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Media & Politics
POSC/COMM 340
Fall 2002

 

 

Readings
Updated 9-19-2002

Required books:

  • Sabato, Larry J. Feeding Frenzy: Attack Journalism & American Politics. Lanahan Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-9652687-8-0
  • Strobel, Warren P. Late-Breaking Foreign Policy. U.S. Institute of Peace, 1997. ISBN 1-878379-67-4.
  • Bennett, Lance. The Politics of Illusion. (5th Edition) Addison Wesley Longman, 2002. ISBN 0-321-08878-6

The News

Students in this course are expected to follow the news media regularly. The news will be discussed in class. Although a variety of media are suitable for this purpose, I direct you to The New York Times, either in hard copy or on the internet, as a consistent, high-quality source of "what's going on." Substantial-discount newspaper subscriptions are available at the Newark Newsstand. And the Times is available online with a free subscription at www.nytimes.com.

Supplemental readings
(Note: These readings may change during the semester. Visit periodically to see what's new.)

Adobe Acrobat Reader Readings marked with this logo require Adobe Acrobat Reader® on your computer. This free utility is available by clicking here. When you download these readings, they will be saved to your computer as documents with appropriate names. Once on your computer, they may be read and/or printed.

  1. Adobe Acrobat Reader Livingston, Steven. Clarifying the CNN Effect. Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Research Paper R-18, June, 1997.
  2. Adobe Acrobat Reader Kalb, Marvin. The Rise of the "New News": A Case Study of Two Root Causes of the Modern Scandal Coverage. Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. Discussion Paper D-34, October, 1998.

The Media's Own Political Role

  1. How the Media Buy Political InfluenceAdobe Acrobat Reader
  2. Caving to a Cash Cow

Political TV Advertising, hopscotching through history

Election 2000 vote-counting debacle

  1. Was the media to blame? (Washington Post)
  2. In case you've forgotten how it happened...
    NYT Final Report on How Bush Took the 2000 Election

Media & the War on Terrorism after Sept 11, 2001

  1. Controlling Media Coverage of the War in Afghanistan
  2. Pluchinsky on Media Treason
  3. Kovach on Media Patriotism
  4. Election year politics and the war on terrorism
  5. Politics of the war on terrorism (Apple)
  6. Using local TV for national politics

Yugoslavia-related

  1. NYT Our Humanity vs. Their Sovereignty
  2. WashPost USIA Sets Its Sites on Yugoslavia
  3. NYT Russians See and Read Another Slant to the War
  4. NYT NATO Plans Kosovo Media Controls
  5. WashPost U.S. Plans Media Blitz in Macedonia (8/17/01)
  6. NYTimes Serb TV Switches Allegiances (12/17/2000)

China related

  1. U.S. helps Chinese evade web censorship

Media & Military

  1. Gowing "Media Coverage: Help or Hindrance"
  2. (optional) Public Reaction to U.S. Military Casualties (Kull & Ramsay)

Middle East-related

  1. Baltimore Sun: Window on the Arab World
  2. Middle East Government Media Face Independent Competition (Begleiter)
  3. White House Report on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

Optional readings:

  1. Pew public opinion poll 9-19-02
  2. Keohane & Nye "Power and Interdependence in the Information Age"
  3. Preventing Deadly Conflict (Carnegie Commission)
  4. "Equipped for the Future"Adobe Acrobat Reader
  5. WashPost Overholser Talking Through Their Hats
  6. NYTimes "Penny Pinchers" by Thomas Friedman
  7. Baker, James A. The Politics of Diplomacy. Putnam, 1995. ISBN 0-399-14087-5.
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