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Media and Society

Purpose of Course  showclose

Course Information  showclose

Learning Outcomes  showclose

Course Requirements  showclose

• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Unit 6
• Unit 7
• Unit 8
• Unit 9
• Unit 10
• Unit 11
• Final Exam
• All Units

Unit Outline show close

Unit 1: Mass Media as a Cultural Industry  
We can think of mass communication as an activity, something people do to get messages across to other people. That’s true if we consider only the simplest definitions of mass communication and mass media. But the messages produced by media organizations become part of our culture. In many instances, they are efforts to change our culture, or even create new cultures of community or of the mind. In this unit, we will explore the history and development of media and culture, and we will examine how the two are intertwined in our lives. We also will look at a framework for analyzing media messages using the concepts of media literacy. 
Unit 1 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 1 Learning Outcomes   show close

1.1 Mass Media as a Cultural Industry  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Introduction: ‘The Lost Cell Phone’,” and “Section 1.1: Intersection of American Media and Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Introduction: “The Lost Cell Phone,” and “Section 1.1: Intersection of American Media and Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Click on the link above to access the full text, or if you prefer, you may download the text by visiting Saylor’s Bookshelf and clicking “DOC” beneath the book’s title.
   
  Read the introduction to Chapter 1, “The Lost Cell Phone” on pages 4-7, and Section 1.1, “Intersection of American Media and Culture” on pages 8-11, paying special attention to the definitions of mass media and culture.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes. 
  
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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1.1.1 Key Definitions  
1.1.1.1 Defining Culture  
• Lecture: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 2, Part 1: What is Culture?”; “Part 2: Developing a Common Culture”; and “Part 3: The Functions and Effects of Culture”

  Link: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 2, Part 1: What is Culture?”(YouTube); “Part 2: Developing a Common Culture” (YouTube);and “Part 3: The Functions and Effects of Culture”(YouTube)
   
  Also available in iTunes
   
  Instructions: Each video is a lecture on some aspect of media and culture. Listen carefully to these lectures, and try to relate Professor Dugas’s thoughts on culture with what you’ve read so far in Understanding Media and Culture. Take notes as needed.
   
  Watching these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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1.1.1.2 Defining Mass Communication and Mass Media  
• Lecture: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 3, Part 1: The Communication Process”; “Part 2b: Communications Settings”; and “Part 3: The Nature of Mass Communication”

  Link: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 3, Part 1: The Communication Process” (YouTube); “Part 2b: Communications Settings” (YouTube); and “Part 3: The Nature of Mass Communication” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in iTunes
   
  Instructions: Listen carefully to these lectures. Professor Dugas goes into great detail analyzing mass media with models that apply to all media. Take notes as needed.
   
  Watching these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.1.2 A Brief History of Media and Culture  
1.1.2.1 How Media Has Evolved  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 2: How Did We Get Here? The Evolution of Media,” and “Section 3: How Did We Get Here? The Evolution of Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 2: How Did We Get Here? The Evolution of Media,” and “Section 3: How Did We Get Here? The Evolution of Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Section 2 on pages 11-22 and Section 3 on pages 22-27. The development of mass media since the advent of the printing press has gone in step with changes in culture. As you read these sections, try to connect the two along parallel tracks.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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1.1.2.2 The Cultural Times We Live In  
• Web Media: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 3: New Media Landscapes, Part 6a” and “Part 6b”

  Link: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 3: New Media Landscapes, Part 6a”(YouTube) and “Part 6b” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in iTunes
   
  Instructions: Listen carefully to these lectures and try to connect Professor Dugas’s ideas with what you’ve read in Understanding Media and Culture.
   
  Watching these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.2 Convergence and the Changing Media Landscape  
1.2.1 The Five Types of Convergence  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 4: Media Mix: Convergence”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 4: Media Mix: Convergence” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Section 4 on pages 27-32, taking notes on Henry Jenkins’s five types of convergence. Then connect that information with the next reading.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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1.2.2 Convergence as Culture  
• Reading: University of Southern California: Henry Jenkins’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan: Convergence and Divergence: Two Parts of the Same Process

  Link: University of Southern California: Henry Jenkins’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan: “Convergence and Divergence: Two Parts of the Same Process” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Jenkins makes the case in his blog entry that we overemphasize technological convergence (television on your cell phone), which might, in fact, be the least important type of convergence. He emphasizes how convergence is a cultural process.
   
  Reading this post should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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1.2.3 Transmedia and Worlds of Culture  
• Reading: University of Southern California: Henry Jenkins’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan: Transmedia Storytelling 101

  Link: University of Southern California: Henry Jenkins’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan: “Transmedia Storytelling 101”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Dr. Jenkins, in his blog, defines and explains transmedia. This reading should be considered alongside the following web media.
   
  Reading this post should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: Vimeo: Nikos Katsaounis’s “Henry Jenkins on Transmedia”

  Link: Vimeo: Nikos Katsaounis’s “Henry Jenkins on Transmedia”(Vimeo)
   
  Instructions: In the video above, Henry Jenkins discusses the effects of transmedia on society. Consider this alongside the previous reading, and think of other ways a transmedia strategy has been used to bring about social change.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to Nikos Katsaounis, and the original version can be found here.

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1.3 The Cultural Industries  
1.3.1 Media Shapes Our Values, and We Shape Media  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 5: Cultural Values Shape Media; Media Shape Cultural Values”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture (PDF): “Chapter 1, Section 5: Cultural Values Shape Media; Media Shape Cultural Values”
   
  Instructions: Section 1.5 on pages 32-38 approaches the interaction of culture and media from a First Amendment perspective. Keep what he says in mind as you read and try to connect it to the subunits that follow.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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1.3.2 The Intersection of Media and Culture  
• Lecture: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 4: The Interaction of Mass Media and Mass Culture, Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”

  Link: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 4: The Interaction of Mass Media and Mass Culture, Part 1”(YouTube), “Part 2” (YouTube), and “Part 3” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  iTunes
   
  Instructions: In his lectures, Professor Dugas discusses the process of socialization. See if you can discover where his thoughts connect with the approach taken in Chapter 1, Section 5 (pages 32-38) of Understanding Media and Culture.
   
  Watching these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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1.3.3 Pop Culture and the Media  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 6: Mass Media and Popular Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 6: Mass Media and Popular Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 1, Section 6 on pages 38-47, where the author defines pop culture as the media, products, and attitudes considered to be part of the mainstream of a given culture and the everyday life of common people. But he is trying to nail down something that doesn’t hold still, and the definition does not differentiate between culture (something lasting) and taste (something fleeting).
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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1.3.4 Pop Culture and Politics  
• Web Media: Truthout: Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.’s “How Pop Culture Influences Political Expectations”

  Link: Truthout: Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.’s “How Pop Culture Influences Political Expectations” (Vimeo)
   
  Instructions: Earlier in this course we watched a video in which Henry Jenkins discussed the Obama campaign as a successful use of transmedia. Watch this discussion, in which Bill Moyers and Neil Gabler talk about the effects of pop culture on the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign’s use of media also illustrates the concerns expressed in Understanding Media and Culture about how Internet culture allows organizations to bypass the gatekeeping function of mass media.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.4 Media Literacy  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 1, Section 7: Media Literacy”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture (PDF): “Chapter 1, Section 7: Media Literacy”
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 1, Section 7 (pages 47-52) to gain a basic understanding of media literacy and how you can adopt this approach to view media with a critical eye.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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1.4.1 Digital Media Literacy  
• Reading: Media Smarts: Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy’s The Intersection of Digital and Media Literacy and Digital Literacy Fundamentals

  Link: Media Smarts: Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy’s “The Intersection of Digital and Media Literacy” (HTML) and “Digital Literacy Fundamentals” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: These readings discuss how digital media has made becoming media literate a more difficult task. The Internet culture complicates the questions of who created a message and what values, lifestyles, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, the message.
   
  Reading these articles and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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1.4.2 The Responsible Media Citizen  
• Reading: Henry Jenkins’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan: OurSpace: Being a Responsible Citizen of the Digital World (Part One)

  Link: Henry Jenkins’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan: “OurSpace: Being a Responsible Citizen of the Digital World (Part One)” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Media literacy is of profound interest to many teachers, who use media but also compete with it for the attention of their students. Read Henry Jenkins’s ideas on why teaching media literacy is important in a democratic society as young people possess greater and greater power to communicate through digital means.
   
  Reading this post should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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Unit 1 Assignments:  
Unit 1 Assessments  
Unit 2: Media Effects  
According to a 2010 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children 8 to 18 years old use entertainment media for an average of 7 hours 38 minutes in a typical day, more than 53 hours a week. For much of that time, children are using more than one medium, so they are exposed to 10 hours 45 minutes of media content in those 7½ hours.[i] Children are the most impressionable of media consumers, but the media and their content affect our entire culture. This unit will cover a few of the main theories of media effects, but as you’ll discover, these theories are controversial in that media effects are so difficult to study.



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[i]“Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically From Five Years Ago,” Kaiser Family Foundation, last modified Jan. 20, 2010. www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia012010nr.cfm
Unit 2 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 2 Learning Outcomes   show close

2.1 Media Effects  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Introduction: Harry Potter and the Media Bogeyman” and “Section 1: Mass Media and Its Messages”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Introduction: Harry Potter and the Media Bogeyman” and “Section 2.1: Mass Media and Its Messages” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 2, Section 1 on pages 58-70 carefully and keep it in mind as you proceed through this unit. Pay particular attention to the first part, from the subheading “Propaganda and Persuasion” on page 58 to “Media Effects and Behavior” on page 60.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.
   
  Note: This reading applies to all of subunit 2.1. Take careful notes and review as needed.

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2.1.1 Media Affects and Reflects Culture  
2.1.1.1 Techniques of Propaganda  
• Reading: George Mason University: Andy McDonald and Lene Palmer’s “Propaganda Techniques” and “Other Techniques”

  Link: George Mason University: Andy McDonald and Lene Palmer’s “Propaganda Techniques” (HTML) and “Other Techniques” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: We think of propaganda as something from George Orwell’s novel 1984, but the methods of propaganda are used every day in commercial messages. Read about the types of propaganda techniques.
   
  Reading these articles and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.

  Submit Materials

• Web Media: YouTube: “Chrysler Eminem Super Bowl Commercial − Imported From Detroit”

  Link: YouTube: “Chrysler Eminem Super Bowl Commercial -Imported From Detroit” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Propaganda differs from advertising in that propaganda’s goal is to change opinions while advertising’s goal is to sell a product. But what do you make of this commercial, considered by many the best from the 2011 Super Bowl? What claims is the advertiser making about the city of Detroit? The advertiser obviously believes changing opinions about a city is as important as selling the product.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.1.1.2 Brave New Persuasive Technique  
• Reading: PBS Frontline: Mary Carmichael’s “Neuromarketing: Is It Coming to a Lab Near You?”

  Link: PBS Frontline: Mary Carmichael’s “Neuromarketing: Is It Coming to a Lab Near You?”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: This reading is a prime example of why we need to be media literate; we have to know how the media industry tries to influence our behavior. Mary Carmichael’s article describes how researchers are scanning our brains to find the best persuasive techniques.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: PBS Frontline: “Interview: Clotaire Rapaille”

  Link: PBS Frontline: “Interview: Clotaire Rapaille” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Like the previous reading, this one highlights how the media industry tries to influence our behavior. Clotaire Rapaille helps Fortune 500 companies discover the unconscious associations for their products that will help them sell to consumers.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.1.2 A Violent View of the World  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 2.1. Please review pages 60-70 of Understanding Media and Culture, beginning with “Media Effects and Behavior.” Reviewing this selection and studying your notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
2.1.2.1 Does Television Kill?  
• Reading: The Center for Media Literacy: George Gerbner’s “TV Violence and the Art of Asking the Wrong Question”

  Link: The Center for Media Literacy: George Gerbner’s “TV Violence and the Art of Asking the Wrong Question”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Professor Gerbner studied the effects of television violence using his cultivation theory. In this article, he proposes changing the question from whether television incites violence to asking what cultural forces have contributed to an increase in television violence.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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2.1.2.2 What the Doctors Say About Television and Children  
• Reading: American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Public Education’s “Media Violence”

  Link: American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Public Education’s “Media Violence” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This committee of the Academy of Pediatrics clearly believes a link exists between television violence and the real kind. Pay special attention to what the committee recommends for television viewing.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.1.3 Media Stereotypes  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 2.1. Review the part of chapter 2, section 1 from Understanding Media and Culturetitled “Cultural Messages in the Media (pages 62-63). Reviewing this selection and studying your notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
2.1.3.1 Gender Stereotypes and Super Bowl Ads  
• Web Media: The Kojo Nnamdi Show: “Gender Stereotyping in TV Ads”

  Link: The Kojo Nnamdi Show: “Gender Stereotyping in TV Ads” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Click the “Listen” button to hear host Kojo Nnamdi talk with advertising experts about gender stereotypes in Super Bowl commercials, then watch the six ads they discuss.
   
  Watching/listening to this web media and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.1.3.2 Television and Teen Pregnancy  
• Reading: Pediatrics: Rebecca L. Collins, Mark N. Elliott, et al.’s “Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior”

  Link: Pediatrics: Rebecca L. Collins, Mark N. Elliott, et al.’s “Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As you read the study from Pediatrics on the effects of media consumption on teenage sexual behavior, keep in mind what you heard from Kojo Nnamdi and his guests. The article is typical of media-effects research and is heavy on statistics. Skim the sections on methods to get an idea of how media research is carried out, but read the results and discussion carefully.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.1.4 The Internet and Its Possible Effects  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 2.1. Review Understanding Media and Culture, Chapter 2, Section 1: “New Media and Society” (pages 63-66). Reviewing this selection and studying your notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
• Web Media: TED Talks: Clay Shirky’s “Institutions vs. Collaboration” and “How Cellphones, Twitter, Facebook Can Make History”

  Link: TED Talks: Clay Shirky’s “Institutions vs. Collaboration” (Adobe Flash) and “How Social Media Can Make History” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Watch these two videos from innovative thinker Clay Shirky on why the Internet is different from other mass media in how it allows us to reach others and form groups. Along with what the textbook says, try to form a mental model of how the Internet might affect our cultural values and political practices.
   
  Watching these videos and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: These resources are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. They are attributed to TED, and the original versions can be found here and here.

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2.2 Media Effects Theories  
2.2.1 The Main Theories  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Section 2: Media Effects Theories”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Section 2: Media Effects Theories” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 2, Section 2 on pages 70-77 provides good summaries of media effects theories. Communication research journals include hundreds of studies using agenda setting, uses and gratification, symbolic interactionism, spiral of silence, media logic, or cultivation analysis for a theoretical basis. Try to form an understanding of each theory, and then concentrate especially on cultivation analysis.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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2.2.2 Cultivation Theory Applied  
2.2.2.1 Revisit the Teen Pregnancy Study  
• Reading: Pediatrics: Rebecca L. Collins, Mark N. Elliott, et al.’s “Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth”

  Link: Pediatrics: Rebecca L. Collins, Mark N. Elliott, et al.’s “Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Review this study that was assigned in subunit 2.1.3.2, this time concentrating on the theoretical section. What assumptions does cultivation theory make about audiences and how they watch and absorb content?
   
