Slanted Web Sites

[CMUNSON]

jgoldsmi at rainbow.fvrcs.gov.bc.ca (John_Goldsmith) wrote:
     
>>Please excuse the cross posting of this 
message. >>
>>I'm in the process of building a unit on Media/Web literacy.  I need the 
>>URL's of web sites with slanted, biased, prejudiced and otherwise distorted 
>>information to use as examples - sites created by, (if they exist), groups 
>>such as the Klu Klux Klan, the Neo Nazi party, White Supremacy groups, or 
>>any other extremist organization for example.  If you've come across this 
>>kind of site (or any other where you felt the information was deliberately 
>>misleading, slanted or biased), please let me know.
>>
>>If I get enough sites, I'll mount them on a Web page so others can use them 
>>in a similar type situation.
>>
>>Thanks for your help.
     
>Media literacy students may have more to learn from examining the "slanted" 
>information in corporate web sites or other marketing instruments, as they 
>generally appear more innocuous at first glance in comparison with the web 
>pages of more extreme groups.
     
>- Chris Hammond-Thrasher
     
     Great response. This was the point I was going to make. I suggest that 
     these students examine the NY Times or the Washington Post web sites 
     as examples of biased, slanted information. These are good examples 
     because so many people have the mistaken belief that these are 
     impeccable "objective" sources of news. This is hardly the case, as 
     anybody who has read Chomsky would know.
     
     I have one practical exercise to demonstrate this point. Have the 
     students visit the Washington Post site and compare the stories 
     highlighted on the top pages with the wire stories that are also 
     available at the site. Then ask them why these some of these stories 
     are never printed in the print edition. The discussion should be 
     enlightening.
     
     I find it ironic that the best source of news during the recent MRTA 
     hostage situation in Peru was a web site run by some activist friends 
     of mine. Some mainstream reporters tried to portray this site as an 
     extremist one that uncritically supported the MRTA, when in fact it 
     included many of the Reuters and AP wire stories that these same 
     reporters were supposed to be using in their "objective" coverage 
     (which they mostly ignored).
     
     Chuck Munson