POSC/COMM444 - Global Agenda
OPTIONAL Assignment - Assignment #5
Due: Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Other Views of the War Against Terrorism

Preamble:
This is an optional assignment. You may complete it, if you wish, for extra credit. If you complete this assignment, it will be weighed together with your other papers as announced in the original syllabus. If you choose not to submit this assignment, your remaining papers will form the basis for the writing portion of your grade.

In the War in Iraq, the United States (both media and officials) finds itself juggling messages for American and foreign audiences, as well as information which both supports and challenges official and patriotic points of view. Intelligence information used publicly by the United States seems to have varying impacts on people in other countries and cultures.

Read & Research:
Visit the following web sites, which contain links to newspapers around the world:

Newspapers of the World on the Internet

WorldPress Review - Newspapers of the World on the Internet

You are welcome to read news sites in any language you can understand.

The following suggestions (all found on the above web sites) are English-language publications. They are in no special order. You are not limited to these. You may browse to find others of interest.

The Middle East:

Write:

  • Choose two news sites to discuss in your paper. Your two choices must be in different countries and in different regions.
  • Begin your report with the names of the web sites you chose (and their web addresses). Include a brief description of the site, including information such as where the site is published (be sure you check) and what, if any, political perspective you can discover from it. Do enough research to determine if this is a Muslim/Islamic nation, or has substantial Muslim/Islamic population. Indicate that in your summary. Don’t waste a large part of your paper on these summaries.
  • On a map, locate the country represented by the web sites you choose, so you are aware of its geographic proximity to the war. Comment on whether geography plays a role in the site’s journalistic perspective.
  • On the sites you chose, read articles about the war in Iraq.
  • Write about the perspective taken in those articles, and compare that perspective to the one with which you are familiar in the United States. Answer at least these questions: Can you discern a point of view? What is it? (Similar to the U.S? different?) What strikes you as notable about the perspective taken on the site? How would Americans feel reading this site? Devote most of your paper to this analysis.

Note: The goal of this assignment is to encourage you to read some different cultural perspectives about the war. Please do not choose a web site of a British publication, or publication of other U.S. allies in the war in Iraq, since their perspectives will be similar to those of the U.S. If you choose a European site, find one with a perspective different from the U.S.

About 5 pages.