far less enamored with Stewart, which suggests an age gap in how people approach how they receive information about current events.

While it may seem somewhat questionable to use a show that is written as a satire of public figures as a legitimate news source, a 2009 article posted on the Poynter Institute's website suggests that the producers and writers of the program put more into each show that is broadcast than simply writing a few jokes that may not necessarily be based in fact and calling a day. The writers and producers of the show are constantly searching around the major news outlets to find things that contradict themselves or are questionable. However, the show is often not taken seriously because of the station it is broadcast on and that some of the show’s content lacks seriousness. In addition the means that the sow informs its viewers differs greatly from the norm of other news programs.
Given that the show takes a very satirical approach does not mean that it is entirely devoid of content. Thus, while it may seem foolish on the surface, people who watch Jon Stewart’s show are better informed than it would seem. However, it would be prudent to consume other sources of news in order to ensure that audience members are getting a more well rounded view of what is going on in the media.