McKenzie Fei
Class Assignments
CPMS100
Media Diary
Creating a media diary was one of our first assignments in the first colloquium of MSS. We were tasked with analyzing our own media usage through finding out how much we use various social media platforms and where we get the majority of our news from. This assignment made me realize I was not actually getting as much exposure to important events in the news as I would like. It also encouraged me to take a deeper look into where my news comes from and what possible bias is behind it.
This assignment showcases the start of my journey in MSS when we first started learning about the role media plays in our own lives and society.
CPMS101
How Does Media "do good" in a crisis?
For this assignment we were tasked with showing how media could "do good" during a time like the pandemic through creating some from of media ourselves. I chose to create an educational video on how to stay healthy physically and mentally with COVID-19 in the world. I also gave some basic facts about the virus that provide information about how the virus can spread and how to stay safe. I chose to create a video because I think videos are more engaging media content and are effective at delivering information.
This assignment shows not only my knowledge in editing and creating video media, but also documents an important time in history where the pandemic created a new reality. Creating my own media also represents a transition from analyzation to actual practice and using what I have learned to create an effective video.
CPMS225
Adbusters Analysis
The sophomore course for MSS went into a more thorough analysis of media and different types that are used in society. For this assignment we analyzed various ads and their denotative versus connotative meanings. The denotative meaning refers to what the ad is literally saying to the consumer while the connotative meaning refers to the underlying meaning of the ad. Through the analyzing of these ads I realized how prevalent ads and underlying meanings are in our society as well as how they have developed in the digital age. The second part of the assignment allowed us to create our own ads imagining if companies were honest about what their ad is trying to tell you. An example of this is the Subaru ad reimagined as its connotative meaning was that you will look and be successful if you buy their car and having a perfect family is the ideal image of doing well in life.
CPMS225
Deconstructing the Nightly News
In this assignment we analyzed various stories covered on an episode of the Nightly News on NBC. By using the chart pictured to the left which shows Galtung and Ruge's News Values we found which news values were present in the stories covered by the nightly news. I was surprised how many values actually ended up applying to the nightly news coverage and the assignment made me reflect on how many of the values have appealed to me in the past when watching the news. This activity emphasized how the news gets to decide what to air versus what not to and for the final part of it we reflected on how these news values are still relevant to todays news.
This assignment not only made me reflect a lot on how the news impacts people, but it also represents an example of the stronger analysis of media that we have built up to doing throughout the MSS courses.