  Reviewing this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.2.2.2 Revisit George Gerbner’s Research on Television and Violence  
• Reading: The Center for Media Literacy: George Gerbner’s “TV Violence and the Art of Asking the Wrong Question”

  Link: The Center for Media Literacy: George Gerbner’s “TV Violence and the Art of Asking the Wrong Question” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This article by George Gerbner and the study from the journal Pediatrics both use cultivation analysis to explore “whether those who spend more time with television are more likely than lighter viewers to perceive the real world in ways that reflect common and repetitive features of the television world,” as Professor Gerbner writes. Cultivation analysis has been the dominant theory used by those who crusade against sex and violence in the media, as is the case in these two readings. As we’ll see later, the use of this research sometimes has created controversy.
   
  Reviewing this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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2.2.3 Media Effects Research Methods  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Section 3: Methods of Researching Media Effects”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Section 3: Methods of Researching Media Effects” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 2, Section 3 on pages 78-83 provides a summary of methods used to test communication theories. Each method has a profound effect on the results and how results are analyzed. Beyond the need for integrity in research, a focus group produces a much different type of data than a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, with different avenues for interpretation.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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2.2.3.1 Cause and Effect Reasoning  
• Reading: Changing Minds: “Inferring Cause,” “Cause and Effect Reasoning,” and “Causal Fallacies”

  Link: Changing Minds: “Inferring Cause” (HTML), “Cause and Effect Reasoning” (HTML), and “Causal Fallacies” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read these three short summaries of cause-and-effect reasoning. A valid media-effects study must be constructed carefully if cause and effect are to be inferred. As we will see in the next subunit, saying that media causes violence, teen pregnancy, or other undesirable behavior can be difficult to prove and can create controversy.
   
  Reading these articles and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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2.2.3.2 A Last Look at the Teen Pregnancy Study  
• Reading: Pediatrics: Rebecca L. Collins, Mark N. Elliott, et al.’s “Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth”

  Link: Pediatrics: Rebecca L. Collins, Mark N. Elliott, et al.’s “Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Go back over the claims made in this article on television and teen sexual behavior. Review the methods and ask what things the researchers did to ensure that any conclusion about cause and effect are valid.  
   
  Reviewing this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.2.3.3 Shortcomings and Misuses of Media Effects Research  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 2, Section 4: Media Studies Controversies”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture (PDF): “Chapter 2, Section 4: “Media Studies Controversies”
   
  Instructions: Read this last section of Chapter 2 on pages 83-88 carefully. The discussion about the shortcomings of media effects studies will have bearing on the subunits below.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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2.2.3.4 Audiences Negotiate Meaning  
• Reading: Temple University: Renee Cree’s “Temple Researcher Finds Different Outcome in Reanalysis of Study on Teen Exposure to Sexualized Media”

  Link: Temple University: Renee Cree’s “Temple Researcher Finds Different Outcome in Reanalysis of Study on Teen Exposure to Sexualized Media” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: By now you should be familiar with the study on television viewing and teen sexual behavior. The press release from Temple University describes another study of the data in which the investigator, Laurence Steinberg, comes to a somewhat different conclusion, based on the idea of an intervening variable. He also touches on the idea that all of us negotiate our own meaning from what we see in the media, one of the principles of media literacy.  
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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Unit 2 Assignments  
Unit 2 Assessment  
Unit 3: Advertising and the Market Society  
In Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, the author places advertising toward the end of the book and spends fewer words on it than he does on many other chapters. But advertising is in many respects the most important and pervasive of the cultural industries we call “mass media.” All media organizations need money to survive, even nonprofit media outlets such as National Public Radio. Most of that money comes from either traditional advertising or corporate “support.” Subscriptions and newsstand sales account for a small percent of income for magazines and newspapers. The ticket-driven medium of motion pictures relies on advertising as an important source of revenue, through in-theater ads and product placement. Television and radio are paid for almost exclusively through advertisement. In 2011, expenditures for advertising totaled $144 billion, according to Kantar Media.[ii] Advertising agencies draw on the top creative talent to produce sophisticated and, yes, entertaining commercial messages. To understand mass communication organizations, the first step is to understand advertising. This unit also will cover public relations, once seen as separate from advertising. Many advertising firms today offer integrated marketing communications, in which advertising and public relations functions “work closely together to deliver a single seamless solution − a cohesive message − an integrated message.”[iii]



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[ii]“Kantar Media Reports US Advertising Expenditures Increased 0.8 Percent in 2011,” The Wall Street Journal Market Watch, March 12, 2012. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kantar-media-reports-us-advertising-expenditures-increased-08-percent-in-2011-2012-03-12
[iii]“What is IMC?” MMC Learning, accessed May 13, 2012. http://www.multimediamarketing.com/mkc/marketingcommunications/
Unit 3 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 3 Learning Outcomes   show close

3.1 The History of Advertising: From Utility to Desire  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 12: Introduction” and “Section 1: Advertising”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 12: Introduction” and “Section 1: Advertising” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 12, Section 1 on pages 545-570 will provide you with a thorough grounding in the history of advertising. It also provides a summary of types of ads, the legal environment for advertising, and the relationship between advertising and culture. Keep what you read in mind as you work through the subunits below.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.
   
  Note: This reading also covers the material for subunits 3.2 and 3.4.

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3.1.1 Advertising Literacy  
• Lecture: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry’s The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 6, Part 1a: Advertising Literacy” and “Part 1b”

  Link: YouTube: University of Nebraska: Professor Terry Dugas’s series The Influence of Media on Culture: “Module 6, Part 1a: Advertising Literacy”(YouTube) and “Part 1b” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions: Watch the video lectures to learn some terminology of the traditional advertising campaign. Professor Dugas’s lecture notes will provide a structure as you continue in this subunit and learn about one of the signature advertising campaigns of the 20th Century.
   
  Watching these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.1.2 DeBeers and A Diamond Is Forever  
• Reading: The Atlantic: Edward J. Epstein’s “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?”

  Link: The Atlantic: Edward J. Epstein’s “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This article, one of the most-read ever published in The Atlantic, describes the “A Diamond Is Forever” advertising campaign and subsequent campaigns for DeBeers, the diamond cartel. It is a fascinating look at how advertising shapes culture, to the benefit of businesses that serve our culture. The assignment is to read about half of the article, down to the paragraph that begins, “A serious threat to the stability of the diamond invention came in the late 1970s from the sale of ‘investment’ diamonds to speculators in the United States.” You might find the article so interesting that you’ll read the whole of it. What does the article illustrate about how advertising is constructed, the goals of an advertising campaign and the effects of advertising on culture?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.  
   
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3.1.3 1984 and the Rise of the High Concept Ad  
3.1.3.1 The Commercial That Started It All  
• Web Media: YouTube: “Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Macintosh Computer” and “Making of Apple’s ‘1984’ Commercial − with Ridley Scott”

  Link: YouTube: “Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Macintosh Computer” (YouTube) and “Making of Apple’s ‘1984’ Commercial − with Ridley Scott” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: This famous commercial aired only once to a general audience, during the 1984 Super Bowl. It started two trends: the “high concept” advertising campaign that sells through emotion, identification, or loyalty building rather than through any claims about a product’s quality or value; and the Super Bowl halftime as a showcase for the advertising arts. In the second video, director Ridley Scott explains how he approached the commercial as he would a feature film, another trend that has continued.
   
  Watching these videos and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.1.3.2 The Super Bowl Tradition  
• Reading: Washington and Lee University: Amanda Bower’s “The Other Big Game”

  Link: Washington and Lee University: Amanda Bower’s “The Other Big Game” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This short piece discusses the more recent state of Super Bowl advertising. Amanda Bower’s comments are instructive about the new landscape of advertising that includes a mix of social media and online “webisodes” that we’ll read about later. She also notes that the Super Bowl provides a “common experience” such as we used to get from all of us watching the same shows on the same three networks. Keep this in mind as you read about the changing landscape of media in units to come.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.1.4 Playing on Our Emotions  
• Web Media: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders: “Chapter 1: A High Concept Campaign” and “Chapter 2: Emotional Branding”

   Link: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders: “Chapter 1: A High Concept Campaign” and “Chapter 2: Emotional Branding” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Click “Watch the Full Program Online,” and then watch the first two chapters from PBS’ series Frontline on advertising and the art of persuasion. How does the Song Airlines campaign compare and contrast with the DeBeers “A Diamond Is Forever” campaign?
   
  Watching these videos and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.2 Advertising and the End of the World  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading from subunit 3.1. Review Understanding Media and Culture, Chapter 12, section 1 under the heading “Advertising’s Influence on Culture” on pages 560-565. Reading this selection and studying your notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
3.2.1 Advertising as an Essential Part of Capitalism  
• Lecture: University of Massachusetts-Amherst: Sut Jhally’s “Advertising and the End of the World”

  Link: University of Massachusetts-Amherst: Sut Jhally’s “Advertising and the End of the World” (MP3)
   
  Instructions: When you open Professor Jhally’s webpage of audio and video, scroll down about halfway to the link “Advertising and the End of the World.” As you listen, recall what Professor Terry Dugas said, that some people consider advertising to be a great social evil. Jhally, one of the leading critics of modern media, states that a society based on consumption cannot sustain itself, and that advertising is the engine that drives consumption. Pay special attention to what he says about how advertising links goods to our personal happiness.
   
  Listening to this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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3.2.2 The Debate: Advertising as Social Evil or Social Good  
• Reading: Stay Free!: Carrie McLaren’s “On Advertising: Sut Jhally v. James Twitchell”

  Link: Stay Free!: Carrie McLaren’s “On Advertising: Sut Jhally v. James Twitchell” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Sut Jhally and James Twitchell of the University of Florida stand at opposite sides of the debate about advertising as a social good or social evil. Jhally says advertising is destroying society; Twitchell says advertising is holding it together. Read this debate, and then try to find your place among these conflicting views.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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3.2.3 “Good-Guy” Advertising, “Greenwashing,” and the Environment  
3.2.3.1 The Human Element  
• Web Media: YouTube: The Dow Chemical Company’s “The Human Element” and “Sustainability”

  Link: YouTube: The Dow Chemical Company’s “The Human Element” (YouTube) and “Sustainability” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: “The Human Element” was an advertising and public relations campaign begun by The Dow Chemical Company in 2007-2008. It is an example of many things discussed in your video lectures and textbook, such as positioning and soft sell. The campaign also represented an attempt at “greenwashing,” the practice of portraying a company as environmentally conscious and active through advertising and public relations, when the opposite might be true. Watch a long version of the ad, then turn to Dow’s YouTube channel to see how the company is using the Internet and social media to reach the public.
   
  Watching these videos and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.2.3.2 No Bad News Allowed  
• Reading: CSRwire: Anna Lappé’s “What Dow Chemical Doesn’t Want You to Know About Your Water”

  Link: CSRwire: Anna Lappé’s “What Dow Chemical Doesn’t Want You to Know About Your Water” (HTML)
   
  Note: The video in Anna Lappé’s article also is available on YouTube as “Anna Lappé on Water Sustainability” (YouTube).
   
  Instructions: The Dow Chemical Company asked Anna Lappé, an advocate for clean water and sustainability, to contribute a video for a conference on water sustainability sponsored by Dow. But when her article was critical of Dow, the company refused to run it at the conference. Read this article and watch the video she submitted for an “exposé” of Dow’s greenwashing.
   
  Reading this article, watching the video, and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.3 The Economics of Advertising  
3.3.1 What the Top Advertisers Spend (It’s Billions)  
• Reading: Marketing Charts’s “US Ad Spend Reported Up in ‘11, Forecast to Grow 2.2% in ‘12” and “Top Advertisers of 2010”

  Link: Marketing Charts’s “US Ad Spend Reported Up in ‘11, Forecast to Grow 2.2% in ‘12” (HTML) and “Top Advertisers of 2010” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Your textbook, Understanding Media and Culture, discusses advertising as a medium, but what is advertising in economic terms? These two website pages lay out the dollar amounts, and they are astounding. Read the first page, “US Ad Spend Reported Up in ‘11,” for a summary of what was spent in 2011 by medium. As you read, you might notice the continuing migration of advertising dollars from print and other “legacy” media to online. The second page, “Top Advertisers of 2010,” provides a list of the top 10 advertisers. Topping the list is Proctor & Gamble at $3.1 billion for the year.
   
  Reading these articles and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.3.2 Changing Media, Changing Times  
3.3.2.1 Old Models Break Down  
• Web Media: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders: “Chapter 3: The Times They Are A-Changin’ “

  Link: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders: “Chapter 3: The Times They Are A-Changin’” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Do you TiVo? If you subscribe to digital cable or satellite television, chances are you have a digital video recorder similar to TiVo that allows you to record as you watch and fast-forward through the commercials. The result has been that advertisers are searching for new ways to reach you, ways you cannot escape. This chapter of The Persuaders, the PBS Frontline report on advertising, discusses the changing landscape of advertising. Click on “Watch the Full Program Online,” then select Chapter 3.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.3.2.2 Advertising and the Internet  
• Web Media: Cisco Systems’ “Entertainment: CSI: NY”

  Link: Cisco Systems’ “Entertainment: CSI: NY” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Watch the short clip from CSI: New York. Do you think the NYPD crime lab really has to elaborate on Cisco TelePresence setups that would cost a real-world user tens of thousands of dollars? Why then does this technology enjoy a prominent role on CSI: New York? Think product placement.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.3.2.3 Aiming at the Heart of the Niche  
• Web Media: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders: “Chapter 6: The ‘Narrowcasting’ Future”

  Link: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders: “Chapter 6: The ‘Narrowcasting’ Future” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: The PBS Frontline series continues with a discussion of “narrowcasting,” the practice of pointing ads at smaller and smaller market segments through the Internet and social media. Part of the strategy includes placing ads directly into shows such as CSI: New York. Click on “Watch the Full Program Online,” and select Chapter 6.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.4 Advertising and the Law  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading from subunit 3.1. Review the selection from Understanding Media and Culture, chapter 12, section 1 that’s titled “Government Regulation of Advertising” (pages 558-560). Reviewing this selection and studying your notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
3.4.1 The Complexity of Advertising Regulation  
• Reading: US Small Business Administration’s “Advertising Law”

  Link: US Small Business Administration’s “Advertising Law” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Pretend that you are starting a small business that makes health supplements. Now go to the SBA’s website and get acquainted with the regulations you must follow in your advertising. Don’t read all of the information, just the summaries of the various types of regulations: truth in advertising, product labeling, and advertising specific products. Which of these might be most important to you, given the nature of your product?
   
