COMM418-012
Department
of Communication
Spring, 2002
Professor
Ralph J. Begleiter
Syllabus
Readings
Course Description
Speakers
& Resources
Policies
Grading
Contact
Begleiter
The Lighter Side
This syllabus will
change during the semester, especially with regard to
possible guest speaker dates.
It's your responsibility to stay abreast of changes
announced in class and on the course web site.
Please use the course web site as your continuing course
information resource.
Shotrcuts to syllabus dates:
- March 4
- April 8
- April 29
- May 13
- Here's the Final Exam
Feb 6 (Wed)
Introduction, syllabus, assignments, readings
Videotape: "Electronic Battalions: 1975-1988"
Feb 8 (Fri)
Topic: Before Vietnam - Media & Government
Video: Eyes of the World: 1919-1945 (excerpts)
Assignment
A: How Did the Media Serve You? due Wednesday
2/13
Feb 11 (Mon)
Discussion: Before Vietnam
Video: Cold War Postscript (#4) "War of Words"
- Reading: Strobel chapter 1, pp. 19-56
Feb 13 (Wed)
The Attack! September 11, 2001
Video: The September 11 Attack
Discussion: TV coverage & roles of media
Assignment A: How Did the Media Serve You? due
today
Feb 15 (Fri)
Topic: Covering the War on Terrorism
- Readings:
Covering the War (online)
Media & terrorism (online)
Reporter Access (online)
Feb 18 (Mon)
Topic: The War on Terrorism - Battlefield of Ideas
Presentation: Battlefield of Ideas
- Readings:
Al Jazeera's Unwitting Role (online)
Hollywood & The War on Terrorism (online)
Palestinians Suppress Coverage of Celebrations (online)
War Reporting Turns Negative (online)
Assignment
B due 2/25 (Cuban Missile
Crisis)
Assignment
B due 2/25 (Cronkite/Vietnam)
Feb 20 (Wed)
Topic: The War on Terrorism - Manipulating the Media
Presentation: Manipulating the Media
Reading:
Demonizing
Afghanistan
(online)
Feb 22 (Fri) -
NO
CLASS
Assignment
C "My Lai/Vietnam" due Fri 3/1
Feb 25 (Mon)
Topic: Global Crises I (1960's)
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Video: Dateline 1962
Assignment B due: "Cronkite/Vietnam"
(1968) & "Cuban
Missile Crisis"
Be familiar with the role of the news media
Feb 27 (Wed)
Topic: Vietnam - Hinge of Media History
Presentation: Vietnam & Politics
Video: Vietnam with Walter Cronkite
Video: Vietnam Syndrome (Cold War Postscript #11)
Discussion: Vietnam's impact
Mar 1 (Fri)
Topic: 1968 Turmoil & media role in U.S. Presidential
elections
Video: "1968"
Assignment
C due: "My Lai/Vietnam"
Assignment: Assignment
D (Iran Hostage crisis due
3/8) Be familiar
with the role of the news media!
Mar
4 (Mon)
Topic: Media Patriotism in the War on Terrorism
Presentation: Media Patriotism
Reading: Begleiter
& Lambe "Wrapping the News in the Flag"
Mar 6 (Wed)
Topic: Watergate - End of Media-Government Trust
Mar 8 (Fri)
Topic: Global Crises II (1970's)
Iran Hostage Crisis
Video: Electronic Battalions
Assignment
D due: "Crisis & The Presidency: The Iran Hostage
Crisis" (1979-80).
Optional weekend assignment: View the movie "Blackhawk
Down"
Mar 11 (Mon)
International Crises - Middle East, War on Terrorism, ABC
Nightline
Mar 13 (Wed)
International Crises
Assignment E, Somalia due Monday Mar 18
Mar 15 (Fri)
International Crises
Mar 18 (Mon)
Topic: Global Crises III (1980's - 2001)
Video: Somalia soldiers
Presentation: Somalia, Afghanistan
Presentation: China Espionage Episode
Assignment E due Somalia
Reading: Strobel chapters 2 & 3 (pp 57-125)
Mar 20 (Wed)
Discussion: Somalia
Reading: Somalis
Watch "Blackhawk Down"
(online)
Mar 22 (Fri)
Topic: The CNN Effect
Reading:
• Strobel chapters 4 & 5 (pp 127 - 209)
•
Livingston, Steven. Clarifying the CNN Effect. Harvard
University Kennedy School of Government Research Paper R-18,
June, 1997.
