COMS 225

MEDIA INSTITUTIONS AND POLICIES
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
DEPT. OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
PROFESSOR LESLIE REGAN SHADE
FALL 2007
Tuesdays, 1:15-4
CJ 4.320
Office: Loyola, CJ 4.407
Email: lshade@alcor.concordia.ca
Tel: 848-2424 x2550
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 12-1; and by appointment

COURSE OBJECTIVES
Calendar description: “This course introduces students to the analysis of the institutional, political, and economic forces that have shaped the development of media during the twentieth century. Attention is given to the ownership structures, corporate practices, and state policy interventions affecting media institutions in both the public and private sectors. A particular focus is given to the interrelations between Cultural, Multicultural, and Communication Policy interventions.”

Specific objectives of this course will be to:

• Introduce students to critical (e.g., political economic and policy) perspectives within communication studies, both historical and theoretical
• Encourage students to ask basic questions about the multi-faceted nature of media institutions and policies, including a range of communication technologies and specific policy initiatives and issues
• Allow students to develop a critical perspective and apply this through the development of research and critical writing skills

READINGS
A course reader has been prepared by Eastman and is available for purchase at the Loyola Bookstore. Additional readings are available online and through the Concordia University Library (CLUES). Students are responsible for procuring all of these readings.

ASSIGNMENTS

Course participation: 10%
Students are expected to come to class on a weekly basis and be prepared to participate in interactive discussions and debates on the weekly topic and course materials. Attendance is required. Please notify me in advance if you must miss a class, and if you are ill.

Weekly Reading Questions: 10%
For each reading, students must submit at the beginning of the class a short question based on the individual readings. These will be used to generate class discussions on the weekly themes.

In-class presentation: 10%
Each student is asked to present a brief overview of one reading in class to generate discussion and debate. 10 min. max.

Research Exercises: 3 @ 15% each = 45%
Due dates: October 2, November 6, and November 20
Students are asked to choose three weekly themes, and for each theme locate five relevant bibliographic resources that are applicable and relevant. These resources can include academic articles, books, book chapters, newspaper and magazine articles, relevant blog and web resources, government documents, and/or policy briefs from government or non-governmental resources.

Research Essay: 25%
Due in class November 27
Length: 1500-words — 2000 words max, including references. Choose a topic of your choice based on the weekly themes. Combine with one of your bibliographic exercises.

COMS 225 WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Week 2: September 11
Studying Media Institutions and Policies

Sheryl Hamilton, Considering Critical Communication Studies in Canada, pp. 9-27 and…

Anne-Marie Kinahan, From British Invasions to American Influences: Cultural Studies in Canada, pp. 28-43 in Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communication, 2nd ed., edited P. Attallah and LR Shade. Toronto: Nelson Thomson, 2006. (RP)

Vincent Mosco. The Political Economy Tradition of Media Research. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, Toronto, August 2004. (RP)

Week 3: September 18
Media Policy – Issues & Trends

Darin Barney. The Politics of Communication Technology in Canada, pp. 24-67 in Communication Technology. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. (RP)

Des Freedman. Dynamics of Power in Contemporary Media Policy-Making. Media, Culture & Society 28(6) (2006): 907-923. (CLUES)

Week 4: September 25
Media Concentration

Insert: The National Entertainment State. The Nation (July 3, 2006). URL: www.thenation.com/special/2006_entertainment.pdf

Eric Klinenberg. Introduction and Chapter 1, The Empty Studio, pp. 1-36 in Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media. NY: Metropolitan Books, 2007. (RP)

David Skinner & Mike Gasher. So Much By So Few: Media Policy & Ownership in Canada, pp. 51 -96 in Converging Media, Diverging Politics: Political Economy of News Media in the United States & Canada. Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2005. (RP)

Week 5: October 2
Media Moguls

Ken Auletta. Promises, Promises. The New Yorker (July 2, 2007): 43-51. URL: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/07/02/070702fa_fact_auletta. See also www.kenauletta.com