  Reading this website and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.4.2 Self-regulation of Advertising  
• Reading: Responsible Advertising and Children: “Some Facts about Advertising Self-regulation”

  Link: Responsible Advertising and Children: “Some Facts about Advertising Self-regulation” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: “Self-regulation” sounds like the wolf guarding the hen house, but self-regulation can be effective in promoting good advertising practices, as this reading contends. Self-regulation has worked well in other areas of the media, such as the Motion Picture Association of America’s film ratings, the “PG,” “R,” and “NC-17” ratings you see on movie trailers. The idea is one of transparency rather than censorship.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.5 Public Relations  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 12, Section 2: Public Relations”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 12, Section 2: Public Relations” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 2, Section 2 on pages 570-583 for a thorough grounding in how the art of public relations works. Then use the information as you go through the two following subunits.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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3.5.1 Public Relations and Marketing No Longer Distinct  
• Reading: Northern Kentucky University: Michael Turnley’s “Advertising and Publicity,” “Public Relations and Marketing Were Initially Distinct,” “Boundaries Blurred, Then Functions Blended,” and “On the Way to Integrated Marketing Communication?”

  Link: Northern Kentucky University: Michael Turnley’s “Advertising and Publicity” (HTML),“Public Relations and Marketing Were Initially Distinct” (HTML),“Boundaries Blurred, Then Functions Blended“ (HTML),and “On the Way to Integrated Marketing Communication?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: After reading Understanding Media and Culture, Chapter 12, Section 2, read Michael Turnley’s explanation of how advertising, marketing, and public relations are becoming one thing: integrated marketing communication. A driving force in this movement has been economic; major advertising agencies have been buying up public relations firms, as well as other smaller ad agencies. Recall that in The Persuaders, advertising people talked about the importance of branding and other ways of promoting a product beyond the traditional advertising “buys.” Many of these activities come from the PR world.
   
  Reading these articles and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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3.5.2 Politics and Public Relations  
3.5.2.1 The Pseudo Event and Photo Op  
• Reading: Northern Kentucky University: Michael Turnley’s “Perceptions Can Be Direct or Mediated,” “TV Mediates Viewers’ Perceptions,” and “Are Special Events Inherently Deceptive?”

  Link: Northern Kentucky University: Michael Turnley’s “Perceptions Can Be Direct or Mediated” (HTML),“TV Mediates Viewers’ Perceptions” (HTML), and “Are Special Events Inherently Deceptive?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The historian Daniel Boorstin defined a “pseudo event” as an event held for the sole purpose of attracting the media and getting across a public relations message. Read Michael Turnley’s lessons on perception, television, and the “pseudo event.”
   
  Reading these articles and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.5.2.2 Mission Accomplished  
• Web Media: YouTube: Associated Press’s “Five Years Since ‘Mission Accomplished’ Speech”

  Link: YouTube: Associated Press’s “Five Years Since ‘Mission Accomplished’ Speech” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: On May 1, 2003, a jet plane landed on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with the president of the United States aboard. Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times called it “one of the most audacious moments of presidential theater in American history.” President Bush’s carrier landing seemed brilliant at the time, but he later admitted that it was a mistake in that it created false expectations. This video revisits the “Mission Accomplished” speech five years later.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take less than 15 minutes.
   
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3.5.2.3 Nobody Does It Better When It Comes to Photo Ops  
• Reading: The New York Times: Elisabeth Bumiller’s “Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights”

  Link: The New York Times: Elisabeth Bumiller’s “Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Elisabeth Bumiller analyzes how the Bush strategists were masters of creating the scenes that resulted in beautiful, forceful images of the president. As you read her article, think back to what Professor Michael Turnley wrote about the “pseudo-event.”
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.5.2.4 Branding President Obama  
• Web Media: YouTube: “The Barack Obama YouTube Channel”

  Link: YouTube: “The Barack Obama YouTube Channel” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Look at the Obama YouTube channel, remembering what was said in The Persuaders about advertising moving to YouTube in the form of short videos and “webisodes.” Spend 10 minutes or more seeing the types of video and other things on the site that encourage interactivity.
   
  Watching these videos and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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• Reading: The New York Times: Claire Cain Miller’s “How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics”

  Link: The New York Times: Claire Cain Miller’s “How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The 2008 presidential campaign has been called the first “Internet” campaign, and much has been written analyzing the branding and websites of the two candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. Claire Cane Miller, among others, wrote that Obama’s “use of a new medium…will forever change politics,” just as John F. Kennedy’s use of television did in 1960. It started with a brilliant logo and branding campaign and continued with a website that took advantage of “web 2.0” and the tools of social media.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.5.2.5 A Whimsical Look at the 2012 Campaign Logos  
• Web Media: The New York Times: Ward Sutton’s “Reading Tea Leaves and Campaign Logos”

  Link: The New York Times: Ward Sutton’s “Reading Tea Leaves and Campaign Logos” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: You’ll enjoy Sutton’s humorous yet instructive take on campaign logos, but pay attention to his analysis of the visual cues he sees. People at ad agencies who “brand” products agonize over such details as choice of typeface, knowing that these details contribute to the overall message in subtle but important ways.
   
  Viewing these images and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.6 The Economics of Mass Media  
3.6.1 Characteristics of Media Industries  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Introduction: Media Conglomerate or Monopoly?” and “Section 13.1: Characteristics of Media Industries”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Introduction: Media Conglomerate or Monopoly?” and “Section 13.1: Characteristics of Media Industries” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: As government regulations on media ownership have been relaxed, media companies have merged and remerged into giant conglomerates that control market segments vertically, owning companies that produce content, those that distribute content and the channels that show content. Some see a danger in so much control over what we see in so few hands. As you read these Sections on pages 587-596, ask yourself: what could be the harm in having such control over various segments of the industry?
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.6.2 Who Owns What?  
• Web Media: Columbia Journalism Review: “Resources: Who Owns What”

  Link: Columbia Journalism Review: “Resources: Who Owns What” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Newspapers, magazines, television, radio channels, and websites are being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer companies. Today, six huge corporations own a massive stake in US media: CBS, Comcast, News Corp., Time Warner, Viacom, and Walt Disney. Some executives of these companies, such as Rupert Murdoch of News Corp., aren’t afraid to use their ownership as a tool of political and economic power. On the Columbia Journalism Review page, click the button labeled, “Select a media company...” then look over the holdings of these six corporations.
   
  Reading these entries should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.6.3 The Internet’s Effects on Media Economies  
3.6.3.1 The Changing Media Landscape  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 2: The Internet’s Effects on Media Economies”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 2: The Internet’s Effects on Media Economies” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: This short section of the textbook, on pages 596-600, describes how the Internet is changing media economics as well as culture: how we find, buy, and consume media.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.6.3.2 Case in Point: Bookstores Battle the Amazon Challenge  
• Reading: The New York Times: David Streitfeld’s “Daring to Cut Off Amazon”

  Link: The New York Times: David Streitfeld’s “Daring to Cut Off Amazon” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: In the recent past, going to a bookstore was a cultural experience in and of itself. The people running small bookstores did it for the love of books, and although their selection might be limited by modern standards, the stores were homey places where you might sit in an old armchair and preview a new release. The big-box bookstores tried to capture some of that ambience but with a massive inventory; you could sit in that armchair and command thousands of titles. David Streitfeld describes how the Barnes & Nobles store, too, might soon be a thing of the past.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.6.4 Globalization and the Media  
3.6.4.1 The Digital Divide  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 3: The Digital Divide in a Global Economy”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 3: The Digital Divide in a Global Economy” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: When technological change sweeps any aspect of life, some will benefit and others will be left behind. This section on pages 601-606 discusses the digital divide between the wealthy nations of the world and those less fortunate.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.6.4.2 Bridging the Divide  
• Web Media: TED Talks: Nicholas Negroponte’s “One Laptop per Child”

  Link: TED Talks: Nicholas Negroponte’s “One Laptop per Child” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Watch the video in which Nicholas Negroponte discusses his efforts to put laptop computers in the hands of children in developing countries. Negroponte sees the digital divide between developed and underdeveloped nations as something that will widen the other divides such as economic and educational inequities. How might his initiative help?
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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3.6.4.3 The Information Economy  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 4: Information Economy”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 4: Information Economy” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Is the Internet like the Wild West? Some economists think so, with rustling of intellectual property the crime of choice. This section on pages 654-662 provides a good overview of some of the issues we face in the information economy, including how a few huge media companies have come to dominate the marketplace. While you might find it difficult to feel sorry for a media conglomerate, keep this chapter in mind as you move on to the next subunit on piracy.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.6.4.4 The Threat Is Real  
• Web Media: George Mason University: Stan Liebowitz’s “Sometimes It Is a Wolf: Piracy, Fairy Tale Business Models & Intellectual Property on the Internet”

  Link: George Mason University: Stan Liebowitz’s “Sometimes It Is a Wolf: Piracy, Fairy Tale Business Models & Intellectual Property on the Internet” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Stan Liebowitz, Ashbel Smith Professor of Economics of the University of Texas at Dallas, is an expert on property rights. Scroll down to watch the video of the lecture and slides. You can also download the slides as a PDF. Is he able to generate some sympathy for media corporations as they deal with information piracy?
   
  Watching this lecture, viewing the slides, and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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3.6.4.5 Globalization and the Media  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 5: Globalization and the Media” and “Section 6: “Cultural Imperialism”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 13, Section 5: Globalization and the Media” and “Section 6: Cultural Imperialism” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: The author discusses at length the ideas of globalization in Section 5 on pages 614-618, and cultural imperialism in Section 6 on pages 618-623. Certainly globalization has led to the spread of culture across national boundaries, but does one culture really “colonize” another, or is the process more complicated? For example, the textbook discusses the “McDonaldization” of the media in countries across the globe. In the end, the author states that the flow of information and its effects on culture are too complex for one simple explanation.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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3.6.4.6 Hybrid Culture or Multiple Cultures?  
• Reading: Nordicom Review: Joseph D. Straubhaar’s “Global, Hybrid or Multiple? Cultural Identities in the Age of Satellite TV and the Internet”

  Link: Nordicom Review: Joseph D. Straubhaar’s “Global, Hybrid or Multiple? Cultural Identities in the Age of Satellite TV and the Internet” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: The concept of hybrid culture provides a more nuanced analysis of the flow of culture across national boundaries. Consider for example the counter-flow of culture to the US – think Pokémon or manga. Straubhaar presents a more detailed look at what happens when our cultures all become one big culture.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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Unit 3 Assignments  
Unit 3 Assessment  
Unit 4: The Book as the Original Mass Medium  
Johann Gutenberg (ca. 1400–1468) did not invent printing, but his practical method of producing metal type and using it to print books changed the world. Gutenberg’s printing press altered how culture was reproduced and transmitted, from a largely oral tradition to the written word. You could say that his invention created a whole new culture of reproduction: books needed libraries, libraries became centers of learning, universities formed, and the Enlightenment followed. Books became a form of popular entertainment as the middle class emerged with disposable income and leisure time. Now the world of books and the culture of reproduction are changing with the advent of electronic books. This unit will trace that history, exploring issues such as intellectual property rights along the way. 
Unit 4 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 4 Learning Outcomes   show close

4.1 The Book as the Original Mass Medium  
4.1.1 History of Books  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 1: History of Books”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 1: History of Books” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Carefully read Chapter 3, Section 1 on pages 94-104 for an overview of how books evolved into the present classifications used by the publishing industry and booksellers. Take careful notes, as this reading applies to several subunits below.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.
   
  Note: This reading also applies to subunits 4.1.2, 4.1.3, and 4.1.4.

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4.1.2 Gutenberg’s Bible and the Spread of Printing  
4.1.2.1 The First Book  
• Web Media: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center: “The Gutenberg Bible”

  Link: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center: “The Gutenberg Bible” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: According to the Harry Ransom Center website, Gutenberg planned to print 200 copies of his Bible on rag cotton linen paper and 30 on vellum, an animal skin. No one knows how many copies were actually printed, but only 22 copies are known to survive today, seven on vellum. In addition to the one at Harry Ransom Center, copies reside on display at the British Library and at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, among other places. The Harry Ransom Center quotes a cost of $100 million for a complete Bible, but really such books are beyond price. Read through all materials on Gutenberg and take a good look at the quality and beauty of this first printed book.
   
  Reading this website should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
   
  Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 4.1.1.

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4.1.2.2 The Effects of Printing as a Mass Medium  
• Reading: The Economist: “Social Media in the 16th Century: How Luther Went Viral”

  Link: The Economist: “Social Media in the 16th Century: How Luther Went Viral” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Five centuries before Facebook and the Arab spring, social media helped bring about the Reformation, except the medium was printing. Your textbook describes how Thomas Paine’s “pamphlets,” really short books, became part of the philosophical basis for the American Revolution. Common Sense in its original form was 48 pages. This article, with accompanying audio, describes one of the earliest uses of the printing press as a mass medium, or even as a social medium.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
   
  Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 4.1.1.

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4.1.2.3 Fifty Books that Changed the World  
• Reading: Open Education Database: “50 Books That Changed the World”

  Link: Open Education Database: “50 Books That Changed the World” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Go to this website for an interesting list of 50 great books that had a profound effect on the world and its culture; tally how many of the books you have read. We have said that the mass media are cultural industries, and that is something that has been true since the advent of printing more than 550 years ago. Have any of these books shaped your view of the world, or in other words, shaped your culture? Remember, though, that it’s only one list.
   
  Reading this list and answering the questions above should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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4.1.3 Reproduction of Text and the Need for Copyright Law  
• Reading: Samuel L. Clemens’s “Arguments Before the Committees on Patents of the Senate and House of Representatives, Conjointly, on the Bills S. 6330 and H.R. 19853: To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright”

  Link: Samuel L. Clemens’s “Arguments Before the Committees on Patents of the Senate and House of Representatives, Conjointly, on the Bills S. 6330 and H.R. 19853: To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: We are living in an era when the ownership of intellectual property is under assault. We expect “content” to be free, and we’re not bashful about passing that content on to our “peers.” We don’t think of content as someone’s labor, someone who hopes to enjoy the fruits of that labor. Samuel Clemens had radical ideas about copyright, but his testimony before a congressional committee on what became the Copyright Act of 1909 is logical and well-reasoned − and funny.
   
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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  Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 4.1.1.

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4.1.4 The Rise of the Publishing Industry  
• Reading: Funding Universe: “Random House Inc. History”

  Link: Funding Universe: “Random House Inc. History” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The history of a publishing house is a curious mix of literary and commercial interests. The story of Random House Inc. begins in 1925 when two men in their 20s, Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, bought a small line of books and turned it into a publishing giant. Read this history and note how the literary emphasis of the company shifted to a commercial one as the company grew and eventually went public.
   
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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  Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 4.1.1.

