Public policy issues and their treatment in the media

In Modules/Weeks 2, 4, 6, &7 you are required to submit brief essays, which discuss current news articles that relate to public policy. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to evaluate current public policy issues and their treatment in the media in light of the concepts covered in the readings and discussions occurring in the course. The news articles you select should illustrate a real-world application, or, where appropriate, a lack of application, of one or more of the concepts covered in the readings of the same module. Your essays should be critical reviews of the articles, meaning that you should provide your own analysis regarding the articles, rather than simply summarizing them.

Each review is due by the end of the module/week in which it is assigned. Review the News Article Review Grading Rubric to improve the quality of your essays and be sure to adhere to all of the specific guidelines described below.

News Article Selection Guidelines

The articles or news stories that you choose should be:

found in a newspaper, on a news program, or from another reputable media source (including reputable internet sources),
published within the last month,
clearly illustrating the application, or failure to apply, one or more of the concepts covered in the course during the week/module of the assignment.

Each article review must cover different topics. Refrain from using follow-up pieces or multiple perspectives of the same topic. For example, if you find an article discussing a new government regulation in The New York Times, you cannot use a follow-up piece put out a few days later in the same newspaper or a different article in a different newspaper discussing the same topic.