Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution

Introduction

The Big Question: What role does the media play in a democracy? Why is this role an important one?

Just as there are checks and balances within government, there are checks on the government by the citizens. News media report constantly about legislation, executive action, and judicial decisions that are made in Washington D.C. This helps to hold government officials to their constitutional duties, because voters are well informed of their every action. But what is the media? Who gets to be a member and how do you become one?

There was a time when the news was restricted to select news organizations. In order to be a news authority, you needed to work for a news agency as a reporter/journalist. Although news agencies still control most of the media landscape and are still very credible sources, they are no longer the ONLY place to find out whats going on in the world.

With the advent of blogging, and political blogging in particular, anyone who wants to be a “talking head” is only a few mouse clicks and keyboard smashes away!

Your Task

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This activity is designed to introduce you to political blogging, by way of you actually becoming a political blogger.
You will learn what makes blogs interesting and popular to read. Then you will construct your own blog, using the most popular political blogs as your guide. Finally, you will conduct research to create your first blog post: An opinionated profile of two members of The United States Congress.

Start!>>