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4.2 Books and the Development of US Popular Culture  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 2: Books and the Development of U.S. Popular Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 2: Books and the Development of U.S. Popular Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 3, Section 2 on pages 105-114 and apply what you learn to the next two subunits.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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4.2.1 Pulp Fiction: Low-Brow Becomes High-Brow  
• Reading: University of Buffalo: Patricia Donovan’s “Pulp Fiction”

  Link: University of Buffalo: Patricia Donovan’s “Pulp Fiction” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: In February 1949, Russell Lynes wrote an article for Harper’s that divided American tastes into “highbrow, lowbrow, and middlebrow.” Lynes, Harper’s managing editor, later helped Life come up with a chart that placed things such as “reading” on a scale, from the highly intellectual (highbrow) to what he thought appealed to the uneducated lower classes (lowbrow).[1] On the chart, he classifies pulp magazines and comic books as the lowest of lowbrow.[1] But such distinctions are tricky because the so-called tastemakers can elevate something lowbrow by making it the topic of intellectual inquiry. Such is the case with much pulp fiction, written as entertainment and printed on cheap “pulp” paper, often with one eye on sales figures. Today, the detective novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler are considered in literature classes alongside Hemingway. Read Patricia Donovan’s description of one bibliophile’s pulp-fiction collection.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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4.2.2 Literature and Culture  
• Reading: City Journal: Myron Magnet’s “What Use Is Literature?”

  Link: City Journal: Myron Magnet’s “What Use Is Literature?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Myron Magnet’s article on the uses of literature is really a commentary on what it means to have a common culture. Note that Magnet never uses the term “entertainment,” but good literature to him has to touch us personally and speak some truth. That can be entertaining, too.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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• Reading: Writer’s Digest: Michael J. Vaughn’s “Anatomy of a Bestseller”

  Link: Writer’s Digest: Michael J. Vaughn’s “Anatomy of a Bestseller” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Remember that being media literate means knowing how media messages are constructed. Read Michael J. Vaughn’s analysis of what makes a best seller. Think also of how the techniques Vaughn suggests arise from our common culture.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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4.2.3 The Novel as a Cultural Force  
• Reading: The New York Times: Cynthia Wachtell’s “The Author of the Civil War”

  Link: The New York Times: Cynthia Wachtell’s “The Author of the Civil War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: In Chapter 3, Section 1 (pages 107-118) of Understanding Media and Culture, you read that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a profound effect on attitudes toward slavery and might have hastened the Civil War. Keep that in mind as you read Cynthia Wachtell’s well-researched opinion piece that makes a similar claim for the romantic tales of chivalry written by Sir Walter Scott.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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4.3 Current Publishing Trends and the Effects of New Media  
4.3.1 Major Book Formats  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 3: Major Book Formats”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 3” Major Book Formats” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 3, Section 3 on pages 115-120 summarizes how the publishing industry puts books in categories, such as hardcover, trade paperback, and paperback. As you read this, think of publishing and bookselling as a type of culture, with its own codes and rituals. These codes and rituals are changing rapidly; think of the demise of the cozy bookstore and the rise of Amazon. How has that affected your relationship with the object itself, the book?
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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4.3.2 Current Publishing Trends  
4.3.2.1 The Big Box Challenge  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 4: Current Publishing Trends”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 4: Current Publishing Trends” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In Chapter 3, Section 4 on pages 120-130, read the summary of the current publishing industry and keep it in mind as you read the two commentaries that follow.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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4.3.2.2 The End?  
• Reading: Michael Hyatt’s “The End of Book Publishing as We Know It”

  Link: Michael Hyatt’s “The End of Book Publishing as We Know It” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Michael Hyatt of the trade-book publisher Thomas Nelson says the ink-on-paper book is dead, and he has the video to prove it. But is reading a book on your Kindle substantially different from reading it on a printed page? Yes, Hyatt says, and it’s better.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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4.3.2.3 Long Live Books  
• Reading: MIT Communications Forum: Priscilla Coit Murphy’s “Books Are Dead, Long Live Books”

  Link: MIT Communications Forum: Priscilla Coit Murphy’s “Books Are Dead, Long Live Books” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The scholar Priscilla Coit Murphy points out that other media have survived in the face of technology. She states that our mistake is to think of various forms of media as rivals in a zero-sum world, where a movie sold means one less book sold. This isn’t true, she writes. As you read this, think about how different forms of media (books, movies, games) co-exist in your world.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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4.3.3 The Influence of New Technology  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 5: The Influence of New Technology”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 3, Section 5: The Influence of New Technology” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 3, Section 5 on pages 130-139 and keep it in mind as you go through the two subunits below.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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4.3.3.1 From Paper to Pixels  
• Reading: The Economist: “Great Digital Expectations”

  Link: The Economist: “Great Digital Expectations” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This short article from The Economist discusses the rapid rate that information in books is being turned into electrons in a computer. Digitization is changing everything from how we read to what libraries own and provide.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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4.3.3.2 The Bookstore and Library on Your Desktop  
• Reading: Melville House: Dennis Johnson’s “Random House Makes History, Says It Will Sell Books to Libraries with No Restriction on Number of Loans”

  Link: Melville House: Dennis Johnson’s “Random House Makes History, Says It Will Sell Books to Libraries with No Restriction on Number of Loans” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: We tend to think of the digital world of books in terms of reading new books on the Kindle or iPad. The uneasy relationship this has brought about between libraries and publishers has a note of irony, as Dennis Johnson points out in his article about Random House.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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4.3.3.3 Welcome to the Googleplex  
• Web Media: TED Talks: Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel’s “What We Learned from 5 Million Books”

  Link: TED Talks: Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel’s “What We Learned from 5 Million Books” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Digitization has another dimension: a digitized book is like any other source of data that can be analyzed and quantified. Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel discuss Google’s efforts to digitize millions of existing books, with some interesting opportunities for cultural research as a result.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to TED, and the original version can be found here.

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Unit 4 Assignments  
Unit 4 Assessment  
Unit 5: Newspapers and Magazines in a Changing World  
Newspapers and magazines sometimes are called “legacy media”: media that existed before the Internet, for centuries in the case of newspapers and magazines. Calling the newspaper a “legacy” also implies that its time has passed. But newspapers and magazines persist, despite severe economic pressure. The unfolding of the newspaper over morning coffee is still a ritual many of us enjoy. Printed forms of magazines and newspapers also survive for economic reasons: the online versions still do not generate the advertising dollars needed to run large newsgathering operations. In this unit, we will examine the important democratic functions newspapers and magazines have served in the United States, and we will analyze how those functions might be affected by the inevitable shift to online distribution. As you study this unit, keep one thought in mind: ink on paper is a delivery system, and the real question is, will journalism survive as newspapers and magazines decline
Unit 5 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 5 Learning Outcomes   show close

5.1 Newspapers and Magazines in a Changing World  
5.1.1 The History of Newspapers  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 4, Introduction: Newspaper Wars” and “Section 1: History of Newspapers”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 4, Introduction: Newspaper Wars” and “Section 1: History of Newspapers” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These two sections on pages 143-157 provide detailed histories of newspapers. In many ways, magazines and newspapers started from the same place but evolved into different media based on something as simple as how often each was published. Newspapers became an immediate source of news. In subunits to follow, we’ll see how newspapers have been slow to change, and how they are paying the price today.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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5.1.2 The History of Magazines  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Introduction: Changing Times, Changing Tastes” and “Section 1: History of Magazine Publishing”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Introduction: Changing Times, Changing Tastes” and “Section 1: History of Magazine Publishing” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 5’s Introduction and Section 1 on pages 191-201. Magazines as printed documents probably have a greater chance of survival than newspapers because of the specialized roles they have played in American culture. While a newspaper tries to be all things to all people, magazines can serve niche audiences with articles that conform to the slant of readers. But magazines face challenges, too, in a world of electronic readers and the Internet. As you study the following subunits, try to connect your readings with these chapter sections.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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5.2 Newspapers Become a Mass Medium  
5.2.1 The Penny Press, Sensationalism, and Yellow Journalism  
• Reading: University of Virginia: Mary Wood’s The Yellow Kid on the Paper Stage: “Introduction”; “Origins of the Kid: Street Arabs, Slum Life, and Color Presses,” “Realism, Riis, and Crane,” and “The People’s Press”; “Selling the Kid” and “The Role of Yellow Journalism”

  Link: University of Virginia: Mary Wood’s The Yellow Kid on the Paper Stage: “Introduction” (HMTL); “Origins of the Kid: Street Arabs, Slum Life, and Color Presses” (HTML), “Realism, Riis, and Crane” (HTML), and “The People’s Press” (HTML); “Selling the Kid”(HTML) and “The Role of Yellow Journalism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The story of the Yellow Kid is the story of newspapers becoming a mass medium. Mary Wood’s thorough treatment of the subject provides a glimpse of the first efforts to attract readers of all social classes, of the connection of cartoons with everyday life, and of the origins of the newspaper comic strip.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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5.2.2 The Rise of Wire Services and Objective Journalism  
• Reading: History Buff: R. J. Brown’s “The Eleven Editions of the November 3, 1948, Chicago Daily Tribune”

  Link: History Buff: R. J. Brown’s “The Eleven Editions of the November 3, 1948, Chicago Daily Tribune” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Over the first half of the 20th Century, the golden age of newspapers, the medium went unchallenged as the first place people went to learn about current events − news as it happened. In 1948, the Chicago Tribune put out 11 editions; on many days, extras (extra editions to trumpet breaking news) were common. R. J. Brown analyzes the editions of the Tribune on one fateful day: Election Day 1948.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.2.3 Objectivity and the Inverted Pyramid  
• Reading: The Poynter Institute: Chip Scanlan’s “Birth of the Inverted Pyramid: A Child of Technology, Commerce and History”

  Link: The Poynter Institute: Chip Scanlan’s “Birth of the Inverted Pyramid: A Child of Technology, Commerce and History” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As the audience for newspapers grew, newspapers adopted a more objective style of writing, and the inverted pyramid story form was born. It is an example of how the medium shapes the message, and of how a medium adapted to becoming a mass medium. This style of writing is still useful today for much of what we read on the Internet.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.2.4 Tabloid vs. Broadsheet: More Than a Question of Page Size  
• Web Media: Olivia Grayson-Kirk’s “Comparing Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers”

  Link: Olivia Grayson-Kirk’s “Comparing Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The terms tabloid and broadsheet refer to the two main formats of newspapers. A broadsheet (The New York Times) is about 22 inches tall and about 11½ inches wide. A tabloid (The New York Post) is about 11 inches by 11½ inches, essentially a broadsheet folded in half and read like a book. The first tabloids, and many that we see today at supermarket checkout, specialized in sensational news, heavy on celebrity. The term tabloid journalism has been applied to television shows on the E! Network, radio shows such as Coast to Coast A.M., and magazines such as People. This student presentation compares a story about auto-racing journalist Jeremy Clarkson in two British newspapers. You’ll see the difference immediately.
   
  Viewing this presentation should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.2.5 Newspapers and Superstitious Learning  
• Reading: Design Journal: Michael O’Donnell’s “Design Comes to the Newsroom”

  Link: Design Journal: Michael O’Donnell’s “Design Comes to the Newsroom” (HTML)
   
  Also available in:
  PDF
   
  Instructions: In the first half of the 20th Century, newspapers had changed little from those being printed in 1900. Michael O’Donnell’s article makes the claim that newspaper editors had fallen victim to “superstitious learning.” Because newspapers had remained profitable, editors saw the crowded, gray newspaper page as not just correct, but morally correct, like a religion. The article describes one of the first efforts to drag newspapers into the modern age of typography and design. Note that the designer Frank Ariss had to deal with many cultures at the Minneapolis Tribune: journalism, advertising, accounting, and production.
  Click through to read all five pages.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource has been reposted with the kind permission of Michael O’Donnell and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without the explicit permission from the copyright holder.

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5.2.6 Photojournalism Made Magazines Great  
• Reading: Nieman Reports: John G. Morris’s “Get the Picture: A Personal History of Photojournalism”

  Link: Nieman Reports: John G. Morris’s “Get the Picture: A Personal History of Photojournalism”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: John G. Morris was there for “the golden age of photojournalism,” as a picture editor for Life, The Ladies’ Home Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, and as executive editor for Magnum, the photography cooperative. This short history will illustrate the major role photojournalism played in making magazines into a cultural force.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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5.3 Newspapers, Magazines and Culture  
5.3.1 Newspapers and Popular Culture  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 4, Section 2: Different Styles and Models of Journalism” and “Section 3: How Newspapers Control the Public’s Access to Information and Impact American Pop Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 4, Section 2: Different Styles and Models of Journalism” (PDF) and “Section 3: How Newspapers Control the Public’s Access to Information and Impact American Pop Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In writing about newspapers, the author emphasizes the duties of journalism in a free society. His emphasis in Section 2, on pages 158-169, and Section 3, on pages 169-174, reinforces the perception that for many in the field of media education, newspapers are journalism, even though one of his major categories of magazines is the news magazine. As you read this section of the textbook, think about how newspaper industry’s decline might be affecting the news we read and view, not just how news comes to us but the content of that news.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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5.3.2 Magazines and Popular Culture  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Section 2: The Role of Magazines in the Development of American Popular Culture,” “Section 3: Major Publications in the Magazine Industry,” and “Section 4: How Magazines Control the Public’s Access to Information”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Section 2: The Role of Magazines in the Development of American Popular Culture,” “Section 3: Major Publications in the Magazine Industry,” and “Section 4: How Magazines Control the Public’s Access to Information” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In Chapter 5, Section 2 (pages 201-208), Section 3 (208-217), and Section 4 (217-221), the author emphasizes culture, especially pop culture, in his discussion of magazines. In Section 5.4, as he did in Section 4.3 for newspapers, he discusses how magazines control information. Ask yourself: in the age of the Internet, is this still a valid idea?
   
  Reading these selections and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 Licensewithout attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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5.3.3 The Fourth Estate: Newspapers and Magazines as Watchdogs  
5.3.3.1 The New Journalism  
• Web Media: iTunes U: The City University of New York: “Gay Talese: Father of the New Journalism”

  Link: iTunes U: The City University of New York: “Gay Talese: Father of the New Journalism” (iTunes)
   
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and then click on the link titled “View in iTunes” beside podcast 9. Gay Talese is one of the founding fathers of new journalism, what Understanding Media and Culture calls by its alternate name, literary journalism. The new journalism is 50 years old now, but the practice of it still seems fresh. Talese starts his discussion by relating a story about a bridge that turns into one of the hallmarks of literary journalism, the telling of stories about everyday people to illustrate the issues of our society.
   
  Listening to this audio podcast and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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5.3.3.2 Public Support for the Press  
• Reading: First Amendment Center: “Public Strongly Backs News Media as ‘Watchdog on Government’”

  Link: First Amendment Center: “Public Strongly Backs News Media as ‘Watchdog on Government’” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This survey by the First Amendment Center shows that the American public still holds the watchdog function of the press in high regard. Will this continue as newspapers and magazines continue to decline economically?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.3.4 The Slant, or How Magazines Differ from Newspapers  
5.3.4.1 Specialization in Magazines  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Section 5: Specialization of Magazines”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Section 5: Specialization of Magazines” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 5, Section 5 on pages 222-228. One thing that separates magazines from newspapers is the slant, or editorial point of view. This isn’t the same thing as a bias, although many magazines have biases. Slant can be defined for a writer as “another layer of meaning in a work, aligned with the perceived needs of the target audience.”[1] The author writes about magazines as specialized publications, another way to think of the slant.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.3.4.2 Understanding Magazine Audiences  
• Reading: Ladies Home Journal: “Mission Statement,” “Adult Audience,” and “Women”

  Link: Ladies Home Journal: “Mission Statement” (HTML), “Adult Audience” (HTML), and “Women” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Magazines engage in extensive audience research, but unlike newspapers, the findings of this research affect the content of the magazine, from the types of articles printed to the way they are written. That’s why beginning writers are urged to read back issues of a magazine and look over the media kit before submitting an article. Imagine you are that writer. What would your approach be for Ladies Home Journal?
   
