1. What comment first made Sheila realize just how much power the news media possesses? 2. Walter Lippmann notes that the "news" we see is the result of a series of "selections". How can this selective process shape the news?
3. How do you shape your social media feed? What selections, edits, and choices do you make that determine how you are perceived by other
people on those platforms?
4. Why do you think people buy into biases presented in the media?
5. Why do you think people who control the media are willing to pay billions of dollars every year to shape "public opinion"?
6. The article references an exchange between two news anchors on CNN: Jack Cafferty says, "The news media is only objective if they report
something you agree with." Zahn replies, "Right." Cafferty concludes: "Then they're objective. Otherwise they're biased if you don't agree, you
know." What does this exchange tell us about how people choose their news sources?
7. On page 2, what does it mean when the author urges us to be "discriminating" and to "scrutinize" everything we hear and see?
8. Given the challenge of fake news and misinformation spreading so easily on the internet, how should freedom of speech and freedom of the
press be reformed in order to ensure that all media platforms are used responsibly? What new rules would you want to include if you were
starting a media platform?