[Date]
COM3706 Assignment
1 Semester 2 2024 -
DUE August 2024
QUESTIONS WITH COMPLETE 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 politicians, ordinary citizens or
political parties)? You may also investigate how the newspaper uses images to
convey the message. Therefore, the study is both quantitative and qualitative as
COM3706 Assignment
1 Semester 2 2024 -
DUE August 2024
QUESTIONS WITH COMPLETE 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 politicians, ordinary citizens or
political parties)? You may also investigate how the newspaper uses images to
convey the message. Therefore, the study is both quantitative and qualitative as