  Reading these sections should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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• Reading: Field and Stream: “Brand: Mission”; “Audience: Demos and Circulation,” “Readership,” and “Reach”

  Link: Field and Stream: “Brand: Mission” (HTML); “Audience: Demos and Circulation” (HTML), “Readership” (HTML), and “Reach” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: If you were a writer, how would your approach to submitting an article to Field and Stream differ from your approach to submitting to Ladies Home Journal (see previous reading)?
   
  Reading these sections should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4 Can News “Papers” Survive?  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 4, Section 5: Online Journalism Redefines News”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 4, Section 5: Online Journalism Redefines News” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 4, Section 5 on pages 182-187 and keep it in mind as you read the following two subunits.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4.1 The Death of the News “Paper”  
5.4.1.1 Internet Rules the News Scene  
• Reading: Pew Research Center: “Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Outlet”

  Link: Pew Research Center: “Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Outlet” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: News and “newspapers” are not one and the same. The Pew Research Center states that 2008 was the first year in which more people got their news online than on paper. Note that in the graph, television looks like the next victim.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4.1.2 Diversification to the Rescue  
• Reading: Fortune: Marc Gunther’s “Can the Washington Post Survive?”

  Link: Fortune: Marc Gunther’s “Can the Washington Post Survive?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The news about newspapers is grim. Some are in an economic death spiral, cutting staff to survive, and then losing readers to a poorer quality product. Some, like the Washington Post, saw the writing on the screen years ago and started diversifying to lessen reliance on the print product. As you read this, think back to the idea of vertical integration, where one company owns all the parts in the production and distribution chain. Is that what the Post is doing?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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5.4.2 A Tablet of Hope  
5.4.2.1 News Corp. Takes a Risk  
• Reading: Ad Age: Michael Learmonth’s “Murdoch’s Tablet Newspaper Experiment The Daily Shows Some Promise”

  Link: Ad Age: Michael Learmonth’s “Murdoch’s Tablet Newspaper Experiment The Daily Shows Some Promise” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: A tablet computer, such as the iPad, and e-readers, such as the Kindle Fire, offer something a conventional website cannot: a way to get users to pay up front. Many newspapers have tried to use pay walls on their websites to generate income, with varying success. Our culture of being web users is such that we expect webpages to be free. But we are already conditioned to buying apps for our tablets and smart phones. Read the article from Ad Age about how media giant News Corps. is trying to exploit this culture of distribution.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4.2.2 The Daily is in Trouble  
• Reading: The Guardian: Frédéric Filloux’s “Murdoch’s The Daily Won’t Take Off”

  Link: The Guardian: Frédéric Filloux’s “Murdoch’s The Daily Won’t Take Off” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Now read the rest of the story. Audiences are difficult to build in today’s world of fragmented, niche media. And although tablet computers are becoming more and more popular, The Daily suffered from limiting its reach to those who owned one.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4.3 Magazines Make Their Case  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Section 6: Influence of the Internet on the Magazine Industry”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 5, Section 6: Influence of the Internet on the Magazine Industry” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: At the end of Chapter 5, Section 6 on pages 228-232, Marie Claire editor Joanna Coles says, “As long as people take baths, there will always be a monthly magazine.” Read this section carefully, then connect it to the two readings below.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4.3.1 Take Magazines to the Beach  
• Reading: The New York Times: Jeremy W. Peters’s “Magazines Take a Shot at the Net”

  Link: The New York Times: Jeremy W. Peters’s “Magazines Take a Shot at the Net” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read this story about an ad campaign for the printed editions of magazines that touts the printed magazine’s portability and durability − although e-readers are becoming so inexpensive − that focuses on people taking them to the beach. Is a waterproof iPad far behind?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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5.4.3.2 A Legend Says He Believes in Print  
• Reading: Ad Age: Nat Ives’s “Jann Wenner: Magazines’ Rush to iPad is ‘Sheer Insanity and Insecurity and Fear’”

  Link: Ad Age: Nat Ives’s “Jann Wenner: Magazines’ Rush to iPad is ‘Sheer Insanity and Insecurity and Fear’” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read legendary magazine publisher Jann Wenner’s thoughts about the magazine industry and its future. He believes in print. Do you agree?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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Unit 5 Assignments  
Unit 5 Assessment  
Unit 6: Music, Radio, and the Soundtrack of Our Lives  
Recorded music and radio have enjoyed a special synergy almost since they were invented. The wireless telegraph patented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 transmitted the dots and dashes of Morse code. The development of radio that could broadcast music, drama, lectures − and commercials − paralleled the development of higher-fidelity recording techniques. For generations of Americans, radio was the primary medium for listening to their favorite music as it brought news and culture to the most remote corners of the country. Musicologist Charles Hamm calls radio “the constant companion of man.” [iv] In this unit, we will consider recorded music and radio together while we explore other radio formats, including the explosion in talk radio over the past 30 years.



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[iv]Charles Hamm, “‘The Constant Companion of Man’: Separate Development, Radio Bantu and Music,” Popular Music, 10, no. 2 (May, 1991): 147.
Unit 6 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 6 Learning Outcomes   show close

6.1 The Evolution of Radio and Recorded Music  
6.1.1 History of American Popular Music  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 6, Introduction: From Social Networking to Stardom” and “Section 1: The Evolution of Popular Music”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 6, Introduction: From Social Networking to Stardom” and “Section 1: The Evolution of Popular Music” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These sections on pages 236-251 present a succinct yet thorough history of recorded music. As you read through this, you will see that the fate of recorded music has been intertwined with the development of radio. Keep this in mind and try to connect the dots as you read the next subunit.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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6.1.2 The Evolution of Radio  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 7, Introduction: Terrestrial Radio Stumbles Into the Digital Age” and “Section 1: Evolution of Radio Broadcasting”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 7, Introduction: Terrestrial Radio Stumbles Into the Digital Age” and “Section 1: Evolution of Radio Broadcasting” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Radio has survived into the digital age because of its adaptability to changing times, as these sections on pages 288-305 will demonstrate. Up until the advent of the Internet, radio was the electronic medium with the lowest entry cost, meaning almost anyone could start a station. In the subunits below, we’ll see how recorded music and radio have had a large impact on culture, with popular music playing a part in the racial history of the United States and talk radio taking on a major role in the political discourse of the nation.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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6.2 Race and Popular Music  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 6, Section 2: The Reciprocal Nature of Music and Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 6, Section 2: The Reciprocal Nature of Music and Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 6, Section 2 on pages 251-262 will set the groundwork for the discussion below. This section outlines how much of what we think of as popular music began with black musicians. This includes musical genres as diverse as the blues, rock and roll, jazz, and even popular classics from George Gershwin and others. Try to keep this information in mind as you study the subunits to follow.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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6.2.1 The Ancestry of Popular Music  
• Reading: PBS: American Experience: “Stephen Foster: Blackface Minstrelsy”

  Link: PBS: American Experience: “Stephen Foster: Blackface Minstrelsy”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: The history of popular music doesn’t begin with the invention of the phonograph. In Chapter 6, Section 2 of Understanding Media and Culture, you read how race has had a profound influence on American music. The influence of race on popular music dates back to before the Civil War with Stephen Foster, who the PBS says “virtually invented popular music as we recognize it today.” One of Foster’s influences was blackface minstrelsy, the practice of white actors and singers wearing black makeup and acting out the worst stereotypes of black people. It was a type of theater that survived well into the 20th century. In these sections of The American Experience website, historians discuss blackface minstrelsy and its lasting impact on American culture.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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6.2.2 Radio Sends Out Shockwaves  
• Web Media: American Radio Works: Nate DiMeo’s “Hearing America: A Century of Music on the Radio”

  Link: American Radio Works: Nate DiMeo’s “Hearing America: A Century of Music on the Radio” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Race and class were powerful elements in the history of radio, too, as you’ll hear in this American Public Media documentary. For extra insight, read some of the articles that go along with the broadcast.
   
  Listening to this broadcast and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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6.2.3 A Contemporary Take on Race and Pop Music  
• Web Media: The New Yorker: Sasha Frere-Jones’s “A Paler Shade of White: How Indie Rock Lost Its Soul” and “Lost Soul”

  Link: The New Yorker: Sasha Frere-Jones’ “A Paler Shade of White: How Indie Rock Lost Its Soul”(HTML) and “Lost Soul”(MP3)
   
  Instructions: For pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker, today’s music needs more soul. Frere-Jones makes the case that the development of pop music has relied to some extent on the ability of white musicians to synthesize influences from black music. But today singers are eschewing these influences, to the detriment of their music, Frere-Jones writes. Read his article and listen to his comments, including musical excerpts.
   
  Reading the article and listening to the talk should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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6.3 The Place of Radio in Political Discourse  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 7, Section 2: Radio Station Formats”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 7, Section 2: Radio Station Formats” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: This short section on pages 305-310 of Understanding Media and Culture outlines the various format types for radio stations. “Format” refers to a style of programming for certain demographic groups and include political talk, sports talk, country western, oldies rock, contemporary rock, and the oxymoronic soft rock. Apply what you learn here to the subunits below.
   
  Reading this section should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.3.1 The Death of the Fairness Doctrine and the Rise of Talk Radio  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 7, Section 3: Radio’s Impact on Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 7, Section 3: Radio’s Impact on Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: This section on radio and culture on pages 310-323 discusses the Fairness Doctrine and its repeal in 1987. This allowed radio talk show hosts to say whatever they wanted and gave birth to Rush Limbaugh, among others. In many ways, the divisive political culture we experience now is due in part to the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the highly partisan radio shows that resulted. Keep these readings in mind as you tackle the next subunits.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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6.3.1.1 A Case to Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine  
• Reading: Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting: Steve Rendall’s “The Fairness Doctrine: How We Lost It, and Why We Need It Back”

  Link: Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting: Steve Rendall’s “The Fairness Doctrine: How We Lost It, and Why We Need It Back”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read Steve Rendall’s take on the Fairness Doctrine. FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) believes this doctrine can help reduce the bias and censorship it sees in today’s electronic media.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to Steve Rendall and FAIR, and the original version can be found here. 

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6.3.1.2 “Host,” the Inside Story of Talk Radio  
• Reading: The Atlantic: David Foster Wallace’s “Host”

  Link: The Atlantic: David Foster Wallace’s “Host” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: David Foster Wallace’s profile of conservative radio host John Ziegler is revealing in many ways. Wallace describes the technical innovations that make modern talk radio work as it does. He shows us what makes Ziegler tick. He places talk radio in the spectrum of political life, and he discusses the economic forces of the medium. It’s highly entertaining, but more than that, once you read it, you will have a much more media-literate picture of political talk radio.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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6.3.1.3 Conspiracies, Angels, and the Illuminati: The Weirder Side of Talk Radio  
• Reading: Optional Activity: Coast to Coast A.M.

  Link: Coast to Coast A.M.(HTML)
   
  Instructions: This activity is OPTIONAL. After you read the article “Host,” take some time to explore the Coast to Coast A.M. website and learn what the show is about. You can sign up and listen online, or tune in late at night. It’s on your radio dial somewhere.
   
  Completing this activity should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.3.2 Does Rush Limbaugh Have Real Influence?  
• Reading: University of Chicago: Nassira Nicola’s “Black Face, White Voice: Rush Limbaugh and the ‘Message’ of Race”

  Link: University of Chicago: Nassira Nicola’s “Black Face, White Voice: Rush Limbaugh and the ‘Message’ of Race” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Rush Limbaugh, love him or hate him, pretty much invented conservative talk radio. The article by David Foster Wallace described Limbaugh’s formula and discussed his rise in the radio business. Nassira Nicola analyzes Limbaugh’s use of race as a code with his followers. It’s a revealing portrait of Limbaugh and his methods.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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6.3.2.1 Rush Has Real Power  
• Reading: Los Angeles Times: Faye Fiore and Mark Z. Barabak’s “Rush Limbaugh Has His Grip on the GOP Microphone”

  Link: Los Angeles Times: Faye Fiore and Mark Z. Barabak’s “Rush Limbaugh Has His Grip on the GOP Microphone” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The Los Angeles Times, considered part of the liberal mainstream media by Limbaugh and his followers, makes a case for Limbaugh’s having real power with conservatives. The authors say that Limbaugh during the 2008 election was “unchanged and unbowed. If anything, his prominence and political import have increased.” Do you agree? Read this story carefully, and then follow up with conservative columnists David Brooks’s rebuttal in the next subunit.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.3.2.2 Limbaugh and His Ilk Hurt the Conservative Cause  
• Reading: The New York Times: David Brooks’s “The Wizard of Beck”

  Link: The New York Times: David Brooks’s “The Wizard of Beck” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Conservative columnist David Brooks thinks Limbaugh’s power is mostly illusion. Where do you place yourself in the debate?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.4 Music and Radio in the Age of iTunes  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 6, Section 3: Current Popular Trends in the Music Industry” and “Section 4: Influence of New Technology”; and “Chapter 7, Section 4: Radio’s New Future”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 6, Section 3: Current Popular Trends in the Music Industry” and “Section 4: Influence of New Technology”; and “Chapter 7, Section 4: “Radio’s New Future” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Technology has overwhelmed old models of distribution in the music business, and terrestrial radio faces stiff challenges from satellite and Internet radio. Chapter 6, Sections 3 and 4 (pages 262-282), and Chapter 7, Section 4 (pages 323-326) break down these forces and their effects on the music and radio industries. In the two subunits below, you’ll see further analysis and a few rays of hope for over-the-air radio.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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6.4.1 The Music Industry is Turned on Its Head  
6.4.1.1 The Long Tail and Music Sales  
• Reading: Wired: Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail”

  Link: Wired: Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Because digital production of a record or album is so inexpensive, a service such as iTunes can house thousands of artists who might sell very few songs. Together, those thousands of artists, who reside in the long tail of the distribution business, add up to big money.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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6.4.1.2 Owl City and an Alternative Route to the Top  
• Reading: The New York Times: Ben Sisario’s “From Mom’s Basement to the Top of the Chart”

  Link: The New York Times: Ben Sisario’s “From Mom’s Basement to the Top of the Chart”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: In 2008, Adam Young was living in Owatonna, Minnesota, and recording music alone in his mother’s basement under the name Owl City. Using MySpace and iTunes, he increased his sales to about 2,000 tracks a week, and then his single “Fireflies” surged to the top of the Billboard charts. His story is one of how artists need new and old media to reach stardom starting in the long tail of the music business.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.4.1.3 Music from the Cloud  
• Reading: S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications: Principles and Practices 3.0: Kenneth Consor’s “Cloud-based Music Subscription Services”

