Second Writing Assignment, Fall 2017

Pick one:

1.  Pick any candidate (other than Trump or Clinton) for any office in the 2016 campaign.  How did that candidate use social media?  What message was the candidate sending to what audience?  How effective was the candidate's use of social media?  (Use quantitative evidence where possible.)  In your answer, be sure to consider the connections among different media.  That is, tweets and Facebook posts often contain links to MSM sites, or other social media such as YouTube.  Conversely, social media posts often show up in MSM stories.

2.  Pick any book about the 2016 election (other than Defying the Odds).  Appraise the book's observations about the media in the election.  Is the treatment fair and balanced?  Does the book distort or omit important aspects of the media campaign?  In your answer, consider what we have learned about the election in recent months.

3. Track a false story in the 2016 campaign.  Was it a case of deliberate "fake news" or did it originate with an honest mistake?  How did it spread?  Was there any effort to correct the record by campaigns or media fact-checkers?  How effective were such efforts?

4. Compare and contrast how Gary Hart handled the 1987 Donna Rice story  (see the Bai reading) with the way in which a later presidential candidate dealt with a personal-life controversy (e.g., Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers in 1992, George W. Bush and his DUI in 2000, Trump and sexual harassment allegations in 2016).  Did the candidate handle it well?  If so, why? If not, what could the candidate have done differently?

5.  Pick any potential candidate for office in 2018 or 2020. (Examples here and here.)  Lay out a media strategy for that candidate.  Your strategy should include the message grid.  Which media should the candidate use to target which groups of voters, campaign workers and contributors?  In your answer, consider the candidate's likely resources.  (That is, will the candidate likely have a great deal of money, or will it be a shoestring budget?)

• Essays should be typed (12-point), double-spaced, and no more than six pages long. I will not read past the sixth page.
• Submit your paper as a Word document, not a pdf. 
• Cite your sources. Use endnotes in Turabian format. 
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you. 
• Return essays to the Sakai dropbox by 11:59 PM, Friday, October 27. Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day’s lateness and a full grade after that. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.