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Media & Politics 46.210.201

This course explores the role of the media in American politics and the role of politics in the American media.  We begin with a survey of theoretical approaches  to media analysis and mass communications. Then we focus on the evolution of the national press and increasing anxieties about privacy rights.  Next we look at instances of bad reporting and examine how media consolidation and the rise of prestige journalism have affected the news industry. Finally, after reviewing the ongoing crisis in the newspaper business, we will study a few major stories in depth.  At the end of the course, students should come away with a comprehensive understanding of the factors involved in the conversion of events and developments into seemingly significant news. 

syllabus pdfTo view course requirements, the assignment schedule, and other essential information, please download the current syllabus.

  1. Media Studies: A Survey of Basic Themes

  1. Timeline of the development of communications technology

  2. Inventing History, CBS News Interactive

  3. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," from Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1944.

  4. George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" (London: Horizon, 1946).

  5. Marshall McLuhan, excerpt from "Classroom Without Walls," Explorations in Communication (Boston: Beacon Press, 1960). (Browse through collected quotes.)

  6. Jean Baudrillard, "On the Murderous Capacity of Images."

Reading questions for Unit 1

 RadioMagazine1928

  2. The Rise of the Popular Press      

Joseph Pulitzer. The New York ... Digital ID: 410350. New York Public LibraryCol. R.M. Hoe. Rotary printin... Digital ID: 1651811. New York Public Library

  1. PBS - NOW: Milestones in Media & Politics

  2. Timeline: History of the AP, 1846-1900, Associated Press

  3. Digital History: The Rise of Mass Communication, 1880-1920.

  4. Newspapers: Historical Perspective II, Cybercollege Internet Campus

  5. Phil Barber, "A Brief History of Newspapers"

  6. Jack Shafer, "Bring Back Yellow Journalism," Slate Magazine, March 30, 2009.

    Reading Questions for Unit 2:  Word  Google Docs

  3. Publicity, Privacy, and Politics
EJ Phelps, The Age of Woords, 1889

  1. "The Right to Privacy," by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis: A Digital Critical Edition, edited by Susan E. Gallagher (University of Massachusetts Press, forthcoming). Read introduction and main text.

  2. Susan E. Gallagher, "The Personal Is Political: Now What?," presentation at the Annual Law and Society Association Conference, 2003.

    3.               Reading Questions for Unit 3:    Word    Google Docs

4. Consolidation, Competition, and Careerism in a Shrinking Industry

  1. Media Consolidation, Now, PBS. (Browse links.)

  2. "History of the Fairness Doctrine," Now, PBS.

  3. Michael Kinsley, "Glass Dismissed," Slate, Sunday, May 17, 1998, 12:00 AM PT 

  4. Katha Pollitt, "White Lies," The Nation, May 29, 2003.

  5. Walter Pincus, "Newspaper Narcissism," CJR, May/June 2009

    6.

Reading Questions for Unit 4:   Word  Google Docs

 		Judith Miller, from the Heretik
Photo of Kennedy/Nixon Debate

Click image to view debate.

  5.  Political Advertising in the Age of Screens

  1. News, Network, entry from the archives of the Museum of Broadcasting

  2. The Livingroom Candidate, Museum of the Moving Image

  6.  The Decline of Newspapers

  1. "Newspapers Face a Challenging Calculus," Pew Research Center, February 26, 2009.

  2. Thomas E. Patterson, "The Decline of Newspapers: The Local Story," Nieman Reports

  3. Neil Henry, "The Decline of News," SFGate, Open Forum, May 29, 2007.

    4.

  4. Bill Wyman, "Five Key Reasons Why Newspapers Are Failing," SpliceToday, August 12,2009.

  5. Walter Isaacson, "How to Save Your Newspaper," Time Magazine, February 5, 2009.

Assignment for Unit 6  Word    Google Docs

This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow 

**Instructions and Materials for Midterm Exam**

Materials for Presentations & Papers
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