  Link: S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications: Principles and Practices 3.0: Kenneth Consor’s “Cloud-based Music Subscription Services” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Next up for the music business: cloud music services. You store your tunes on a central server, then listen anywhere you have Internet service, on any device. Read this subunit, then think back to the advent of recorded music on wax cylinders and vinyl discs.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.4.2 The Challenge to Radio  
• Reading: Colorado Biz: Eric Peterson’s “Radio in the Internet Age: Pandora’s audience is soaring”

  Link: Colorado Biz: Eric Peterson’s “Radio in the Internet Age: Pandora’s Audience is Soaring”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Understanding Media and Culture notes that radio has remained relevant through decades of technological change because of its flexibility in adapting formats and programming. Pandora, an Internet station that listeners customize to their listening tastes, is the latest challenge to terrestrial radio stations. How will terrestrial radio respond?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.4.3 The Power of Community Radio  
6.4.3.1 Rural Radio Serves Small Cities and Towns  
• Reading: University of Kentucky, Institute for Rural Journalism & Community Issues: “Radio Stations and Networks in Texas, Montana, and Appalachia Serve Rural Areas in Ways New and Old”

  Link: University of Kentucky, Institute for Rural Journalism & Community Issues: “Radio Stations and Networks in Texas, Montana, and Appalachia Serve Rural Areas in Ways New and Old”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read this summary of rural radio projects. A key part at the bottom is the item about media giant Clear Channel and how its news reports go through a central hub, meaning even local news is late in reaching rural audiences.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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6.4.3.2 Community Radio in Africa  
• Reading: UCLA Center for Communications and Community: George White’s “Community Radio in Ghana: The Power of Engagement”

  Link: UCLA Center for Communications and Community: George White’s “Community Radio in Ghana: The Power of Engagement” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: In Africa and other parts of the world, community radio has become a social force that has a role in eradicating disease and poverty. This article describes the power of community radio in Ghana.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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6.4.3.3 Listen in on Community Radio  
• Optional Activity: Sagal Radio Services: “East African Community Radio Atlanta”

  Link: Sagal Radio Services: “East African Community Radio Atlanta”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: This activity is OPTIONAL. Even in the United States, community radio is a powerful force in acclimating immigrants, as this website from Atlanta, Georgia, demonstrates. Read some of the activities Sagal Radio undertakes, then click on the link to the right to listen to the station.
   
  Completing this activity should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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Unit 6 Assignments  
Unit 6 Assessment  
Unit 7: Movies in a Transmedia World  
What’s more heroic, saving the world from evil or making a billion dollars in little more than two weeks? If you’re Walt Disney Pictures, definitely it’s the latter. The Avengersbrought in $207.4 million in its first weekend at the end of April 2012 and broke the $1 billion barrier two weekends later.[v]The film featured the Marvel comic-book characters Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk, among others. As movie-making has become more and more expensive, studios have sought tested story lines that provide viewers with a sense of familiarity and puts them immediately in the action. Comic books provide rich, well-developed worlds and strong characters that can be exploited through transmedia, in which “a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience,” in the words of Henry Jenkins.[vi] Transmedia involves synergies, such as the one between comic-book makers and film studios. Iron Man has three movies of his own, the comic book (of course), a video game, and websites, including one that features an online game for younger children. In 2011, studios released 10 films based on comic-book heroes, including several animated features.[vii] The heavy reliance on comic books for movie scripts is just the latest example of how culture and movies are intertwined. In the subunits below, we will examine several movies that demonstrate this interaction. We will delve into the history of motion pictures and examine the economic, social, and technological forces that have shaped this powerful cultural medium.



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[v]Amy Kaufman, “‘The Avengers’ takes the bite out of ‘Dark Shadows’,” Los Angeles Times website, posted May 14, 2012. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-boxoffice-20120514,0,2665259.story
[vi]Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” last modified March 22, 2007. http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html
[vii]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics
Unit 7 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 7 Learning Outcomes   show close

7.1 Motion Picture History: The Rise of a Cultural Industry  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Introduction: Are 3-D Effects Creating Two-Dimensional Films?” and “Section 1: The History of Movies”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Introduction: Are 3-D Effects Creating Two-Dimensional Films?” and “Section 1: The History of Movies” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These sections of Understanding Media and Culture on pages 330-350 provide a succinct history of motion pictures. It is a history of parallel tracks: the constant technological drive to add to the spectacle and realism of movies, and the creative drive to use movies as a form of expression. Both of these tracks were there from the start, and each strongly affected the other. Think, for example, of the impact sound had on movies. Technology also affected how we watch movies, as the readings on Cinerama show. The trend continues today with the move to digital presentation.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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7.1.1 Key Films in the Early Days of Motion Pictures  
The films discussed in the following subunits cover the first 20 years of movie making, from Thomas Edison’s The Sneeze, believed to be the earliest copyrighted film, to D. W. Griffith’s three-hour spectacular Birth of a Nation.
7.1.1.1 Edison’s The Sneeze  
• Web Media: YouTube: Library of Congress: Thomas Edison’s The Sneeze

  Link: YouTube: Library of Congress: Thomas Edison’s The Sneeze (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: “Fred Ott’s Sneeze” (1894) was the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States, according to the Internet Movie Database. As with the films you’ll watch from the Lumière Brothers, the subject matter is a simple act of everyday life, a sneeze. Audiences were thrilled not by the story line, but by the simple act of seeing moving images.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 2 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource is in the public domain.

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7.1.1.2 The Lumière Brothers’ Cinématographe  
7.1.1.2.1 Early Films of the Lumière Brothers  
• Web Media: Internet Archive’s “Early Films of the Lumière Brothers (1898)”

  Link: Internet Archive’s “Early Films of the Lumière Brothers (1898)” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The Lumière Brothers developed a lightweight camera, the cinématographe, that also could make prints of movies and show the films to audiences. Then they sent their own people around the world to shoot and show slices of life from faraway places. Watch some of these early films.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource is in the public domain.

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7.1.1.2.2 Film about the Film Pioneers  
• Web Media: YouTube: Westminster University: “This Is a Documentary about Louis Lumière, Part 1” and “Part 2”

  Link: YouTube: Westminster University: “This Is a Documentary about Louis Lumière, Part 1”(YouTube) and “Part 2” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch the short documentary about how the Lumière brothers conceived of the first vertically integrated motion-picture company. The next step for them would have been developing talent to produce feature films, a step they never took.
   
  Watching these videos should take you approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.1.3 The Birth of Special Effects  
• Web Media: Vimeo: Georges Méliès’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune

  Link: Vimeo: Georges Méliès’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune (Vimeo)
   
  Instructions: Georges Méliès, a stage magician by trade, saw the potential for magical storytelling in motion pictures. He is credited with using the first double exposure, stop-camera, and dissolves. Méliès made more than 500 films, financing, directing, photographing and starring in nearly every one.[1]
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.1.4 The Feature Film Spectacular: The Birth of a Nation  
• Web Media: Internet Archive: D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation

  Link: Internet Archive: D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Watch as much of “The Birth of a Nation” as you have time, but note the depiction of slave life in the South at about the 15-minute mark, the major battle scene about 50 minutes into the movie, and the controversial ending, in which the Ku Klux Klan makes a heroic charge to the rescue. Griffith put the camera in the action, taking it out of the studio for grandly staged battles. But the racial overtones of his film overshadow its technique.
   
  Watching portions of this video should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.1.1.5 Racism and The Birth of a Nation  
• Reading: Digital History: “Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest against ‘The Birth of a Nation’”

  Link: Digital History: “Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest against ‘The Birth of a Nation’” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: After you’ve watched some of the key parts of The Birth of a Nation, read some of the reaction to Griffith’s film. It’s instructive that white actors in black makeup played all of the key roles of slaves.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2 The March of Technology  
7.1.2.1 A Short History of the Talkies  
• Reading: University of Virginia: “Talking Motion Pictures”

  Link: University of Virginia: “Talking Motion Pictures” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This short reading will fill in some of the technical details on how talking pictures developed and provide a short discussion on the cultural effects of sound with movies.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.2 The First Talking Movies  
7.1.2.2.1 Historic First Talking Movies  
• Web Media: Internet Archive: A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor (ca1923) and Let’s Go To The Movies (1948)

  Link: Internet Archive: A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor” (ca1923) (HTML) and Let’s Go To The Movies (1948) (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Watch these videos of historic talking movies. The first is a test reel produced by Lee DeForest, who also was a pioneer in the development of television. It features Eddie Cantor, a popular vaudeville performer who had his own television show in the 1950s. The second video is a summary of the history of movie technology. About two minutes into the video, you’ll see part of the climactic number from the first talking movie, The Jazz Singer, in which Al Jolson dons blackface makeup and sings “Mammy.”
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.2.2 Blackface Minstrelsy in the Movies  
• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “Donald Bogle & Bill Cosby on Blackface”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: “Donald Bogle & Bill Cosby on Blackface” (HTML)
   
  In the subunits that follow, you will see how race has been a sensitive issue throughout the history of movies. The Jazz Singer was just one example of the continued use of blackface − white actors wearing black makeup and acting stereotypically “black,” a type of entertainment that dates from before the Civil War. Watch this discussion of the subject that includes video of blackface in the movies.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
   
  Note: The relationship of Jewish culture and Al Jolson’s use of blackface is discussed further in Michael Rogin’s article “Blackface, White Noise: The Jewish Jazz Singer Finds His Voice,” in Critical Inquiry, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Spring, 1992). Those wanting to delve deeper into the topic should seek out this article.

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7.1.2.3 Cue the Color  
• Reading: The American Widescreen Museum: “Technicolor”; “Lights, Lights, Lights, Camera, Action!”; “System 4, Glorious Technicolor, 1932-1955”; “Three-Strip Photography”; “Three-Strip Camera”; “Successive Exposure Photography”; “Early Live Action Films”; and “Color Movies Gain Acceptance”

  Link: The American Widescreen Museum: “Technicolor”(HTML); “Lights, Lights, Lights, Camera, Action!”(HTML); “System 4, Glorious Technicolor, 1932-1955”(HTML); “Three-Strip Photography”(HTML); “Three-Strip Camera”(HTML); “Successive Exposure Photography”(HTML); “Early Live Action Films”(HTML); and “Color Movies Gain Acceptance”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read about the quest for vivid, realistic color at the American Widescreen Museum website. The site is a bit difficult to navigate, so use these links to reach the relevant sections. It will provide a thorough discussion of Technicolor, but as you’ll discover from these readings, the process was fraught with technical problems, and it was expensive.
   
  Reading these sections should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.4 Cinerama and Other Efforts to Make Things Real  
7.1.2.4.1 The Anamorphic Lens  
• Reading: The American Widescreen Museum: “The Anamorphic Lens”

  Link: American Widescreen Museum: “The Anamorphic Lens” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The ideal movie technology would be virtual reality, but falling short of that, a goal of movie technicians has been to surround the viewer as much as possible, with the moving image and with sound. Wide-screen methods such as Cinemascope, VistaVision, and Todd-AO were developed to engage the viewer’s peripheral vision, thus making the experience more realistic. These techniques used special lenses to compress a wide field of view, then special projection lenses to widen the movie in the theater.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.4.2 The First Super Movie  
• Reading: Popular Science: Alden P. Armagnac’s “Super-Movies Put You in the Show”

  Link: Popular Science: Alden P. Armagnac’s “Super-Movies Put You in the Show” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This article from the 1950s will explain the complex three-camera system called Cinerama. It enjoyed a short, spectacular run of about 20 years that included building special theaters around the country. As you read the article, think about the parallel with IMAX movies today.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.4.3 The Roller-Coaster Ride  
• Web Media: YouTube: This is Cinerama, Trailer

  Link: YouTube: This is Cinerama, Trailer (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch a trailer for a reshowing of the original Cinerama movie, This is Cinerama. Be sure to choose the best quality and watch full screen.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.5 The Modern Projector Makes the Multiplex Possible  
• Reading: The New Yorker: Nicholson Baker’s “The Projector”

  Link: The New Yorker: Nicholson Baker’s “The Projector” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: On the webpage above, please type “148” into the page number box at the bottom of the screen. Then, read pages 148-152.
   
  In the subunit above, we saw how wide-screen technology changed the culture of how we got to the movies. People in the 1950s and ‘60s left the small-town theater behind and visited a special high-tech theater in the city, such as the Cooper in suburban Minneapolis and the River Hills in Des Moines, Iowa. In this article, Nicholson Baker provides an entertaining account on the life of the projectionist, and he describes how new technology, the platter projector, made the multiscreen theater possible, changing again the culture of how we go to the movies. Today, with digital technology making its way into theaters, the job of projectionist may soon be a thing of the past.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.6 IMAX Renews the Theater Experience  
• Reading: Gizmodo: Mark Wilson’s “How Regular Movies Become ‘IMAX’ Films”

  Link: Gizmodo: Mark Wilson’s “How Regular Movies Become ‘IMAX’ Films”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: How will movie theaters attract us if we all have huge flat-screen televisions showing high-definition digital video? The way they always have: shock and awe. The astounding screen size of the IMAX theater and the improved gimmickry of 3D allow theaters to charge a premium price for tickets. As you’ll read, it’s so lucrative that IMAX has developed a complex and expensive process to convert regular 35mm movie film to the sideways running 70mm IMAX stock.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.6.1 The New Movie Temples of Technology  
• Reading: Gizmodo: Dan Nosowitz’s “The Seven IMAX Wonders of the World”

  Link: Gizmodo: Dan Nosowitz’s “The Seven IMAX Wonders of the World” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: IMAX theaters have their own culture of display that includes special theaters built in eye-catching settings. Here is a short review of seven of them.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.6.2 The Dissenter: Why 3-D Doesn’t Work  
• Reading: Chicago Sun-Times: Roger Ebert’s “Why 3-D Doesn’t Work and Never Will. Case Closed”

  Link: Chicago Sun-Times: Roger Ebert’s “Why 3-D Doesn’t Work and Never Will. Case Closed” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Not everyone is convinced the new technology is better. Read film critic Roger Ebert’s column on why 3-D movies don’t reflect reality.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.7 Digital Replaces the “Film” in Filmmaking  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Section 4: The Influence of New Technology”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Section 4: The Influence of New Technology” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: The home-theater television, the digital video recorder and the Blu-Ray DVD are all part of the same digital soup. In Chapter 8, Section 4 on pages 369-376, read a summary of how movies have gone digital.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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7.1.2.7.1 Digital Has Its Own Issues  
• Reading: Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell’s Observations on Film Art: “Pandora’s digital box: At the festival”

  Link: Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell’s Observations on Film Art: “Pandora’s Digital Box: At the Festival” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson’s entertaining blog entry about the digital woes of film festivals. With great technology comes great technical issues.
   
