Class Presentation Week ---ENG 3010

This week in English was very eventful. The class was divided in 6 groups. Each group was assigned a specific type of media. The group’s job was to find any sort of political bias in their respective type of media. My group was initially assigned ‘Magazine’. But we traded that with another group who had ‘Internet’. Quite surprisingly that’s what they wanted! It all worked out perfectly. So with regard to our assignment we decided to look at a variety of political websites and tried to find bias in them. So I looked at a lot of network websites like CNN.com, MSNBC.com, ABC News.com, FOX News.com. In terms of international coverage on US politics, I also looked at TIMES OF INDIA.com and INDIA Today.com. Other members of my group looked at other local news websites and blogs. Wednesday we had no class. So we utilized that time in getting together and organizing our strategy on how to carry out the 10 minute presentation in class for Friday. Even on Friday we got together and rehearsed the final presentation. In class, we drew on the board, a ‘spectrum’ of the websites ranking them for being the ‘most liberal’ to the ‘Neutral’ to ‘most conservative’. Each one of us had a chance to talk and explain why a particular website that they looked at, was inclined more towards the right or left. All together we covered a total of 15-20 websites. Our presentation lasted for 25 minutes. Ours was the longest and much more comprehensive in terms of content than others groups they made their presentation after us. Everyone liked our spectrum. It was really cool.
Two other groups went after us. One group did their presentation on ‘Radio’ and the other on ‘Magazine’. The magazine group made a big poster in which they put various types of magazines in 3 categories: Liberal, Neutral and Conservative. They made good use of visual aid. The radio group’s presentation, in terms of content, was good as well. That’s how the lecture on Friday ended. On the whole, it was one of the most exciting days in class. On Monday, the remaining three groups are supposed to make their presentation. I am eager to see what they come up with.

Bias in Media--ENG 3010

This week in class we discussed the topic of liberal media into more depth. To start with we watched a video from CNN’s Crossfire during the time of the 2004 presidential election. This was the one when Jon Stewart---the host of the Daily Show makes an appearance on the show. On the show, Jon Stewart runs into an argument with the hosts and accuses the hosts of not carrying out their jobs honestly and seriously. He blamed the two hosts of not conducting the debate on the show truthfully and that they were hurting America. He told them that they were supposed to deliver real, serious news and not entertainment. The two hosts accused Jon Stewart of doing the same. Jon Stewart in response to that argued that as a comedian, he was supposed to entertain the people.
After watching the debate, we openly discussed our viewpoints on the Jon Stewarts’ accusations. Most of us in the class, agreed with him but at the same came up with the interesting point that Jon Stewart should also attempt to make his show a little more current-news oriented because most of the young men in America get their daily news feed by watching his show which was scary because Jon is good as entertainment but not the best when it comes to getting serious news from his show.
Later this wee we talked about different kinds of media that exists. The class was divided into 5 groups and each group was assigned one type of media. The group’s job was to come up with any kind of political bias that we could find in our respective media. My group is assigned the ‘Internet’ as the media. So my group members have decided to check out a variety of websites where we can potentially find political bias. We have one week to do some research and at the end of the next week, we are expected to present, to the class, a brief presentation on our findings.

Liberal Media---ENG 3010

Okay so this week in our English class we did not do anything specific. We continued talking about Host by David Foster Wallace (which by the way is an interesting read if you ever get a chance). We also talked a little about the vice presidential debate (which I expected to be a very funny one but instead turn out to be one of the most serious debates I ever watched. All my roommates and I were waiting anxiously for Sarah Palin to say something stupid one more time.. but not this time. She was well prepared and made a huge comeback by directly attacking Obama and Biden). On Friday we actually talked about something that not many people are concerned about. We talked about Liberal media and its role during this critical election time. My professor expected all of us to have heard this term like a million times. But as far I am concerned, it was the first time ever that I heard of the term. LOL. I read the article from THE NATION on Liberal Media which gave me a better understanding of what exactly it meant.
Liberal Media was often used as an excuse by the conservatives for conservative failures. They blamed it on the media to give special coverage to the liberals so that the liberals could better communicate their ideas to the larger masses of the people. But some republicans are honest enough to admit that there is no such thing as bias towards the liberals by the media. Patrick Buchanan, one of the most conservative presidential candidates in Republican history, admitted that he could not identify any allegedly liberal bias against him during his presidential campaigns. He admitted to have equal and balanced coverage.
Personally I believe that the media is not biased towards either the left wing or the right wing. They choose to give broader coverage to the stories of either party-----stories that will attract more viewers to their news channels. With cut throat competition among the news channels, the media cannot afford to side either one of the two parties. The media is no longer neutral. It’s all about their own monetary profit. They select their news based on how many viewers and advertisement sponsorers they can get. For example, ABC World News and CNN News TV channels made a big deal about Sarah Palin’s controversial remarks in several interviews earlier last month. This might make it seem that there is a strong and powerful existence of liberal media. But it’s not exactly true. Sean Hannity of Fox news delivered a special report entitled ‘Obama and Friends’ where he questioned Obama’s worthiness to be the next commander-in-chief. According to Sean Hannity, Obama has had close ties with various radical and terrorist organizations in the past which makes him unfit to lead America. So in the end it all ends up to PERSONAL BIAS. It all depends on what news channel appeals YOU the most and what news YOU choose to watch more often. Bias lies in every step of our lives and it is practically impossible to have a bias-free society. Its something we have to get used to.
I am calling it night, tune back next week!

Grades do not fulfill the main purpose of learning---ENG 3010

I feel that the present grading system is not effective in evaluating a person’s qualifications. Grades act against the main purpose of learning. Grades focus one’s all attention on tests. Academic success is no longer measured in terms of knowledge but in grade points. Students hardly retain the knowledge after the final exam as only the points scored in it counts. Grades, hence, prevent from enriching one’s mind.

It’s not grade that keeps one going. It is a disbelief that one would never volunteer to undergo the misery to learn the topics one is least interested in. Learning happens when one has the desire to know new things for his own self. One does not need grades to learn to walk, talk, drive, dance etc. One hangs on to these with his life but loses hold of the very subjects on which he is graded. I would like to use a very appropriate and interesting metaphor to support my point. Compare grades to a game of cards. Just as one starts a new round after shuffling the previous cards, one starts a new term and hardly retains anything from his pervious terms.

Therefore I believe that true knowledge does not take place in class. But instead
it can achieved through conversing with the intellectuals and scholars about something that fascinates you the most.