Position Paper 1: Political Pundits
Rooted in Truth or Conspiracy? Whatever it takes to stir the pot. If I had a nickel for every time that Professor Reppert mentioned the ' talking heads ' on cable news, I would probably have enough money to get a drink and a package of M&M's from the vending machine. If I had to know what a 'talking head' was to cash-in those nickels, I would have to give the money back. As it turns out, a 'talking head' is simply a reference to the way political commentators are presented on the screen (with a zoomed in camera angle where they are seen from the chest and up). If I had figured out this definition earlier, I probably could have engaged a bit more in class these past few years but that is not really important. What is the reliability of the predictions that these political pundits make? Where do their predictions come from and are they rooted in factual evidence or in conspiracy? How do they maintain a following for simply giving opinions? I will do my be...