ASSIGNMENT | Do you think that over the past four years, fake news has been over dramatized?

Essay question 1
Choose one of the three movies below:
The Queen
All the Presidents Men
Contagion
All three of these movies examine a crisis situation, and do so very differently. Think about what you\’ve learned so far in class, about publics, strategies, media use, ethics, planning, risk, and outrage.
Then, for the LW 12 discussion post, please respond to the following:
In the movie you watched, what were some best practices for dealing with crisis that you witnessed? What were some of the missteps taken by characters and what were the consequence, if any, for those missteps? What was your key takeaway about crisis situations?
Essay question 2
Do you think that over the past four years, fake news has been over dramatized? Do you think that the media coverage of fake news is proportionate to the effects it has had on society? Please provide examples.

Essay question 3
Sometimes even mainstream media will convey fake news to the public because they do not have a thorough understanding of the real situation. Have you received such misinformation under similar circumstances? Please give examples.

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Essay Questions
Question 1
The movie chosen for the task is Contagion. One best practice that I have learned is that it is important to be resilient. In the movie, Dr. Sussman opts to violate orders from the head of the CDC to have his samples destroyed. His resilience bears fruits as he can identify a usable cell culture-based bat cell. Lastly, it is important to be factual with information to prevent misinterpretation of facts. Conspiracy theory, for instance, made people overwhelm pharmacies seeking to purchase forsythia which was however ineffective. This shows that in a time of crisis, the conspiracy has to be avoided at all costs.
There are many missteps taken by characters. Dr. Cheever who was the head of CDC for instance secretly informs his family and close friends of an upcoming quarantine in Chicago. This information prompted the conspiracy theorist to blind the masses that he…