Course Objectives
 By the end of the quarter, you should have acquired a critical awareness of how the U.S. mass media operate and a critical awareness of media content.  In particular, you should acquire:

• an understanding of the societal environment in which the media operate, with a particular emphasis on economics, government/politics and culture.  You should be able to see how this broader environment shapes media content. Theme 1: Media content is shaped in part by external societal forces.
• an understanding of media production processes (media business practices, news-gathering norms, objectivity, personnel, etc.) and their influence on content. Theme 2: Media content is shaped in part by the media's own production processes.
• an overview of key issues and problems in U.S. mass media today.
• an overview of the future of U.S. mass media.  What can we expect in the next 5-15 years?  How will these changes (often driven by technology or economics) affect information?  privacy?

• key issues in contemporary mass media, with an emphasis on economics, government-press relations and broad cultural concerns,
• media as businesses, the nature of media competition, entertainment and news,
• movies, television, newspapers and the Internet.

· Why does "Media Reality" differ from "Real Life" Reality? What are the factors that create "Media Reality"? Who is at risk if Media Reality is perceived as Reality?
· Are the media liberal? Conservative? Objective?
· Why would some maintain that the Super Bowl is the single most important TV show of the entire year? 
· What are "reality" shows (e.g., Survivor, Fear Factor, Temptation Island)? Will this format persist? Are they really about reality? Why have we had so many of them in the past 2-3 years?
· Why has a new genre of snows emerged (one hour soap/drama hybrids, such as Ally McBeal, Buffy, Angel, Dawson's Creek)?
· Why did the news media cover the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal as a lurid soap opera? 
· Why are the WB and UPN networks representative of U.S. television today? 
· Are the U.S. media really "free" and uncensored? if not, what are the constraints on the information we get from the media? How well do media serve U.S. democracy?
· Do the U.S. media reflect the diversity of American life? If not, why not?
· How has the rise of cable TV influenced the older networks (NBC, ABC and CBS)? What has been the impact of cable television on television in general? 
· Why has there been so much controversy over Napster? 
· Will the Internet replace more traditional media (such as newspapers and books)? 
 

Required Texts 

1. Weekly readings
Most of the course readings are posted on the web page. The readings are a selection of contemporary articles on mass media - including information on contemporary movies, television, etc. These were selected to give you important up-to-date information about media industries and issues.

Weekly reading guides are posted, too, to help you with these readings.

2. Lecture Notes. Full texts of each day's lectures will be posted before class. All material in these notes are part of the required course reading, even if not covered during class time. 

3. William A. Hachten. The Troubles of Journalism: A Critical Look at What's Right and Wrong with the Press. Erlbaum, 2nd edition. Paperback. I picked this book because it provides a good overview of key issues in journalism today, particularly regarding news. This book is required; it is available at the University Book Store.

The course web page also includes other materials useful to you, including sample exams and links to media web sites.

RETURN TO THE TOP

Readings and Lectures
Week 1. April 1-5, 2002.
Introductions, over-view on media effects, freedom of the press, ownership, media conglomerates.
Online Readings:
1) Journalists Protest Zimbabwe Bill to Curb Media
2) Teen's Violent Software Modifications Are Criticized by Child Advocates
3) Mergermania 2000: "There Can Only Be One!"
4) Vivendi Chief Takes Steps With Two Deals
5) Murdoch's Mean Machine
6) Media Conglomerates

7) Puget Sound Media 

8) Hachten, Chapter 3 "Freedom of the Press: Theory and Values" (pp29-43)
 

Week 2. April 8-12, 2002.
Lectures will focus on media ownership issues, movies.
Online Readings:
1) Schizophrenia and "Beautiful Mind."
2) From Math to Madness and Back

3) Hachten: Chapter 5, "Bigger, Fewer and More Like-Minded" (pp. 57-75).

Week 3. April 15-19, 2002.
Lectures will focus on contemporary movies, Disney, gender images in movies.
Online Readings:
1) Box Office Records Mask…
2) In the Movies, Women Age Faster
3) Why Did "The Majestic" Turn Into a Catastrophe?
4) Harry Potter and the Coca-Cola Controversy
5) The Toy War for Holiday Movies
6) Harry Potter Merchandise!

