COM3706 Assignment
1 Semester 2 2024 -
DUE August 2024
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
, COM3706 Assignment 1 Semester 2 2024 - DUE August 2024
The research scenario Topic:
A content analysis study to investigate how your newspaper (insert the
name of your selected newspaper) covers political stories in South Africa.
As a researcher, the Institute of Political Affairs has appointed you to study
the coverage of political stories by your favourite newspaper. Therefore,
you are required to select a newspaper of your choice to investigate how
this newspaper covers political stories in South Africa. You may analyse
five chronological issues of your selected newspaper i.e. Monday – Friday
or a specific month/s in the case of a weekly newspaper. Therefore, it is
important to select a newspaper that is likely to feature political stories. We
recommend the regional or national newspapers because these
newspapers have reach coverage of political issues. Attach the cover page
of your selected newspaper as an addendum. As a student, you need to
use your discretion about whether a specific story is a political story or not.
In this study, for instance, you could investigate the main political themes
that your newspaper is likely to cover. How much space do political stories
occupy in the selected newspaper in relation to other themes? You could
also investigate where in the newspaper are these political stories placed
(cover page, inside the newspaper or back page). What are the leading
political stories during the period of analysis? How many political stories
are covered daily and the total number of stories during the period of
analysis? You may also investigate the angle in which the stories are
covered (positively, negatively or neutral). Which voices were featured the
most within the stories (indicate whether such voices are those of
1 Semester 2 2024 -
DUE August 2024
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
, COM3706 Assignment 1 Semester 2 2024 - DUE August 2024
The research scenario Topic:
A content analysis study to investigate how your newspaper (insert the
name of your selected newspaper) covers political stories in South Africa.
As a researcher, the Institute of Political Affairs has appointed you to study
the coverage of political stories by your favourite newspaper. Therefore,
you are required to select a newspaper of your choice to investigate how
this newspaper covers political stories in South Africa. You may analyse
five chronological issues of your selected newspaper i.e. Monday – Friday
or a specific month/s in the case of a weekly newspaper. Therefore, it is
important to select a newspaper that is likely to feature political stories. We
recommend the regional or national newspapers because these
newspapers have reach coverage of political issues. Attach the cover page
of your selected newspaper as an addendum. As a student, you need to
use your discretion about whether a specific story is a political story or not.
In this study, for instance, you could investigate the main political themes
that your newspaper is likely to cover. How much space do political stories
occupy in the selected newspaper in relation to other themes? You could
also investigate where in the newspaper are these political stories placed
(cover page, inside the newspaper or back page). What are the leading
political stories during the period of analysis? How many political stories
are covered daily and the total number of stories during the period of
analysis? You may also investigate the angle in which the stories are
covered (positively, negatively or neutral). Which voices were featured the
most within the stories (indicate whether such voices are those of
