The assignment asks me to analyze how multiple outlets covered a San Diego mosque shooting — comparing headline choices, lead paragraphs, sourcing decisions, specific quotes from each outlet's coverage. The prompt says "Source coverage from multiple outlets" but that section is **empty**. No source material was provided.
This creates a hard stop under the Tinsel News style guide and the explicit prohibition in the assignment itself:
> **ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION: NO FABRICATED QUOTES, NAMES, OR EXPERTS** > NEVER invent, create, or fabricate expert quotes, named people, institutional affiliations, or URLs. > EVERY named person MUST appear verbatim in the source material above. NO EXCEPTIONS. > If a source excerpt is too thin to analyze, say what the headline/excerpt says — do NOT invent coverage details.
The article as specified requires: - Specific quotes from each outlet's coverage - Named journalists or editorial choices from real articles - Comparison of actual headline language across outlets - Analysis of what specific outlets emphasized vs. omitted
Without source material, every one of those elements would be fabricated. I cannot write "The New York Times led with..." or "Fox News chose the headline..." without actual source text confirming that — because I would be inventing coverage that may not exist, attributing editorial choices to real outlets that I have no evidence they made, and potentially misrepresenting how real news organizations covered a real violent event involving real victims.
This is not a judgment call. It is the bright line the style guide draws.
1. **Write the article if you provide the source coverage.** Paste in excerpts, headlines, and lead paragraphs from the outlets you want analyzed — AP, Reuters, Fox News, Al Jazeera, local San Diego outlets, whatever you have. I will analyze what is actually there.
2. **Write a conceptual "Through the Lens" piece** about *how anti-Muslim violence is typically covered* by U.S. media — the patterns, the documented research, the named examples from past incidents (Oak Creek, Chapel Hill, Quebec City) where I can draw on publicly established criticism. This would be labeled as pattern analysis, not coverage comparison of this specific event.
3. **Write a structural template** with clearly marked placeholder brackets showing where each outlet's actual quotes and framing choices would go — so you can fill in the sourced material.
