The media wield considerable power in mobilizing public opinion and in disseminating certain images of culture. This course uses a critical, cultural studies approach to examine the representation of gender, ethnicity, and class in texts from television, film, newspapers, and magazines.
The focus of this course is on contemporary media. However, it is crucial to examine contemporary media texts within their historical context. Therefore, we will begin with an understanding of the historical background from which various genres and trends in popular media culture emerge.
We will then learn methods of media analysis which we will apply to the study of various media texts. Class readings have been selected from a variety of fields including mass communication, women’s studies, film studies, and cultural studies to provide an interdisciplinary perspective.
This course critically examines the relationship between the mass media and American society. It focuses on the role of the journalist as a link between the two. Through our understanding of theories of ethics and of the context within which media institutions operate, we will critically evaluate the professional and ethical roles of the journalist in contemporary society.
Anxiety surrounds the topic of children and television because of television's ability to cross boundaries between private and public and connect advertisers with impressionable young consumers. In this course, we will examine the historical, sociological, and psychological context of children watching television. We will learn methods of television analysis such as semiotics, content analysis, and psychoanalysis to critically examine the power of children's television.
This interdisciplinary course brings together scholarship from child psychology, television criticism, and reception studies.
In this course, you will be introduced to skills vital for success in most areas of mass communication. The course will help you develop a clear, concise writing style, a passion for thorough, accurate reporting, and a sensitivity to various audiences’ needs and interests. You will be introduced to standard news practices in various broadcast and print media and will be encouraged to evaluate these practices critically.
You will also practice writing in the styles used in print and broadcast media, and will discuss ways to combine visual elements with the written word to present the news effectively. Finally, you will learn strategies for gathering information efficiently including the development of skills in interviewing, note taking, and observation.
The concentration of media ownership is a topic of heated debate in global media politics. The ability of transnational television networks to reach viewers across national boundaries creates much anxiety among various national governments who feel foreign programming corrupts local cultures. Several media scholars and national elites feel that the objective of the mass media in the age of globalization has shifted from creating a public sphere of information-seekers to creating a public sphere of consumers.
In this class, we will examine various aspects of this debate, discuss the structure and content of transnational television networks, and evaluate the impact of these networks on local identities.
In the 1960s, various western communication scholars noted that communication technologies performed a powerful role in national and community development. The western model for development proposed by these scholars for use in Third World countries was heavily critiqued as ideological by critical media scholars in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the role of communication technology for national development was examined from various perspectives and new paradigms for research and practice were proposed. In the 1990s, a new form of communication for development has emerged: grassroots communication.
Grassroots communication is a reaction against the top-down elitist view of development and involves the empowerment of disenfranchised groups through direct access to communication technologies. Grassroots communicators are no longer mere recipients, but also directors and producers of their own development initiatives.
In this class, we will examine the various perspectives on communication for national development and will focus on the use of such media as the video camera, the newspaper, and public forums, for the implementation of development initiatives at the community level.
This course focuses on transcontinental and indigenous television in Asia and the highly profitable genre of hybrid programming carried on this mass medium. Through a description of television networks in such countries as India, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Japan, and Malaysia, students will be exposed to current debates in globalization, national identity, and postcolonialism. Special emphasis will be provided on audience reception in these countries to address the correspondence between production and consumption in non-western societies.