7.- Internet Film rentals alarm Hollywood

On Pressure Groups:

7) 12 Reasons Not to See the Harry Potter Movie

8) Attacks on Disney

 9) One Million Moms

10) GLAAD

Optional but recommended: The Top 50-Grossing Films of 2001
 

Week 4. April 22-26, 2002. Exam #1 will be on Tuesday, April 23.
Lectures will focus on contemporary movies, independent film, TV history.

Readings:

1.- AOL Gains Cable Rights in China by Omitting News, Sex and Violence

Optional but recommended (on web page): 
1. Robert Redford's Movie Heaven (to give you a sense of Sundance, one of the key independent film festivals in the U.S.)
2.- Film Festivals (to give you an idea of some of the independent film festivals in U.S.)

Other suggestions on Independent Film Makers:

1. Nancy Savoca is a great film-maker. Household Saints, Dogfight
2. Pratibha Parmar. Warrior Marks was very good.
3. Kimberly Peirce.  Boys Don't Cry
4. Julie Taymor. Frida (2002) not out yet. Titus (1999). Tempest(1986)
5. Mary Harron.American Psycho. I Shot Andy Warhol
6. Ulrike Ottinger. Joan of Arc of Mongolia is one of the best films ever.

Exam 1: Tuesday, April 23..

Week 5. April 29 - May 3, 2002.
Lectures will focus on contemporary television.
 

Online Readings:

1.- ABC Cancels a Planned Reality Show

2.- NBC to Show Playmates During Super Bowl

3.- November Sweeps: Audiences Say Aye to Eye in Sweep

4.- Oxygen Media

5.- NBC and the Family Hour

6.- Television and Race, 2001

7.- NBC and Sports Programming

8.- Reality TV

9.- CBS wins week with youth movement

10.- NBC to allow liquor ads

11.- TV Problems for Fox and ABC

12.- At NBC, They've Left the Family Hour off the Clock

13.- MTV and Showtime Plan Cable Channel for Gay Viewers

Week 6. May 6-10, 2002.
Lectures will focus on contemporary television, legal limits on the press.
 

Online Readings

1.- Access Limits Were an Error, Pentagon says                        

2.- In the War on Terrorism, a Battle to Shape Public Opinion

Week 7. May 13-17, 2002 Exam #2 will be Tuesday, May 14.
Lectures will focus on the ideal of a free press, definitions of news, external influences on news
Readings: See web page for on-line readings plus:

1.- The Seattle Times At war with the media Both sides claim bias in coverage of Middle East

Hachten: Introduction (xv-xxviii), Chapter 1, "Best News Media in the World?" (pp 1-13), Chapter 2, "Global Impact of American Media," (pp. 14-28).

Exam 2. Tuesday, May 14.
 

Week 8. May 20-24, 2002. 
Lectures will focus on news and politics, local news, race and news.
Readings:

 
Online reading:

1.- News media Risk Big Losses to Cover War

4.- Hachten, Chapters 6,7,8,9 and 11 (pp. 76-125; 139-155)

Optional but recommended:

5.- No Quick Fix to Fighting Pornography on the Internet

6.- Another Go at Kid Porn Law

Week 9. May 27-30, 2002.
Lectures will focus on the Internet and the future of communication.
 

Online readings

1.- The Search for Intelligent Life on the Internet

9.- Hachten: Chapters 12 and 14 (pp. 156-167 and 181-188).

Optional but recommended: E-mail after 30 years

Week 10. June 3-7, 2002.
Lectures will focus on new media.

Third exam: Thursday, June 6, 2002. 
 

RETURN TO THE TOP
 
 

Grading System 
The class grade draws on exams, papers and discussion. How much you do, and how well you perform in each assignment, will determine your grade. You choose the amount of work you want to do; you choose the grade you want to shoot for. The number of points you acquire determines your grade (e.g., if you acquire 350 points, you get a 3.5; if you acquire 150 points, you get a 1.5). There are three exams (each worth 90 points, for a total of 270 points), two papers (each worth 50 points) and the discussion sections (worth 30 points). If you get the maximum points available in each of these, you will get a 4.0. 

