BROOKLYN COLLEGE
Department of Television and Radio
MEDIA CRITICISM
TV/R 30.5W Sections EM6 (Mon, Course Code 2098) and EW6 (Wed, Course Code 3797)
Fall, 2007, 6:40pm - 9:20 pm
403a Whitehead Hall

Compact Semester Syllabus

A more detailed version of this syllabus is available online at http://davis.foulger.net/brooklyn/fall2007/mediacriticism/syllabus.htm .

Course Description

This course explores critical and theoretical approaches to understanding contemporary media, particularly mass media such as television, radio, and Internet streaming media. We will examine the meanings, pleasures, and practices associated with our production and consumption of media content.

We live in our media. We spend more time engaged in communication than we spend in any other activity, including sleeping, and there are media choices associated with every minute of that communication. In this course, you will learn how to analyze the media and the messages they enable. To do this we need to step back from the way we usually think about media and consider alternate perspectives; we need to learn how to use those perspectives to view, hear, read about, think about, discuss, and write about the media we use and the content we consume from those media.

To do so, we will survey several major methods associated with media theory and criticism. Media theory considers the ways in which, "in the words of Marshall McLuhan, "the medium is the message"; the ways in which the possibilities, uses, effects, practices associated with media imbue messages with meaning. Various methods of media criticism apply differing theoretical premises to identifying the message of the medium. The critical methods examined in this course include semiotics, narrative theory, genre theory, ideological theories, cultural studies, and media ecology.

This course is designed to help you to think about the media you use to make and consume messages. It will present a variety of of different perspectives on the media within a framework that should complement your production experiences and goals. You will be asking questions, exploring possibilities, and writing intensively (this is a writing intensive course) about difficult and sophisticated ideas, and cultivating skills that are crucial to your development not only as future media makers and storytellers, but also as participants in our evolving media culture.

Required Texts

• Allen, R.C. Channels of discourse, reassembled: Television and contemporary criticism. The University of North Carolina Press. 1994.

• Levinson, P. Digital McLuhan: a guide to the information millennium. Routledge. 2001.
• Andrea Lunsford, Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference 3rd edition + iCite CDR
  (New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006). This is a required text for all TV/Radio classes, so please retain it.

Additional Materials

• A body of content of your choosing. You will need to obtain this body of content yourself. You will view it repeatedly.

• If you don't have a VCR or DVD player at your local place of residence (dorm room, apartment, home, etc) that you can use this way, you should obtain one. VCRs and DVD players are currently available from retailers for as little as $40. DVD recorders are available for as little as $90. Portable DVD players sell for as little as $100.
• A package of 3"x5" index cards. This should cost you no more than a dollar or so.
• The Class Schedule and Assignments for this class are available on the Internet. See http://davis.foulger.info/brooklyn/fall2007/mediacriticism/index.htm.
• My Discussion Notes for this class will be available via the Internet. See http://evolutionarymedia.com/student.htm?MediaCriticismFall2007.

Learning Objectives

1. Students should understand a variety of theory-based qualitative/critical methodologies and be able to apply them to mass media content. It is expected that these methods will help students to reintegrate their existing production experience.

2. Students should demonstrate an ability to analyze mass media content using the writing style of critical academic scholarship in the field of communication.
3. Students should be able to assess the ways in which content is shaped to and by the media in which it is created and consumed; the ways in which (andreasons why) that content changes when it is repurposed to another medium.

Outcomes Assessment

Your understanding of critical methodologies and ability to analyze mass media content will be assessed through three papers comprehension of reading assignments will be evaluated through three papers which will count for 60% of your course grade. Your ability to write in the style of communication scholarship will be developed in the first two papers, but principally assessed in the third, which is worth 30% of your overall grade. Your understanding of critical methodologies and the "message of the medium" will also be tested in a single essay style exam worth 16% of your grade. Participation will be assessed through your class participation (8% of your grade), submission of questions (8% of your grade), and submission of "think" assignments (8% of your grade).

Blackboard Discussion Group

A class discussion group will be maintained on Blackboard. You can also use this group to exchange of any class-related information or questions, especially those questions you didn’t want to ask in class. Only class members can post to the forum or read messages on the forum. The most general path for accessing CUNY Blackboard is http://portal.cuny.edu. I have provided instructions, including shortcuts) for accessing Blackboard at http://evolutionarymedia.com/student.htm?BlackboardTutorial. Pointers to all of the online material for this class are available both from Blackboard and my Brooklyn student web site: http://davis.foulger.info/brooklyn.

Course Rules

1. Attendance is required for all classes, including the final exam period. Punctuality is much desired.

2. Complete reading assignments, questions, and think assignments prior to coming to class. Be prepared to discuss readings.
3. Write in your own words. Reference the ideas you use to the original sources. Plagiarism and cheating will are unacceptable.
4. Papers should be printed out for submission. Double space your papers and print them out using standard 11 point fonts (Ariel, Times Roman, and Courier are all acceptable). I will notice attempts to pad the length of your papers with oversized fonts and lines spacing and count it against you.
5. Unexcused late papers will be penalized 1/2 of a letter grade if one period late and one full grade thereafter.

Good Advice

1. The reading and writing load for this course is fairly heavy. This is intentional. TVR 30.5 is both the capstone course in Television and Radio and the department's writing course. If you can't keep up with the readings, papers, or other assignments, you may want to drop the course early on and try again in another semester.

2. Keep a copy of any paper you submit, just in case the original gets lost.
3. Write your name on the front of any assignment you submit, including questions, think assignments, and papers.
4. A ssuming you work on a computer, maintain backups of your paper in a reliable and convenient format. USB flash drives work on just about all computers now, can be readily obtained for less than $20.00, and are much less likely to fail than diskettes. Assume the worst. Maintain two backups.
5. If at any time you find yourself confused or have questions, especially in terms of the writing assignmentss, please ask me (either in class or in private) for help. One person's question may help countless others in class. If you can't meet me during my office hours, we can probably find another time.
6. Please speak with me confidentially if you have a disabling condition that may require some accommodation in class. I'm here to help.
7. Brooklyn College's Learning Center (in Boylan) is an excellent resource if you have any issues working through the writing process. They can help you develop writing strategies for any stage in the process: from planning, to drafting, to editing, to reflecting.