8.

4 Analyzing Political Information on Social Media

Your task: In this assignment you will go on a social media site such as Twitter or Facebook and analyze at
least two sources of political information. These might be political memes, captioned photos, linked news
articles, or political advertisements on the site.

If you do not have a social media account, you can create one, or you can use the account of another person.
It is not necessary to have a social media account to complete the assignment.

Use Google or one of the fact-checking websites in the lesson to verify the information in the source. Fill in
the columns as indicated. You will also need to supply a URL for the information you are analyzing.

Source #1
URL or screenshot of your media example: (2 points) https://www.instagram.com/p/BUQu182gkqW/?
taken-by=raised_right_&hl=en

Type of information (meme, captioned (1 point)

photo, news article Meme

Where the information was found (type of (1 point)

social media) Instagram

Claims made in the source (what point was (1 point)

the source trying to make)
Amount of truth to the claims (what
information was accurate and inaccurate)?
The source is trying to point out that the Russians did not
influence the 2016 presidential election.
(1 point)
The claim is accurate because evidence shows the Russians
hacked some computers, but not the election.

Method you used to verify claims (what (1 point)

sources did you use to prove or disprove the I used an article from the National Review.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446339/donald-trump-
claims?)
russia-2016-election-controversy-explained

Discuss why it is necessary for us to (3 points)

question this source (reflect on our personal
and civic responsibilities in a constitutional
democracy).
It is necessary to question this source because most political
sources are written based on opinion. Democrats and
Republicans will always have different point of views. Therefore
we can not trust it completely.

Source #2
URL or screenshot of your media example: (2 points) https://www.instagram.com/p/BUFd6GchURz/?
taken-by=the_typical_liberal&hl=en

Type of information (meme, captioned (1 point)

photo, news article Captioned photo

Where the information was found (type of (1 point)

social media) Instagram
Claims made in the source (what point was
the source trying to make)
Amount of truth to the claims (what
information was accurate and inaccurate)?
Method you used to verify claims (what
sources did you use to prove or disprove the
claims?)
Discuss why it is necessary for us to
question this source (reflect on our
personal and civic responsibilities in a
constitutional democracy).
(1 point)
As a result of a black only graduation ceremony, African
Americans are segregating themselves and are the ones being
racist towards caucasian people.
(1 point)
The claim is accurate because Harvard is holding a only black
graduation to honor only black people because of their
accomplishments. The editor’s comment is his opinion, so it
might not be totally accurate that blacks are segregating from
whites.
(1 point)
Many sources such as CBS-Boston, CNN, NY times etc. confirm
the same information.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/05/17/black-harvard-students-
holding-graduation-their-own/
(3 points)
It is necessary for us to question this source because some
organization might just want to stir up drama and rumors.
However, when many sources say the same thing, it is apparent
that it is true.