Critical Analysis

1. What happened to Americans’ news consumption between 2019 and 2020?

2. Identify one trend from the data.

3. What do you think are the two major reasons for the change in news consumption between 2019 and 2020?

4. What is one consequence of this trend?

5. How has your news consumption changed over the past year?

6. Now that Trump has been deplatformed and removed from office what do you think will happen to Americans’ news consumption?

7. Of the three types of news: local, national, and international which increased the most over the past year?*

8. Why do you think that is?

9. During the coronavirus do you think Americans are getting more news from liberal, conservative, mixed, or undesignated sources?*

10. How does party affiliation impact the kind of news Americans get?*

11. Do you think that the people who get the most news are the best informed?

12. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Explain whether, in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, you agree with Thomas Jefferson’s quote.

Learning Extension

Read this sweet and short little report on media usage in the time of coronavirus from the folks at Gallup. Or check out these tasty infographics about news consumption by generation.

Action Extension

Try following a news source that is not similar in ideology or perspective to your own beliefs. Share in class or online how that newly added media impacted your own views of the coronavirus. Also, you deserve a break. Take a little field trip with us to an American National Park!

Visual Extension