POSC/COMM340 – Media & Politics
Final Exam
Assigned: Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Due: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 by 2:00pm
  • This is a take-home essay exam.
  • Your exam is due by 2:00pm on Tuesday, December 10, 2002
  • You may submit your exam in any of the following ways:
    • Electronically
      • as an email attachment (MS Word format) to Ralph.Begleiter@udel.edu
      • as a regular email (normal text message)
      • as an HTML file attachment
    • Hand delivered
      • as a traditional printed document (be sure to follow course guidelines)
      • as an HTML file delivered on disk (floppy or CD)
      • delivered to 250 Pearson Hall
    • Please proofread your work.
    • If you submit as an HTML file, be sure to check all links and graphics (if any);
    • I will evaluate your work based on what I can see, not on what I can’t see.
    • Plan your essay for about 7-10 pages. (It’s what you say that counts.)
    Build your essay around this theme:

    As the United States prepares for war against Iraq, government and news media are engaged in a complex relationship with both competing and supportive features. Discuss this relationship, and how it affects what the American people and people of other countries learn about the impending conflict. Include in your essay answers to at least these questions:
    1. How do the interests of the media coincide with those of the government? How do they compete?
    2. Is this relationship useful to the public, or harmful?
    3. How do the self-interests of the media and of the government affect “the truth” as perceived by consumers of political information?
Support your views using specific examples from
    • class
    • guest speakers
    • course readings
    • current events
    • historical events
    • class videos
    • class presentations
    Don’t limit your discussion exclusively to media and events inside the United States.
    The best papers will include references to the readings (Sabato, Strobel and Bennett as well as the course web-based readings) in this course, and will include clear citations to those readings.

    You are welcome to use examples involving multimedia, pictures or web links. You may submit your exam in a file (MS Word or HTML) containing graphics, links, etc. Again, if you do this, remember that you will be assessed on the basis of what I can see, so test your file or disk before you submit it.