Task 3: FRONTLINE 'Add Sex and Stir' Videoclip, Questions & Answers

1. Brian says that women's sport stories are the “natural enemy of ratings”. Why do you think he holds this opinion? Explain the details of the story and why Brian decides to run it? If Brian has the authority to decide what story shall run on Frontline, on what grounds do you think he bases his decision?
2. What inferences can you make from Brian's directions for Brooke to “bury the woman, to get her out of circulation” after the interview?
3. At the post-show get together Emma raises a number of concerns. How does she view the story differently to Brian? How did the focus chosen, the perspective adopted, affect the accuracy of this story? What double standards are evident when Emma later convinces Brian not to continue with the story?
4. What are the complaints of the captain of the team, when she confronts Brooke later in the episode? How convincing are her arguments? Are there always “two sides to a story”?
5. The manner chosen for the representation of this story has dictates the message that is communicated, largely because of the perspective adopted. This angle along with the emotional language, the re-enactment and the re-phrased question, throws serious doubt onto the truthfulness of the story. Discuss how the creation and presentation of this story created its own meaning, and hence its own truth.
6. This episode is full of instances were truth is manipulated; it is distorted and selectively omitted. Use the Code of Ethics as a guide to assess the morality and professional standard exhibited during the reporting of this story. Be sure to provide clear evidence from the episode.
7. The interactions of the characters behind the cameras reveal some interesting attitudes and behaviours related to “telling the truth”. Consider the two sub-plots of Mike's cocktail party and his desire to do the advertisement. Discuss the various ways that the truth is hidden, totally disregarded, manipulated and/or altered by the various characters. You should consider Kate and Domenica and the fiasco of Mike's invitations, as well as Brian's manoeuvring to stop Mike doing the television commercial.
8. This episode is filled with heavy irony when Brian succeeds in stopping Mike from appearing in a commercial, only to see him make an embarrassing appearance on a rival channel. Discuss Mike's reasons for wanting to do the commercial and Brian's motives in attempting to avoid it? Why does Mike finally decide to appear on Burke's Backyard instead?
9. Find a news or current affairs item (print or electronic) that seems to place "unnecessary emphasis" on gender or sexual orientation. How does this treatment of the story compare with the episode? (provide bibliography details in answer) 

'Add Sex and Stir' Answers