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 towards your overall grade. (10%)
* a short assignment at the start of the course will ask you to log your media consumption over three days, and react to what you discover from doing so. (10%)
* four papers (20% 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 week, 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.

There is also a way to get small amount of extra credit in the course.

One book is required for this course, available at the Cornell Bookstore; it is also available on reserve at Mann Library:

David Croteau and William Hoynes, Media / Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences (3rd ed.)

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

JAN 23 ~~ introduction

JAN 25 ~~ defining our terms: media, society, culture"

Raymond Williams, Keywords, "Media"
Raymond Williams, Keywords, "Society"
Raymond Williams, Keywords, "Culture"
Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion, "The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads"

JAN 30 ~~ mass media? new media? no media?

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 1-30 (Ch. 1)
Steven Chaffee and Miriam Metzger, "The End of Mass Communication?"

FEB 1 ~~ popular media: powerful force, or a cultural contest?
media log due

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 195-200
Horace Newcomb and Paul Hirsch, "Television as a Cultural Forum"
Todd Gitlin, "Prime Time Ideology: The Hegemonic Process in Television Entertainment"

FEB 6 ~~ the dynamics of representation

screening: "Representation and the Media"

George Lipsitz, Time Passages, "Popular Culture: This Ain't No Sideshow"

FEB 8 ~~ 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"

FEB13 ~~ the economics of the media industries

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 33-63
Chris Anderson, "The Long Tail" Wired (October 2004)
explore "Who Owns the Media?" FreePress.net

FEB 15 ~~ the role of advertising
screening: part of "The Persuaders"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 63-76, 184-192
Joseph Turow, "Audience Construction and Culture Production: Marketing Surveillance in the Digital Age"
Frank Rose, "Commercial Break," Wired (December 2006)

FEB 20 ~~ media policy

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 77-120 (Ch. 3)

FEB 22 ~~ the implications of convergence

Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, Introduction
Frank Rose, "The Civil War Inside Sony" Wired (February 2003)

FEB 27 ~~ reception and interpretation
paper due

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

MAR 1 ~~ the audience: who we are and how we are known
screening: part of "The Persuaders"

Michael Curtin, "From Network to Neo-network Audiences"
Matt Carlson, "Tapping into TiVo: Digital Video Recorders and the Transition from Schedules to Surveillance in Television"
John Gertner, "Our Ratings, Ourselves" New York Times (April 10, 2005)

MAR 6 ~~ media consumed in the home

Roger Silverstone, Television and Everyday Life, "Television and a Place Called Home"
Microsoft, "Home of the Future" and "TV and Movies" (video)

MAR 8 ~~ the place of amateur production

Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars? Grassroots Creativity Meets the Media Industry"
Bob Garfield, "YouTube vs. Boob Tube," Wired (December 2006)
Wikipedia, "Wikipedia"

MAR 13 ~~ technology and its impact
paper due

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 299-333
Richard Dyer, "Making 'White' People White"

MAR 15 ~~ case: digital copyright

Kieran Healy, "Digital Technology and Cultural Goods"
Matt McKenzie, "Vista and More: Piecing Together Microsoft's DRM Puzzle," Computer World (November 15, 2006)

spring break

MAR 27 ~~ the production of news
screening: part of "Signal to Noise, Vol 2"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 121-145
Howard Tumber, "Democracy in the Information Age: The Role of the Fourth Estate in Cyberspace"
Yuki Noguchi, "Camera Phones lend Immediacy to Images of Disaster,"Washington Post (July 8, 2005)

MAR 29 ~~ the presentation of news

The Project for Excellence in Journalism, "Return to Normalcy? How the Media Have Covered the War on Terrorism"
Nicholas Lemann, "The Wayward Press," The New Yorker (February 2005)

APR 3 ~~ covering war

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)
Columbia Journalism Review, "The Embeds"

APR 5 ~~ 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) Orville Schell, "Baghdad: The Besieged Press," New York Review of Books (April 6, 2006)

APR 10 ~~ case: blogs and digital journalism
screening: end of "Control Room"

J. D. Lasica, "When Webloggers Commit Journalism"
Cass Sunstein, "The Daily We,"Boston Review (Summer 2001)
Eszter Hargittai, Jason Gallo, and Matthew Kane, "Cross-Ideological Discussions Among a Group of Conservative and Liberal Bloggers"

APR 12 ~~ media as social ritual in everyday life

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 289-298
James Carey, Communication as Culture, "A Cultural Approach to Communication"

APR 17 ~~ the manufacture of cultural meaning
paper due
screening: "Merchants of Cool"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 240-247

APR 19 ~~ case: media for children

David Buckingham, After the Death of Childhood, "In Search of the Child"
Kevin Sandler, "'A Kid's Gotta Do What a Kid's Gotta Do': Branding the Nickelodeon Experience"
Jon Gertner, "Hey Mom, Is It O.K. If These Guys Market Stuff to Us?" New York Times (Nov 28, 2004)

APR 24 ~~ ideology
screening: "Dreamworlds"

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 159-176

APR 26 ~~ stereotypes / homosexuality in the media

MEDIA/SOCIETY, 200-227
Joshua Gamson, "Diversity Follies" American Prospect (Jan 3, 2000)
Michael Bronski, "Invisible Exposure" Boston Phoenix (Jan 31 - Feb 7, 2002)

MAY 1 ~~ case reality TV

Ted Magder, "The End of TV 101: Reality Programs, Formats, and the New Business of Television"
Justin Lewis, "The Meaning of Real Life"

MAY 3 ~~ media ecology, participatory culture, and the remix

Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day, Information Ecologies, "Information Ecologies"

final paper due during exam week