Description

ASSIGNMENT 2: NEWS CRITIQUE
Due: Friday May 31st 10:00 a.m.
This assignment is based on Lesson 3, which includes Chapter 3 of the textbook. You should work
through Lesson 3 and the exercises in Lesson 3, checking your answers against the model answers
provided, before you begin the assignment.
This assignment invites you to apply the criteria for assessing news reports outlined in Lesson 3.
As a guide for your rough notes, use the media checklist and the “Content of Information” section of
Chapter 3 of the textbook, and the online lesson notes covering these sections. But don’t submit your
rough notes; your critique should be a carefully structured essay, not an item-by-item run-down of the
media checklist. See the document Tips for Writing a News Critique for the proper approach. This
document includes some helpful hints as well as a sample assignment and critique. There are 2 pages
to this assignment.

See the next page for the Self-Evaluation Checklist.
Directions: Read the Vancouver Sun news report, “Commons erupts as opposition accuses
Trudeau of elbowing NDP MP,” then write a well-organized coherent critique of the report.
 Begin your critique by stating what impression of events is created by the news report.
 Provide adequate and relevant reasoning for your criticisms.
 End your critique by stating your overall judgement of the news report, based on your criticisms.
Assignment Tip: Review the Self-Evaluation Checklist on page 2 of this assignment to guide any
revisions to your critique before you decide that your assignment is complete.
Format and Submission: Double space, name on top right of page.
Please review “Format and General Directions for Assignments”
Filename: yourlastname2.
Maximum length: 800 words
Link to report: http://vancouversun.com/news/national/commons-erupts-as-opposition-accusestrudeau-of-elbowing-female-ndp-mp
Source:
Kirkup, Kristy, and Joana Smith. “Commons Erupts as Opposition Accuses Trudeau of Elbowing NDP
MP.” Vancouver Sun. Post Media, 18 May 2016. Web. 25 May. 2019.
2
Self-Evaluation Checklist
Use this checklist to guide revisions to your assignment.
1. Your evaluation begins by noting the impression conveyed by the news report about the events
or the people, etc. being reported. ‘Impression’ is explained in the lesson 3 online notes.
2. Coherent organization – for example, you discuss one criticism at a time, and use paragraphing
to organize your ideas. (One criticism per paragraph is a good plan.)
3. Each criticism is correctly identified and named explicitly (e.g. lack of balance, limited sources,
misleading headline, etc.). Use the terms/tools provided in lesson 3 and the text.
4. You focus on the main problems with the report. It’s unlikely that a news report will suffer from
all problems on the media checklist.
5. Each criticism is defended adequately. Making a criticism places the burden of proof on you
to fully support your judgements by providing reasons. See lesson 3, “Using the Media
Checklist to Write a Critique”, pages 15-17.
6. Your criticisms are specific. (E.g. If you said the report is topically incomplete, does it suffer
from a lack of balance or lack of sources or lack or background, or missing connections, or
several of these? Each requires a separate defense.)
7. You end with your overall judgement of the reporting, based on the criticisms you had already
made. (E.g. You should make an overall judgement about the report as being weak/strong etc.)
8. Your critique is written from the perspective of the reflective consumer of the news.
(“It’s a great report because the headline is catchy” or “It’s a poor report because the headline
doesn’t capture our attention” suggests a different perspective, not that of the reflective
consumer of the news.)

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