LR Shade. Aspergate: Concentration, Convergence and Censorship in the Canadian News Media, p. 101-116 in Converging Media, Diverging Politics: Political Economy of News Media in the United States & Canada. Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2005. (RP)

CBC News. Conrad Black: The Rise and Fall of a Media Baron.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/black_conrad/rise-fall.html

Week 6: October 9
Web 2.0 and All That Jazz

Ben McGrath. It Should Happen to You: Fame, The YouTube Way. The New Yorker (October 16, 2006): 86-95. URL: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016fa_fact

Stacy Schiff. Know It All: Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise? The New Yorker (July 31, 2006): 36-43. URL: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/31/060731fa_fact

Jonathan Dee. All the News That’s Fit to Print Out. The New York Times Magazine (July 1, 2007): 34-39. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01WIKIPEDIA-t.html?ex=1185940800&en=6eb7f669a27abd53&ei=5070

Week 7: October 16
Screens of Plenty

Henry Jenkins. Introduction: Worship at the Altar of Convergence, pp. 1-24 in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. NY: New York University Press, 2006. (RP)

David Denby. Big Pictures: Hollywood Looks for a Future. The New Yorker (January 8, 2007). URL: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/01/08/070108crat_atlarge_denby

Toby Miller. Gaming For Beginners. Games and Culture (January 2006) 1(1): 5-12. (CLUES)

Place: Networked Place. Kazys Varnelis and Anne Friedberg. Forthcoming in Networked Publics, by the Networked Publics Research Group, Annenberg Center for Communication, University of Southern California, Edited by Kazys Varnelis. URL: http://networkedpublics.org/book/place

Week 8: October 23
Stealth Marketing

Jeff Chester. Ch. 7, The Brandwashing of America: Marketing and Micropersuasion in the Digital Era, pp. 127-158 in Digital Destiny: New Media & the Future of Democracy. NY: The Free Press, 2007. (RP)

Sara M. Grimes and Leslie Regan Shade. Neopian Economics of Play: Children’s Cyberpets and Online Communities as Immersive Advertising in Neopets.com. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics (2005) 1(2): 181-198. (CLUES)

Week 9: October 30
Whose Intellectual Property?

Christine Harold. Pirates & Hijackers: Creative Publics & the Politics of ‘Owned Culture’, pp. 113-132 in Our Space: Resisting the Corporate Control of Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007. (RP)

Jack Goldsmith & Tim Wu. Ch. 7, The Filesharing Movement, pp. 105-135 in Who Controls the Internet: Illusions of a Borderless World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. (RP)

Week 10: November 6
Tabloidization, Titillation & Technologies

Neil Henry. Ch 1, American Carnival, pp. 19-61 in American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media. LA, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. (RP)

Susan J. Douglas. The Turn Within: The Irony of Technology in a Globalized World. American Quarterly (September 2006): 619-638. (CLUES)

Week 11: November 13
Diversity of Voices?

Margaret Gallagher. Feminist Issues and the Global Media System, pp. 17-32 in Feminist Interventions in International Communication: Minding the Gap, ed. Katharine Sarikakis and Leslie Regan Shade. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008. (RP)

Scott Uzelman. Hard at Work in the Bamboo Garden: Media Activists & Social Movements, pp. in Autonomous Media: Activating Resistance & Dissent, edited by Andrea Langlois and Frédéric Dubois. Montreal: Cumulus Press, 2005. URL: http://www.cumuluspress.com/

Week 12: November 20
The Media Reform Movement

William H. Dutton. Hired Gun or Partner in Media Reform: High Noon for the Social Scientist. Social Science Research Council Background Paper for Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere, 2005. URL: http://programs.ssrc.org/media/background/

Sean Condon. Taming the Watchdogs of Media Concentration. Adbusters #72 (July-August 2007). URL: http://www.adbusters.org/the_magazine/72/Taming_the_Watchdogs_of_Media_Concentration.html

Week 13: November 27
Course wrap-up