  Reading this post should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.7.2 A Few Words about Digital Formats  
• Reading: Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell’s Observations on Film Art: “Pandora’s Digital Box: From the Periphery to the Center, or the One of Many Centers”

  Link: Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell’s Observations on Film Art: “Pandora’s Digital Box: From the Periphery to the Center, or the One of Many Centers”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Bordwell and Thompson turn their attention to various digital storage formats, beginning with the video compact disc in 1993. These blog entries, later collected in a book, provide some history and an evaluation of the current state of digital media. It also illustrates a basic quandary of digital media: how to preserve it in a form that will be playable in the distant future.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.1.2.7.3 Fast-Frame Rate Continues the Quest to Dazzle Audiences  
• Reading: Wired: Hugh Hart’s “Fast-Frame Hobbit Dangles Prospect of Superior Cinema, But Will Theaters Bite?”

  Link:Wired: Hugh Hart’s “Fast-Frame Hobbit Dangles Prospect of Superior Cinema, But Will Theaters Bite?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As the quality of digital cameras and recording equipment improve, film will become more and more a memory. Hugh Hart’s article discusses one of these new technologies: fast-frame rate.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2 Movies and Culture  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Section 2: Movies and Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Section 2: Movies and Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 8, Section 2 on pages 350-358 describes the cultural forces acting on the film industry and the ways films affect our culture. In the subunits to follow, you will read about a revolutionary year in Hollywood, 1967, when four films forever changed how movies were made. These films changed our culture, too. From that year on, producers and directors felt a new freedom to follow their vision, leaving behind the cultural restraints of the past. Bonnie and Clyde begat The Godfather; The Graduate begat Alice’s Restaurant. Today, movies routinely portray interracial relationships, but in 1967, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was shocking to many. In the Heat of the Night gave birth to a new image of the African-American male actor, one fulfilled by Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, and Laurence Fishburne. Those four films, along with the old-school, big-budget Dr. Dolittle, made up the 1987 Academy Award nominees for Best Picture.
   
  Reading this selection should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.2.1 The 1967 Academy Award Best Picture Nominees: Five Films that Changed Hollywood  
7.2.1.1 A Review of Mark Harris’s Book  
• Reading: The New York Times: Jim Shepard’s “When Mrs. Robinson Met Dr. Dolittle”

  Link: The New York Times: Jim Shepard’s “When Mrs. Robinson Met Dr. Dolittle” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As an introduction to the subunits below, read a review of Mark Harris’s book, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. Harris, a New York Times movie critic, followed the production of five revolutionary movies that changed Hollywood and changed our culture. After you read this review and listen to the author in the next subunit, we’ll look at each of these five movies and what made them cultural milestones.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.1.2 The Author Discusses His Ideas  
• Web Media: NPR: Susan Stamberg’s “An Oscar Crop with an Instinct for Change”

  Link: NPR: Susan Stamberg’s “An Oscar Crop with an Instinct for Change”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Be sure to listen to Susan Stamberg’s discussion with Harris on NPR.
   
  Listening to this broadcast should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.2 Bonnie and Clyde  
• Reading: Turner Classic Movies: Frank Miller’s “Behind the Camera on Bonnie and Clyde”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: Frank Miller’s “Behind the Camera on Bonnie and Clyde” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Bonnie and Clyde, directed by Arthur Penn, took the daring step of making notorious outlaws the anti-heroes of a tale of class warfare. With its overt violence, sexual tension, and zany bluegrass sound track, it was like nothing before it. Like many such movies, it was controversial even as it was being made. This reading discusses some of the thought and process that went into making Bonnie and Clyde.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.2.1 The Director Talks  
• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “Arthur Penn on Bonnie and Clyde”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: “Arthur Penn on Bonnie and Clyde” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Arthur Penn discusses the “ballet of dying,” certainly one of the most controversial parts of Bonnie and Clyde. How do you feel about making violent death seem artistic?
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “Bonnie and Clyde: The Essentials Intro”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: “Bonnie and Clyde: The Essentials Intro” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Director Sydney Pollack provides a thoughtful commentary on Bonnie and Clyde. Pollack calls it one of two movies made in 1967 that changed Hollywood. The other, he says, was The Graduate.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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7.2.2.2 Trailer and Clips  
• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “Bonnie and Clyde (Original Trailer)” and “Bonnie and Clyde (Movie Clip): We Got You!”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies’ “Bonnie and Clyde (Original Trailer)” (HTML)and “Bonnie and Clyde - (Movie Clip): We Got You!” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: For those who love movies, Bonnie and Clyde is a must watch. The trailer gives you a taste of how the movie was marketed, and the short clip provides some idea of the themes that ran through the movie: the publicity-seeking outlaws trading on Depression-era resentment of the rich. Watch the trailers and clip, and you’ll get the idea.
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.3 The Graduate  
7.2.3.1 The Making of The Graduate  
• Reading: Entertainment Weekly: Mark Harris’s “Book Excerpt: Inside the Making of The Graduate”

  Link: Entertainment Weekly: Mark Harris’s “Book Excerpt: Inside the Making of The Graduate” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read this selection from Mark Harris’s book about some of the highs and lows of the creative process. Particularly telling is director Mike Nichols’s comments that he knew he was onto something different and great. His comment illustrates the media literacy idea that media texts are made with a purpose to achieve certain effects.
   
  Reading this section should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.2.3.2 Trailer and Clips  
• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “The Graduate (Original Trailer)” and “The Graduate (Movie Clip): Plastics”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: “The Graduate (Original Trailer)” (HTML) and “The Graduate (Movie Clip): Plastics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: In 1967, the earliest members of the postwar Baby Boom generation were graduating from college − and wondering what to do with their lives. Director Mike Nichols captured that angst perfectly in the clip above, in which we hear one particular word uttered: “plastics.”
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.4 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner  
7.2.4.1 The Race Question  
• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “Donald Bogle on Sex and Race”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: “Donald Bogle on Sex and Race” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Director Stanley Kramer’s movie is about a liberal couple, played by Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, who learn that their daughter wants to marry a black man, Sidney Poitier. It’s a bit of a setup: Poitier is a handsome, urbane doctor who is working to stomp out tropical diseases. He’s the kind of guy any mother would want her daughter to marry. New York Times columnist Frank Rich, writing about it in 2008, sarcastically called it “Hollywood’s idea of a stirring call for racial justice.” [1] But in 1967, interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 states until the Supreme Court struck down the laws in June of that year. And up to that time, roles even remotely suggesting the superiority of a black male character would have been unheard of. Donald Bogle will discuss how this movie began to restore sexuality to black male characters.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.4.2 Trailer and Clip  
• Reading: Turner Classic Movies: “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (Original Trailer)” and “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967) (Movie Clip) So Appallingly Stupid!”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies’ “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner- (Original Trailer)” and “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967) - (Movie Clip): So Appallingly Stupid!”
   
  Instructions: These two short videos will look dated to you, and they are. Take that as a sign of how far the culture of race and how it is portrayed has changed.
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.5 In the Heat of the Night  
7.2.5.1 Mark Harris on the Movie’s Liberal Message  
• Reading: Slate: Mark Harris’s “Guess Who’s Coming To Solve Your Murder”

  Link: Slate: Mark Harris’s “Guess Who’s Coming To Solve Your Murder” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Mark Harris in his Slate article calls In the Heat of the Night a “liberal message movie that worked,” mostly because it had great direction and great actors in Rod Steiger and Sydney Poitier. His article also describes the harsh reaction from critics who thought the message of racial reconciliation was unrealistic. Those old enough will remember that the Civil Rights Movement still had much to accomplish in 1967, and stories of racial violence in the South added to the tension of watching this film when it came out.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.5.2 Trailer and Clip  
• Web Media: Turner Classic Movies: “In the Heat of the Night (1967) - (Movie Clip): Like the Negro” and “In the Heat of the Night (1967): Original Trailer”

  Link: Turner Classic Movies: “In the Heat of the Night (1967) - (Movie Clip): Like the Negro” (HTML) and “In the Heat of the Night (1967): Original Trailer” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The clip from the movie shows one of its most important scenes, when the black detective played by Sydney Poitier confronts a well-heeled racist. It shocked audiences in 1967; remember, the nation was just a few years away from the violence visited on the Freedom Riders.
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.6 Dr. Dolittle  
7.2.6.1 Scathing Reviews  
• Reading: The New York Times: Bosley Crowther’s “Doctor Dolittle (1967) Review”

  Link: The New York Times: Bosley Crowther’s “Doctor Dolittle (1967) Review”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: One of the more entertaining parts of Mark Harris’s book, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, describes the antics of Rex Harrison, the star of Dr. Dolittle. Harris includes it in his book as the prime example of the type of movies that were overthrown in his “revolution” by the other four movies nominated for Best Picture of the 1968 Academy Awards. Bosley Crowther’s review, dripping with sarcasm, was typical of the reception this movie received.
   
  Reading this review should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.2.6.2 Trailer  
• Web Media: Internet Movie Database: “Dr. Dolittle Trailer"

  Link: Internet Movie Database: “Dr. Dolittle (1967) Trailer” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Contrast what you see in this video with the trailers and clips from the other four movies. The difference should be obvious.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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7.3 Today’s Movie Industry  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Section 3: Issues and Trends in Film”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 8, Section 3: Issues and Trends in Film” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read Chapter 8, Section 3 on pages 359-369 for an overview of various aspects of the movie industry, such as the studio system, independent films, blockbuster movies, and digital piracy. Keep this reading in mind as you study the subunits to follow.
   
  Reading this selection should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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7.3.1 The Studios Today as Media Conglomerates  
• Reading: Jump Cut: Jennifer Holt’s “It’s Not Film, It’s TV: Rethinking Industrial Identity” and “Global Entertainment Conglomerates: Select Holdings 2010”

  Link: Jump Cut: Jennifer Holt’s “It’s Not Film, It’s TV: Rethinking Industrial Identity” (HTML) and “Global Entertainment Conglomerates: Select Holdings 2010” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read this article to gain an understanding of the strategic nature of media economics. The appendix to the article runs down ownership patterns of media conglomerates. Try to connect Holt’s information with ideas you learned in previous units, such as vertical integration and transmedia.
   
  Reading this selection should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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7.3.2 Disney, Seven Decades after Snow White  
7.3.2.1 It’s Not Easy Being Disney  
• Reading: The New York Times: Brooks Barnes’s “Will Disney Keep Us Amused?”

  Link: The New York Times: Brooks Barnes’s “Will Disney Keep Us Amused?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read this article in The New York Times and you’ll realize it isn’t easy being the Walt Disney Co. When Walt Disney expanded his animated film studio into an amusement park in the 1960s, he pioneered transmedia. But vertical integration has its drawbacks, as this article shows.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.3.2.2 Walt Shows You Around  
• Web Media: Disney: “Disney Magic: How It All Began: Origins of a Dream” and “The Dream Continues”

  Link: Disney: “Disney Magic: How It All Began: Origins of a Dream” (Adobe Flash) and “The Dream Continues” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Watch these segments about the origins of Disneyland. The theme park was Walt Disney’s “move from film to dimensional entertainment,” as these videos tell you. The various “lands” of the original Disneyland (Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Main Street USA) became segments on Walt’s personally hosted television show, The Wonderful World of Disney, a show that also promoted Disney movies. Disney’s genius was to see all of it as one piece, a transmedia “world” of his creation, right down to the kitschy nostalgia of Main Street USA, modeled on his home town of Marceline, Missouri, but really an idealized memory rather than something real. Disney’s concept of horizontal integration had one drawback: if one part of the puzzle fails, it reflects on the whole enterprise.
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.3.3 Transmedia and Horizontal Integration  
7.3.3.1 Now that Harry Potter is Grown Up  
• Reading: Forbes: Michael Humphrey’s “Pottermore: Expert Explains How Harry Potter’s Website Will Transform Storytelling”

  Link: Forbes: Michael Humphrey’s “Pottermore: Expert Explains How Harry Potter’s Website Will Transform Storytelling” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: What do you do with a multibillion-dollar film franchise when the story runs out? You keep it alive by spreading it around to other media, a transmedia strategy. Read about Pottermore, one piece in the transmedia strategy for the Harry Potter franchise.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.3.3.2 The World of Pottermore  
• Web Media: YouTube: “J. K. Rowling Announces Pottermore” and “Pottermore Sneak Peek”

  Link: YouTube: “J. K. Rowling Announces Pottermore” (YouTube) and “Pottermore Sneak Peek” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: As you watch these videos, think about the connections being formed between the books, the movie, and other media on the site. These videos also are available at pottermore.com.
   
  Watching these videos should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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7.3.3.3 Visit Pottermore  
• Optional Activity: J. K. Rowling’s Pottermore

  Link: J. K. Rowling’s “Pottermore”
   
  Instructions: This activity is OPTIONAL. Pottermore is a big piece in the transmedia strategy for the Harry Potter franchise. Visit the site and sign up for a free account if you wish. Note that the books are at the heart of this site, but that the books have “new chapters” and are available as e-books. It’s an interesting look at how transmedia works.
   
  Completing this optional activity should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.3.3.4 Harry Potter Action Games  
• Activity: “Harry Potter Games”

  Link: “Harry Potter Games” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: No transmedia strategy is complete these days without a video game. Go to this webpage to explore a few from the world of Harry Potter, and try not to get hooked on the Harry Potter “Fight Death” game.
   
  Completing this activity should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.3.3.5 LEGO Harry Potter  
• Activity: “Lego Harry Potter”

  Link: “Lego Harry Potter” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Daniel Radcliffe has said that one of his weirder experiences playing Harry Potter was seeing himself as a LEGO character. A persistent Internet meme is the LEGO stop-action movie based on the Harry Potter or Star Wars movies; hundreds are available on YouTube. Visit this official LEGO site to see how the toy company draws this meme into its transmedia strategy. The site also has downloads, a place to buy Harry Potter LEGOs, and of course, games.
   
  Completing this activity should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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7.3.4 The Independent Film Movement  
• Reading: The Regents of the University of California, Carsey-Wolf Center: David Gray’s “5 Things to Know about Trends in Independent Film”

  Link: The Regents of the University of California, Carsey-Wolf Center: David Gray’s “5 Things to Know about Trends in Independent Film” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: “Independent” films are a little understood part of the movie industry, and one that provides much creative juice. This article provides observations on how independent filmmaking works and where it’s going.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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Unit 7 Assignments  
Unit 7 Assesment  
Unit 8: Television Anytime, Anywhere  
Perhaps the most radical change in television viewing for anyone who grew up with the medium has been the freeing of the viewing schedule from the bonds of time. If you wanted to watch the Jeffersons movin’ on up in 1979, you had to be in front of your set promptly at 9:30 (Eastern time) Saturday evenings. That changed with the advent of videocassette recorders in the early 1980s. Today, the digital video recorder allows you to record Mad Men automatically, pause the show while you make a sandwich, then fast-forward through the commercials. This time shifting now has been joined by place shifting. Devices such as Slingbox record digital video in a compressed format and send it over the Internet to anywhere you might be. You can watch on a computer, Internet-connected television set, even your mobile phone. This unit explores the development of this powerful medium, one that has shaped our culture as much as we’ve shaped it.
Unit 8 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 8 Learning Outcomes   show close

8.1 Technology Takes Television from Ghostly Image to High-Def  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Introduction: Rethinking Content Delivery” and “Section 1: The Evolution of Television”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Introduction: Rethinking Content Delivery” and “Section 1: The Evolution of Television” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Television has a rich history as a technological innovation and as a cultural force. Read these sections of chapter 9 on pages 381-394 for an overview of the history of television.
   