There will also be 1 or 2 extra credit assignments offered, probably worth 10 points each.

Exams. There will be three exams, each worth 90 points (total possible from exams: 270). 
Exam 1: 100 points. Date: Tuesday, April 23.
Exam 2: 100 points. Date: Tuesday, May 14.
Exam 3: 100 points. Date: Thursday, June 6, 2002. 

There will be no early exams. Exams will be a combination of multiple choice and matching. A sample exam will be available on the course web page. Study guides will be available just before exams

There will be two papers (3-4 pages long), each worth 50 points.

There will be 30 points possible in discussion sections.

The extra credit options will be announced later. There will be at least one, and perhaps two.

RETURN TO THE TOP
 
 

Rules of the Road
Lectures will be posted on the course web page prior to class; attendance at lecture is not required.  When you attend, plan on participating in class by listening or discussing when appropriate.   Do not engage in disruptive activity, which includes (but is not limited to) extensive talking, reading a newspaper or magazine, using a phone.  Disruptive students will be expelled from the room. The UW Student Conduct Code specifies: "An instructor has the authority to exclude a student from any class in which the student is disorderly or disruptive. If the student persists in the disorderly or disruptive conduct, the instructor should report the matter to the dean of the school or college in which the student is enrolled."

Class will always end by 3:10 p.m.; lecture will never go beyond that time. Wait until 3:10 p.m. to prepare to leave the room. Do not start your preparations at 3:05 or you will miss the summary points in the lecture and you will disrupt others.

If you find that you cannot adhere to these policies, you will want to find another course this quarter.

Changing your section:  Only official changes, through the registrar, will be allowed. This policy avoids a great deal of confusion and ultimately protects students by (a) keeping your records in one place and (b) keeping discussion section sizes uniform.

RETURN TO THE TOP
 
 

The Instructor

Gerald J. Baldasty.   I attended UW as an undergrad, majoring in Communications.  As a college student and new graduate, I worked for my hometown newspaper (the Spokesman-Review) and for the Portland Oregonian.  I earned a master's degree in Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and returned to UW for my Ph.D.  I've been on the UW faculty since 1978.  I teach courses on media history, on gender, race and media and  on research methods.  My research interests include (a) media economics (b) media, race and gender and (c) the ideology of news.   My publications include two books: The Commercialization of News in the Nineteenth Century (1992) and E.W. Scripps and the Business of Newspapers (1999). 

 My chief goal in this course is to help you develop a critical awareness of the mass media. I want you to understand how the media operate (production, news process) and to recognize that media content is socially constructed (meaning: it does not mirror actual events in our society; it is usually not real).  I want you to leave this class at the end of the quarter with improved critical viewing and reading skills.  The chief question in the student evaluations at the end of the quarter will be this:  Are you a more critical and aware media consumer than you were at the start of the quarter?

RETURN TO THE TOP
 
 

Teaching Assistants

Maria Garrido (Lead TA) migarrid@u.washington.edu

Sections -->  AB and AJ

Office Hours: W 11:30-12:30 Th 12:00-1:00 and by appointment CMU Room 241

Irina  Gendelman  irinag@u.washington.edu

Sections -->  AA, AE, AH and AL

Office Hours: T 3:30-4:30 and Th 12:15-1:15 and by appointment CMU Room 243

Hazel Lin  yclin@u.washington.edu

Sections --> AC, AF, AK and AN

Office Hours: M T 12:30-1:30 and by appointment CMU Room 121

Kelly Aldrich kaldrich@u.washington.edu 

Sections --> AG, AR, AM, AO

Office Hours: W 1:30-3:20 and by appointment CMU Room 241

Nicole Kim yjkim121@u.washington.edu

Sections --> AD, AI, AQ, AP

Office Hours: T TH 11:30 -12:30 and by appointment CMU Room 251

RETURN TO THE TOP