(pdf
download)
Mar 25 (Mon)
Topic: Media "Loyalty"
Reading:
Begleiter
Notions of National Loyalty
Challenged
(online) (pdf
download)
Collings
BBC World
(online)
Mar 27 (Wed)
Topic: Johnny One Note Media (& the War on
Terrorism)
Reading:
Stories
Eclipsed
(online)
Non
Sequitur (news judgement)
(online)
Mar 29 (Fri) -
Information Overload
Non
Sequitur (overload)
(online)
(See
the rest of this 6-part comic
sequence)
SPRING RECESS
Apr
8 (Mon)
Topic: Muckraking
Assignment F issued: McCarthy & the Media due Fri 4/12
Apr 10 (Wed)
Topic: Broadcast foundations I
Videotape: "Harvest of Shame"
- Reading:
• Salant pp 1-126 and Foreword by Mike Wallace and (optional for context) Acknowledgments
• Wiley Toon "Attention Span" (online)
• Nonsequitur (history) (online)
Apr 12 (Fri)
Discussion: Broadcast foundations, when business influences
content
Video: Annie Lee Moss (VHS 4537 pt 3)
Video: The Global Eye (1989-1997)
Assignment F due ("McCarthy & the Media")
Apr 15 (Mon)
Topic: The news "business"
Video: Television News
- Reading: Time & Apple Computer (online)
Apr 17 (Wed)
Discussion: The news "business"
Assignment: Read Salant pp. 127-179 (related to "The
Insider")
Assignment
issued: Analysis paper ("The Insider") due
Mon
Apr 29
For this assignment, view the movie "The Insider" (available
at the Morris Library as DVD # 181 on reserve)
An optional class viewing of "The Insider" may be scheduled
. Please be attentive to the class schedule.
Apr 19 (Fri)
Topic: Media "bias"
Assignment: Read Salant pp. 229-273 (related to "The
Insider")
Apr 22 (Mon)
NO CLASS - time for viewing "The Insider" on your own
3:30pm - Group showing of "The Insider" (by popular demand)-
Morris Library, lower level Media Viewing Theater
Apr 24 (Wed)
Topic: Photo coverage - Ethics & Politics
Presentation: Elian Gonzales
Apr 26 (Fri)
Topic: Photo Manipulation - Is Seeing Really Believing?
Assignment: Visit these web sites:
"The
Commissar Vanishes
(Newseum)
"Two
Sides, One Story" (Berlin) (Newseum)
Apr
29 (Mon)
Discussion: "The Insider"
Assignment due: Analysis
paper ("The Insider")
due today
May 1 (Wed)
Update!
Guest
Speakers: Return to My Lai
Guests: Hugh Thompson and Lawrence Colburn, who helped
expose the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. Also Tom Anderson,
CBS News producer.
Update!
Assignment
issued: Internet
Credibility
- due May 10
May 3 (Fri)
Topic: The Wild, Wild Web
- Reading:
• "Wild Wild Web" page 4/Health The Washington Post June 1, 1999.
• O'Mahony, Daniel P. Will Future Readers have Electronic Access to the Starr Report? Article in the Brown University George Street Journal, October, 1998.
• Web News Audiences turn to established media (online)
Accompanying web audience graphic
May 6 (Mon)
Topic: The New News
- Reading:
Kalb "The Rise of The New News" (pdf download)
Rosenstiel & Kovach (Warp Speed) pp 1-98
The New News and The Washington Post (online)
May 8 (Wed)
Topic: The New News and the War on Terrorism
- Reading:
• Shales TV Making 9-11 Its Business (online)
• Kurtz Media Hype May No Longer Be Necessary (online)
Topic: Do audience ratings
drive news content? Video: "Audience and Feedback"
Assignment: Internet credibility project due May
10
Reading:
•
NYT Online Journalists are getting Rated, too
(11/11/99)
•
Zukin,
Cliff. Generation X and the News. Radio and Television News
Directors Foundation, 1997.
pp. 1-45
(pdf
download)
May 10 (Fri)
Topic: Internet Credibility
Assignment due: Internet
Credibility Project
papers due today
May
13 (Mon)
Grad student presentations - "The Book" - Media changes in
the last decade of the 20th century
May 15 (Wed) - LAST
CLASS
Topic: Conclusions & Prospects for the News Media: "The
End of News?"
Presentation: "The End of News"
- Reading:
• Samuelson, The Washington Post, "The End of News" (6/18/99)
• News weeklies Abandon Hard News (online)
Final Exams (take-home) issued today - due Mon May 20
May 17 (Fri) Optional early submission of final exam essays
May 20 (Mon) Final exam essays due by 4:00pm