We are all immersed in a complex and pervasive media culture, which makes it particularly difficult for us to recognize the complex relationship between media and society: how what we see, hear and read is in some ways the product of our society and its particular political, economic, and cultural shape, and how it also shapes our understanding of ourselves, our community, and our world. This course builds on the insights of mass communication research and the study of culture and technology to examine this complex give-and-take. We will study the production of culture inside of a powerfully concentrated media industry, the consumption of media inside of complex social contexts, and the shaping and impact of media technologies. We will investigate how contemporary mass media frames our experience of the world out there and shapes our political involvement in that world; we will look also at how mass media intersects with our understanding of ourselves and our sense of identity and participation in culture. We will work through the seeming contradiction that media is powerfully shaped by political and economic forces, and at the same time that we as viewers have a great deal of flexibility in how we make sense of that media. We will bring the lessons of media studies to the media culture that surrounds us, and also speculate whether any of the new technologies, genres, or industry arrangements require us to reconsider those lessons.

* the most important assignment is to complete all of the reading assigned; comprehension of the arguments is crucial to your success in this course.
* attendance is also required; attendance will be taken at my discretion. Attendance counts for 10% of your overall grade.
* four short papers (22.5% of your grade each) over the course of the semester will ask you to use the readings as tools to make specific inquiries into the media culture in your own lives.

(The last paper, due during finals, will be optional for students who at that point have an A or A- average, so it is worth putting your best efforts into all of these assignments.)

Two books are required for this course, available at the Cornell Bookstore; they are also available on reserve at Uris Library:

David Croteau and William Hoynes, Media / Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences (3rd ed.)
Alison Alexander and Jarice Hanson, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Mass Media and Society (8th ed.)

If you're buying them used elsewhere, be sure to get the correct editions. In addition, there are readings available either online on the web or, if they aren't marked, through Blackboard.

JAN 24: introduction to the class and its concerns

JAN 26: "mass media"

Raymond Williams, Keywords, "Media"
Steven Chaffee and Miriam Metzger, "The End of Mass Communication?"

JAN 31: "society" and "culture"

Raymond Williams, Keywords, "Society"
Raymond Williams, Keywords, "Culture"
George Lipsitz, Time Passages, "Popular Culture: This Ain't No Sideshow"

FEB 2: representation
screening: "Representation and the Media"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 1-30 (Ch. 1)
Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion, "The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads"

FEB 7: media in a capitalist democracy

C. Edwin Baker, Media, Markets, and Democracy, "Not Toasters: The Special Nature of Media Products"
Michael Schudson, "What's Unusual about Covering Politics as Usual"

FEB 9: economics of the media industries

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 33-76
Frank Rose, "The Civil War Inside Sony" Wired (February 2003)
optional resource "Who Owns the Media?" FreePress.net

FEB 14: constructing the audience
screening: part of "The Persuaders"

Nielsen Media Research, "Inside TV Ratings" (click "Inside TV Ratings", read all 9 parts within)
Big Champagne, "The Data" (read all 4 parts)
John Gertner, "Our Ratings, Ourselves" New York Times (April 10, 2005)

FEB 16: media policy

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 77-120 (Ch. 3)
TAKING SIDES, 13: should the FCC liberalize ownership rules? (Powell // McChesney+Nichols)

FEB 21: reception and interpretation

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 265-284
Stuart Hall, "Encoding / Decoding"

FEB 23: no class

FEB 28: media in its domestic context
paper due

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 284-288
Lynn Spigel, "Designing the Smart House: Posthuman Domesticity and Conspicuous Production"

MAR 2: amateur production

Henry Jenkins, "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars? Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture"
Yochai Benkler, "The Battle over the Institutional Ecosystem in the Digital Environment"
Wikipedia, "Wikipedia"

MAR 7: media technologies and their impact

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 299-314
Richard Dyer, "Making 'White' People White"
TAKING SIDES, 11: should Internet access be regulated? (Banks // ACLU)

MAR 9: the shaping of technology

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 314-333
Roger Silverstone, Television and Everyday Life, "The Tele-technological System"

MAR 14: the production of news
screening: part of "Signal to Noise, Vol 2"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 121-145
TAKING SIDES, 14: is economics the bottom line in newsrooms of today? (Sutter // PEJ)

MAR 16: the presentation of news
paper due

TAKING SIDES, 10: do the media have a liberal bias? (Goldberg // Franken)
The Project for Excellence in Journalism, "Return to Normalcy? How the Media Have Covered the War on Terrorism"

spring break

MAR 28: covering war -- Gulf War I and II

Gary Woodward, "The Rules of the Game: The Military and the Press in the Persian Gulf War" Greg Mitchell, "Exclusive: U.S. Military Document Outlines War Coverage" Editor & Publisher (February 14, 2003)
Nicholas Engestrom, "How TV News Scored the Invasion" Columbia Journalism Review (May/June 2003)

MAR 30: news and the nation

screening: "Control Room"

Ken Auletta, "Fortress Bush: How the White House Keeps the Press Under Control" New Yorker (January 19, 2004)
Mark Mazzetti and Borzou Daragahi, "U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press" Los Angeles Times, (November 30, 2005)

APR 4: media and political knowledge
screening: end of "Control Room"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 231-247
Steven Kull et. al., "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War"
      required: press release
      optional: full report and questionnaire
TAKING SIDES, 8: does electronic media enhance political knowledge? (Bucy+Gregson // Owen)