Assignment: You will present orally a News Analysis of a current story or event to the class. . Your presentation should

• analyze the gender/class assumptions in the news event and/or its presentation in the media
• make use of  feminist theories from class readings and discussions to illuminate the way in which gender is understood and used in your example.

Purpose: Analyzing a news story will help you put theory to work in the world around us.

Method: Choose a news story (not an editorial) from a recent New York Times. You must be able to provide the rest of the class with access to the source on the day of your presentation through xerox copies of the article. You should mark the copies so that your audience can quickly understand the points you wish to make.

• Your presentation should briefly summarize the context and content of the news story. Most of your time should be devoted to a  feminist analysis of the story itself, or of the presentation of the story (e.g., what are the assumptions made about women by the writer, how are women erased or foregrounded in the account, etc.?), or both.
• The best News Analyses will connect the news event to specific readings and/or theorists. You might consider:
  • What are the issues of legal status for women in the news story?
  • Does women's access to the political area mean that women's issues will be addressed?

Assessment: Your News Analysis presentation will be graded on:

1. the complexity and thoroughness of your analysis,
2. your incorporation of course readings and theories into that analysis,
3. clarity of presentation (including handout),
4. and adherence to time limit.