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Description
This course is an intensive introduction to critical interpretation of the mass media and its role in contemporary society. It focuses on how “news” is manufactured; on mass media ethics; on issues of race and gender and the representation of marginalized groups; and on the relationship between media ownership and media performance. Its goal is for students to sharpen their skills both as critical and skeptical media consumers and as ethical and informed future media professionals.
Texts
Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication by Richard Campbell; Readings in Mass Communication by Kimberly Massey.
From the lecture...
The number of commercials that American teenagers will experience by the age of 14 is astounding: 300,000. Calculate in with that all of the hundreds of thousands of violent acts that American children are exposed to through media by the time they are teenagers. Should there be regulation of the media? I would argue yes, because we can only do so much as individuals. Some would argue that it is ultimately the decision of the parent. But is that enough? I am going to say no. A parent can never have complete access to their child’s cultural environment, to what they are being exposed to. 
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