State of the Union

The Constitution mandates that the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” The President’s State of the Union Message and address were known as the President’s Annual Message to Congress until well into the 20th century. Presidents Washington and Adams delivered their messages to Congress in person, but President Jefferson abandoned the practice as “monarchical” and time-consuming, sending written messages instead. This precedent was followed until President Wilson personally appeared before Congress in 1913. President Franklin Roosevelt adopted Wilson’s practice of personal delivery, and it has since become a contemporary tradition. With the advent of radio (1923) and television (1947) coverage of the address, it gained great importance by providing a nationwide platform for the President. 

Who is sitting behind the President and what is the protocol for the speech?

Hear the Response.

Say what? What words or themes did the President repeat most often?

Check the facts.  Was the President telling the truth? Yes or No? (Give 3 specific examples)

Birds On a Wire

How is the media like birds on a wire?

Brooke Gladstone compares the press to blackbirds perched on a wire, saying, “one bird will fly to another wire, and when it doesn’t get electrocuted, all the birds will fly to that other wire.” 

Senator Eugene McCarthy came up with that;  but what does it mean?

If 'courage and caution' are the 'yin and yang' of journalism,  when can a little bit of caution a good thing?

How are tracking polls often a ‘snare and delusion?

Take the TRUTHINESS Poll

How to identify good and bad survey questions.

Make your own poll

MObituaries

At ObitCon, members of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers talk about the privilege of honoring lives well-lived. Mo Rocca reports on the gathering of obit writers (where they hand out their annual awards ceremony, the Grimmys), and introduces the second season of his podcast, "Mobituaries."

According to James Loewen in his book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Sasha and Zamani are two aspects of time as expressed in some Eastern and Central African cultures. Sasha are spirits known by someone still alive, while Zamani are spirits not known by anyone currently alive. The recently departed whose time overlapped with people still here are the Sasha, the living dead. They are not wholly dead, for they live on in the memories of the living ... when the last person knowing an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the Sasha for the Zamani, the dead. As generalized ancestors, the Zamani are not forgotten but revered.

Your assignment:  write your own Obituary.  Assume you live to be at least 80 years old.  What will you have accomplished?  Who will you leave behind?  What will your legacy be?

Canis Journalisticus

If journalists really are like dogs, 'barking at anything that moves', then Helen Thomas agrees.

Reporters are celebrated not because of the truth of their story, but according to whether their story fits the public's mood.

Without a free press doing its job as a journalistic watchdog, citizens are left to guess if their elected officials are doing their jobs, or if the people they have entrusted have earned that trust.

Existential Angst: Pentagon Papers

 

Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst whose release of the so-called Pentagon Papers in 1971 blew the whistle on American decision-making during the Vietnam War, has died aged 92. Ellsberg was employed as an analyst at the RAND Corporation when he made the decision to leak over 7,000 documents covering US policy in Vietnam to papers including The New York Times and The Washington Post. The revelations contained within what became known as the Pentagon Papers showed how successive inhabitants of the Oval Office had deceived the public on the war's progress and the prospects of American victory. The government of President Richard M Nixon charged Ellsberg with federal crimes including theft, conspiracy, and espionage on the basis that his leaking of information compromised national security.

Video Clip #1

1) Who had commissioned the study of American entry into the Vietnam War? Why was the study commissioned?

2) Why did Daniel Ellsberg copy the report? Why did journalist Neil Sheehan feel it was necessary to publish the study?

3) What do you think is the more important issue, that government documents were leaked or that the US government hadn’t been totally honest in its assessment of the Vietnam War?

4) What was President Nixon’s original thought about the publication of the study? Why did he eventually change his mind?

Video Clip #2

5) Why do you think Nixon was so vigorous about trying to stop publication of the Pentagon Papers? In your view, is this a violation of the newspapers’ First Amendment freedom? Why or why not?

6) Why do you think the Nixon administration planned to go to such extremes to discredit Ellsberg (breaking into his psychiatrist’s office, leaking personal information about him)? 

7) Could there have been a justifiable reason for Nixon’s conduct in this matter? What would it be?

8) Were Ellsberg or Nixon justified in their behavior, or did they both cross the line of responsible behavior by government officials? Explain why you think the way you do.

Superbowl Commercials

At more than $8 million for a 30 second spot, Superbowl commercials are 8x more expensive than what it cost to broadcast the original game in 1967. 

1) Why are companies willing to spend so much?

2) What techniques do advertisers use to get what they want?

3) What commercial did you think was the best?  Worst? Why?

Truthiness

Take the TV News 'Truthiness' Poll

1) Does one TV News Network have more 'Truthiness'  than the others?  

2) How do our poll results compare to the national poll?

3) Which network does the rest of America trust the most for their news? Why? 

4) Where do most young people your age get the news?

5) How should we choose our news?

6) Why is it the more news outlets there are, the less we seem to trust them?