Media & Empathy

First, here's this to bridge our conversations from media's relationship with society & community to our current discussions of empathy and belief.

And another thing...

Here is the assignment description for the Exercise in Empathy...

Each student will ask someone close to them to share a story about a difficult trial that he/she has faced. (This someone will need to have an understanding of the assignment and agree to participate). During the telling of the story, students are to practice empathy--llistening intently, asking questions when appropriate, sharing their own thoughts and feelings if invited.Then students will write a journal entry about the thoughts, feelings and impressions that they experienced during and after this exercise and will turn the entry into the instructor rather than post it on their blog. The journal entry must not include the name or relation of the someone or any details of his/her story--students must consider the assignment as a personal practice of empathy not an exploitation of another’s struggles. 

And here's a last intersection of media and empathy.