In the present moment, it appears that Donald Trump is likely to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. Given both the unprecedented number of falsehoods he has expressed in public and his contentious relationship with the news media, journalists will likely struggle with how to cover his campaign.
For this final assignment, we’d like you to write a persuasive essay aimed at an audience of journalists. In this essay you should offer a research-based perspective on both the potential challenges journalists will face covering Trump and advice on how best to cover Trump from the perspective of a healthy democratic news system.
Requirements:
1. Clearly outline specific challenges journalists will face/have faced in covering Trump. Ask yo-urself: What mistakes have journalists made covering Trump in the past? What new challenges will they face in his second run? You must use evidence/citations to back up your claims.
2. Use one or more theories/concepts from the course to help us understand the challenges y-ou bring up in point 1. Ask yourself: What do course theories/concepts tell us about how past coverage of Trump has been harmful to the public? You do not need to review these theories/concepts in depth, but should provide a 2-3 sentence summary so readers outside the course can understand what you are talking about.
3. Clearly outline some recommendations to improve coverage of a potential Trump presidential campaign in 2024. Ask yourself: How could the press cover Trump in a way that would avoid mistakes they’ve made in the past and improve the public understanding of his candidacy? There are no right answers here, but make sure to offer clear and compelling arguments for any suggestions you provide.
4. Finally, you are required to cite all journalistic and scholarly sources using APA guidelines Link to an external site..
The main text of your paper should be 750 to 1000 words in length and read like a persuasive essay NOT like a response to individual prompts. There is no required number of citations and citations do not count toward the word count.
Here are a number of articles and resources you can check out to gather ideas for this paper: