Again, imagine that you are running for a state office (e.g., governor, senator, or Congressional representative) and you have to prepare a position paper for a debate on controversial issues in the news. [Select one (1) of the topics addressed in Weeks 5-9 of this class.] Remember that you are addressing a significant segment of your state’s population and you want to be elected to public office, so your topic will have to have a broad appeal, such as public trust and the media, the loss of privacy, safeguarding the First Amendment, online harassment, and the dangers of privatizing public information, among other topics from those chapters.

You will want your position paper to demonstrate critical thinking, sound logic, valid claims, personal passion, and credible support that is cited correctly because the paper will be provided to the news media before the debate and will be scrutinized by the media and reported on regarding these criteria.

Write a two to three (2-3) page (500 to 750 words) paper in which you:

1. Introduce your position using a thesis statement in the first paragraph, including a quote, question, or statistic from your reliable sources and an overview of the main points you will cover. (It’s important to grab the audience’s interest and inform the audience of what the main and support points are.)
2. Provide two or three (2-3) major points to support your thesis statement. (Put each major point in a separate paragraph.)
3. Provide one (1) paragraph in which you identify and answer an expected argument against your view.
4. Organize arguments and support your claims effectively.
5. Demonstrate personal passion for your position and critical thinking with persuasive language, sound logic, valid claims, and credible support for the claims.
6. Use the Strayer University Library at https://research.strayer.edu to locate and provide two to three (2-3) credible and reliable sources (in addition to the textbook) about current events, which have been published in the last five (5) years and are cited correctly in the position paper. (Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias are unacceptable and will not count toward your number of credible sources.)

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow Strayer Writing Standards. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Apply critical thinking skills to the analysis of issues involving mass media and society.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in media and society.
• Write clearly and concisely about media and society using proper writing mechanics.

Answer preview

Public Trust and Media

I believe and understand that the public is continually losing its trust in the news Media. It’s unless the news Media and the general public work collaboratively to restore the trust been lost steadily. According to Tilis, (2018, Sept 20), a survey on 1900 US adults released in January 2018  showed that 43%  reported negative against 33% with a positive view of the news media. Turcotte et al., (2015) indicates that there is a steady decline in public trust of the traditional news outlet; however social media is gaining relevance as an alternative source of news. Majority of the public members believes that social media is free from manipulation, editing, screening. Although people have a fear of fake news from social media, the traditional media is viewed as more vulnerable to manipulation. My position is that those who have maintained trust in the media uphold the role of a functioning democracy. Research shows that the public trust on the media has declined including for the non-commercial news outlets such as NPR.  I hold that…

 

(800 words)