JO101 Mass Communication and Society

Fall 2009

Section A: Wednesdays and Fridays 10:25 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. BE113

Section B: Wednesdays and Fridays 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. BE113

Dr. David T. Z. Mindich

Tel: 654-2637; e-mail: dmindich@smcvt.edu

Office hours in Bergeron 108: Wed., Fri., 11:40 a.m. to noon and 2:15- 4 p.m; other times by appointment

Goal

Quite simply, the goal of this course is to explore various ways of looking at the mass communication media. This is facilitated by your reading, writing, and class participation, and by our community of thinkers, of which you are a crucial member.

Many mass communication courses primarily address the here and now, analyzing various aspects of the information media. We, too, will be doing a lot of this, so it will be important that you are “tuned in” to both local and national media.  However, this course will also offer a wide historical perspective for our analysis of the current media.

This course will also provide you an opportunity to examine your own assumptions about and interactions with different media. How do you define your “self” in relation to media such as television, radio, Facebook, iPods, blogs, newspapers, and the Internet?  How does your consumption of various mass media change the way you perceive your world? How does it change the ways you interact with the people around you?  And how does it inform your actions as a U.S. citizen and as a member of your various political communities?

Your responsibilities

I expect you to attend every class (on time) and to read (and reread) the assignments. Completion of this course entails completion of all work.  Beyond that, of course, I look forward to a lively exchange of ideas in your papers and in our discussions.

*Designated reader/short response

Once during the semester, you will help lead a brief discussion of an assigned reading. You are expected to come to class prepared to engage your classmates with questions and comments about the assigned reading. You should read the text very carefully and push your classmates to think in new ways about it. Included in this assignment is a one- or two-page, double-spaced (typed), response to an assigned reading.  Within this response, you should briefly put forth your critique of the author’s thoughts while also demonstrating that you are conversant with the text. Do not merely summarize.  At the end, include two questions about the readings that you might ask your classmates.

*Memorization exercise

As part of our effort to understand the difference between oral culture—where that which was not remembered was quickly forgotten—and written culture, I will ask you to memorize a passage and recite it to the class (or, for the shy, to me before or after class or during my office hours) on the due date.  If you would prefer, you may write a short essay instead, due 9/16/09. If you choose this option, see me to get the topic.  You will receive either a check or a zero on the assignment.  See page four for more details.

*Quizzes and tests             

Quizzes are of the “pop” variety; they are closed-book and closed-note.  The midterm is closed-book but open-note (feel free to bring any notes in your own handwriting; no photocopies or printed materials are allowed).  Please remember to check the New York Times every day to keep up with the news.  I do not give make-up quizzes; however, I will give you an excused absence if you have a dean’s letter or went to health services with a documented illness.  Generally speaking, you should contact me prior to class if you have a health issue.

I don’t bite!

I encourage you to stop by during office hours or to phone if you wish to discuss any aspect of the course, including how it might be improved.  It has been my experience that some of the best learning happens in small groups or in one-on-one conversations outside of class.

Readings (the books are in the bookstore)

Mindich, David. Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Follow the News. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Packet of readings in the bookstore (see syllabus)

New York Times subscription

Web-based readings: if a particular reading has an asterisk (*), please download it from the syllabi section of my Web page, http://academics.smcvt.edu/dmindich

Your final grade

I will discuss grading later in the semester.  However, the following may help you to understand my system:

10% Quizzes; 20% Midterm; 10% Oral project; 30% Paper; 30% Final Exam

This equals 100% of your preliminary grade. Then I look at participation, improvement, attendance, and other factors.  Your final grade will suffer if you have multiple unexcused absences.  Also, you will be marked absent if your cellular phone rings during class.  If you answer the call, it will count as three absences.

Mass Communication and Society—Schedule

*Readings with an asterisk (*) can be found at http://academics.smcvt.edu/dmindich

Memorization Assignment

Please choose one of the following passages to memorize and recite to the class. Below are the passages and dates. Please note your selection.

1. Khasi crier’s announcement of a divorce 9/4

Kaw-- hear, o villagers, that U_____ and K_______ have become separated in the presence of elders. Hei! thou, oh young man, canst go and make love to K_____ for she is now unmarried, and thou, oh spinster, canst make love to U______.  Hei! there is no let or hindrance from henceforth.

5. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 9/23

We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate....We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the New; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.

6. Mitchell Stephens’s A History of the News 9/25

It is difficult to examine the work of those late-nineteenth and twentieth century journalists who have dedicated themselves to the goal of impartiality without wishing at some point that they would acknowledge their inherent biases, that they would break free of the straitjacket of the inverted pyramid and the rules of attribution, that they would unsheathe their points of view and more vigorously prod and puncture....“Minds and hearts” were not turned to revolution in America by newspapers that struggled to find a balancing quote from George III.