  Reading these sections should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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8.1.2 Where Next? The Web, of Course  
• Web Media: TED Talks: Peter Hirshberg’s “Peter Hirshberg on TV and the Web”

  Link: TED Talks: Peter Hirshberg’s “Peter Hirshberg on TV and the Web”(Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Silicon Valley executive and marketing strategist Peter Hirshberg gives you his take on emerging media and tech history. Hirshberg uses lessons from Silicon Valley to explain “why the web is so much more than ‘better TV’.”
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to TED, and the original version can be found here.

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8.1.3 The Early Days of Television  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 8.1. As you study this subunit, keep in mind the history of television as detailed inUnderstanding Media and Culture, Chapter 9, Section 1 (pages 382-394).
8.1.3.1 The Philo Farnsworth Story  
• Reading: Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “Inventor of the Week Archive: Philo T. Farnsworth”

  Link: Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “Inventor of the Week Archive: Philo T. Farnsworth”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: The story of Philo Farnsworth is dramatic if only because of his background as a self-taught inventor. In 1922 as an Idaho teenager, he sketched out one of the first schemes for electronic television. Although he is credited as one of television’s inventors, he did not share in the tremendous profits television generated over the decades for companies such as RCA.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.1.3.2 RCA’s Side of the Story  
• Reading: Internet Archive: “The Story of Television (1956)”

  Link: Internet Archive: “The Story of Television (1956)” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: For a bit of history, watch “The Story of Television,” the origins of television as told through RCA’s eyes. David Sarnoff talks with Vladimir Zworykin about television’s early development at RCA, but it leaves out RCA’s patent battle with Philo Farnsworth.
   
  Watching the video should take you approximately 30 minutes.
   
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8.1.4 Thinking Digitally  
• Reading: Wired: Nicholas Negroponte’s “HDTV: What’s Wrong with this Picture?”

  Link: Wired: Nicholas Negroponte’s “HDTV: What’s Wrong with this Picture?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: In this short excerpt from his book Being Digital, Nicholas Negroponte states that high definition is less important in the digital world than digital delivery systems that allow viewers to shift the time and place of where they watch. Writing in 1994, he states that the uses of television and the computer will become indistinguishable, predicting the rise of YouTube, Hulu, and other digital video websites. As we will see in the subunits below, much of what he says has come to pass. Television executives have tended to see digital technology as gimmicks, according to John Hockenberry, allowing themselves to be outflanked by cable and satellite companies, and by the Internet.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2 Television and Culture  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Section 2: The Relationship Between Television and Culture”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Section 2: The Relationship Between Television and Culture” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: This section on pages 394-405 provides the basics for understanding the relationship between culture and television. Keep it in mind as you cover the subunits below.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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8.2.1 A Force for Good or Evil?  
8.2.1.1 A Medium with a Conscience  
• Web Media: TED Talks: Lauren Zalaznick’s “The Conscience of Television”

  Link: TED Talks: Lauren Zalaznick’s “The Conscience of Television” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Television executive Lauren Zalaznick describes how television reflects our public conscience by tracking the content of the top-rated television shows over a period of 50 years. She makes a compelling case that television doesn’t create our culture; it reflects culture. As you listen to her, think back to cultivation analysts such as George Gerbner, who might say the effect goes in the opposite direction.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to TED, and the original version can be found here.

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8.2.1.2 A Medium that Teaches Children to Value Fame  
• Reading: The Regents of the University of California, UCLA Newsroom: Stuart Wolpert’s “Popular TV Shows Teach Children Fame is Most Important Value, UCLA Psychologists Report”

  Link: The Regents of the University of California, UCLA Newsroom: Stuart Wolpert’s “Popular TV Shows Teach Children Fame is Most Important Value, UCLA Psychologists Report” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This study from UCLA serves as a counterpoint to Lauren Zalaznick’s talk, stating as it does that television shapes the culture of our children. Read the information in this subunit, and then ask yourself where you fall in the debate.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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8.2.2 Newton Minow and the “Vast Wasteland”  
• Reading: Newton Minow’s “The ‘Vast Wasteland’ of Television Speech”

  Link: Newton Minow’s “The ‘Vast Wasteland’ of Television Speech” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Newton Minow hadn’t been on the job as FCC commissioner for more than a few months when he delivered this speech to the convention of the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961, in Washington, DC. The speech is remembered for its key phrase: Minow told the roomful of television executives that if they watch their product in its entirety throughout the broadcast day, they “will observe a vast wasteland.” The speech really was about the duty television has to broadcast “in the public interest,” having been granted a large slice of the precious broadcasting spectrum. Do you believe that is still true today?
   
  Reading this speech should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.3 Pay-to-Watch Channels and Indecency  
8.2.3.1 Pushing the Envelope of Decency  
• Reading: University of West Georgia: Bradley L. Yates and Anthony L. Fargo’s “Talk Dirty to Me: Broadcast and Cable TV Push the Envelope on Indecency”

  Link: University of West Georgia: Bradley L. Yates and Anthony L. Fargo’s “Talk Dirty to Me: Broadcast and Cable TV Push the Envelope on Indecency” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Professors Yates and Fargo provide a comprehensive look at the use of “indecent” language on television and the legal limitations placed on television networks. They describe how the success of pay-to-watch channels such as HBO in attracting viewers has caused television networks to “push the envelope” on using profanity. It also illustrates the difference between the freedom of speech most media enjoy with that of over-the-air broadcasters, who fall under the regulation of the FCC.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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8.2.3.2 The Inevitable Crackdown  
• Reading: The Washington Post: Frank Ahrens’s “Senator Bids to Extend Indecency Rules to Cable”

  Link: The Washington Post: Frank Ahrens’s “Senator Bids to Extend Indecency Rules to Cable” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This Washington Post article reports on one senator’s efforts to apply indecency rules to cable television and the industry’s arguments against it. What are your views on attempts such as this to censor our culture? Connect the senator’s efforts with what you know about media effects. Is real harm being done that warrants legislative control?
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.4 The Cable Empire: ESPN  
8.2.4.1 ESPN Insider Discusses the Revolution  
• Reading: Sports Business Journal: Philip R. Hochberg’s “40 Years Later, How Cable Changed the World of Sports”

  Link: Sports Business Journal: Philip R. Hochberg’s “40 Years Later, How Cable Changed the World of Sports” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: ESPN is without a doubt one of the most successful media ventures of the past 40 years. Today ESPN fields nine cable channels, including ESPN 3-D, and it cross promotes with its parent companies ABC and Disney. It also prints a magazine, programs a radio network, and operates a massive sports website, with web-only content. Media lawyer Philip R. Hochberg describes the rise of this entertainment giant.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.4.2 ESPN Founder Talks about His Creation  
• Web Media: YouTube: University of Pennsylvania: Knowledge@Wharton’s “Channeling Sports: A Conversation with ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen”

  Link: YouTube: University of Pennsylvania: Knowledge@Wharton’s “Channeling Sports: A Conversation with ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen describes the challenges he faced in trying to start something no one had ever heard of: a 24-hour sports channel.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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8.2.4.3 Cross-Promotion as a Cross to Bear  
• Reading: ESPN: Le Anne Schreiber’s “Breathing Room: ESPN Must Stop the Suffocation of Synergy”

  Link: ESPN: Le Anne Schreiber’s “Breathing Room: ESPN Must Stop the Suffocation of Synergy”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: ESPN’s own ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber, discusses the “suffocating” cross promotion that goes on between ESPN’s channels, and with ABC − and the games ESPN ignores that are carried by other networks. Can you rely on ESPN as a factual source for sports news?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.4.4 ESPN Buys a Conscience  
• Reading: Sports Business Journal: John Carvalho’s “Poynter Relationship Unlikely to Have Impact on ESPN’s Ethics”

  Link: Sports Business Journal: John Carvalho’s “Poynter Relationship Unlikely to Have Impact on ESPN’s Ethics”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: This reading and the one from the previous subunit discuss the ethics of ESPN as a factual source for sports while hyper-promoting content across its many outlets. Forming a relationship with The Poynter Institute for Media Studies might (or might not) keep ESPN honest as a journalistic source.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.5 Television and Our Sense of Reality: The CSI Effect  
8.2.5.1 Prosecutors Say the CSI Effect is Real  
• Reading: CBS News: Ayaz Nanji’s “Prosecutors Feel The ‘CSI Effect’”

  Link: CBS News: Ayaz Nanji’s “Prosecutors Feel The ‘CSI Effect’”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Legend has it that actors who play doctors on television often get letters asking for medical advice. A more serious question is how what we watch on television affects our expectations in real-life arenas, such as the criminal courts. In the video from CBS News, prosecutors complain that jurors now expect high-tech forensic tests and quick action or they won’t convict someone who is obviously guilty.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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8.2.5.2 A More Studied Look at the CSI Effect  
• Reading: NPR: Arun Rath’s “Is The ‘CSI Effect’ Influencing Courtrooms?”

  Link: NPR: Arun Rath’s “Is The ‘CSI Effect’ Influencing Courtrooms?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: National Public Radio’s piece on the “CSI Effect” comes to a less definite conclusion, based on the results of a study reported by Judge Donald L. Shelton.
   
  Listening to this audio should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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8.2.5.3 The Judge’s Study  
• Reading: National Institute of Justice: Donald E. Shelton’s “The ‘CSI Effect’: Does It Really Exist?”

  Link: National Institute of Justice: Donald E. Shelton’s “The ‘CSI Effect’: Does It Really Exist?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read Judge Shelton’s careful study of the CSI effect, then think back to the story about prosecutors who thought the effect was very real. As with many things in communication and culture, perception counts.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.6 Television News as Infotainment  
• Reading: MIT Technology Review: John Hockenberry’s “‘You Don’t Understand Our Audience’: What I Learned About Network Television at Dateline NBC”

  Link: MIT Technology Review: John Hockenberry’s “‘You Don’t Understand Our Audience’: What I Learned About Network Television at Dateline NBC” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Former National Public Radio correspondent John Hockenberry describes his days reporting for Dateline NBC, a magazine-format television news program modeled on CBS’ 60 Minutes. Both shows qualify as “infotainment,” news presented in a way to entertain and attract audiences. This view, Hockenberry contends, is at odds with news as a journalistic pursuit. Read all seven pages of his story for many illuminating anecdotes about television, technology and corporate culture.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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8.2.7 Punditry and Bias  
8.2.7.1 Of Course FOX News Is Biased!  
• Reading: FAIR: Seth Ackerman’s “The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel’s Extraordinary Right-Wing Tilt”

  Link: FAIR: Seth Ackerman’s “The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel’s Extraordinary Right-Wing Tilt” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: FOX News was formed in 1996 by News Corp. tycoon Rupert Murdoch as a “fair and balanced” alternative to what he saw as the liberal mainstream media. He hired former political operative Roger Ailes to run the network, and Ailes led it to a position of high ratings and high profitability. FOX News represented a new kind of television channel; FAIR’s Seth Ackerman makes the case that Ailes wanted to bring right-wing talk radio to the television screen.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to Seth Ackerman, and the original version can be found here.

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8.2.7.2 No We’re Not!  
• Reading: Forbes: S. Robert Lichter’s “Fox News: Fair And Balanced?”

  Link: Forbes: S. Robert Lichter’s “Fox News: Fair And Balanced?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Former FOX News contributor S. Robert Lichter makes the case using content analysis that the newscasts on FOX News are less biased than news shows presented by the major networks. Compare this with Seth Ackerman’s story: they report, you decide.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.2.8 Fake News Is Just Too Real  
8.2.8.1 Chris Wallace Duels with Jon Stewart  
• Web Media: FOX News Network: “Exclusive: John Stewart on ‘Fox News Sunday’”

  Link: FOX News Network: “Chris Wallace Interviews Jon Stewart, Unedited”(Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: As you watch this unedited interview, remember that Jon Stewart is the anchor for a fake news show, that is, a comedy show that mimics the formulas of cable news shows. Chris Wallace, on his Sunday morning news show, engages Stewart in a debate about the credibility and bias of real television news that might be more appropriate with an anchor from CBS or NBC, not Comedy Central.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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8.2.8.2 The Real Fake News  
• Web Media: Comedy Central: The Daily Show with John Stewart: “Fox News Channel − Fair & Balanced”

  Link: Comedy Central: The Daily Show with John Stewart: “Fox News Channel -Fair & Balanced” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: When FOX News aired its interview with Jon Stewart, about half of what you saw in the previous subunit was edited out. Watch the short commentary from Stewart on The Daily Show about what FOX didn’t include in its regular broadcast.
   
  Watching this video for should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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8.3 Trends in Television  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Section 3: Issues and Trends in the Television Industry”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Section 3: Issues and Trends in the Television Industry” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 9, Section 3 (pages 406-417) describes the trends in television sponsorship and production, and how they have been affected by cable and satellite television. As we will see in the next subunit, digital technologies also present a challenge to commercial television.
   
  Reading this section should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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8.4 Television’s Brave New World  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Section 4: Influence of New Technologies”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 9, Section 4: Influence of New Technologies” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In Chapter 9, Section 4 (pages 417-427) the author concentrates on delivery systems -such as cable, satellite, and Internet television -in his discussion of new technologies. All of these have contributed in important ways to changing the content we see on our screens. In the subunits below, we will explore other aspects of television technology: time and place shifting, and 3D.
   
  Reading this section should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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8.4.1 The Changing World of Television  
• Reading: IESE Business School, University of Navarra: “Home Box Office: Prof. Josep Valor on New Digital TV Disruption”

  Link: IESE Business School, University of Navarra: “Home Box Office: Prof. Josep Valor on New Digital TV Disruption” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Time shifting and place shifting have been called “disruptive technologies,” that is, disruptive to the business model of commercial television, disruptive to viewing habits, disruptive even to the way the industry has long measured success. Here is one business professor’s view on a new technology that will allow you to record everything.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.4.1.2 Time-Shifting with a DVR  
• Reading: The New York Times: Bill Carter and Brian Stelter’s “DVRs and Streaming Prompt a Shift in the Top-Rated TV Shows”

  Link: The New York Times: Bill Carter and Brian Stelter’s “DVRs and Streaming Prompt a Shift in the Top-Rated TV Shows” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: When we store television shows on a digital video recorder, we also capture the commercials. But those commercials might be out of date by the time you watch the show. As you read this article, think back to our unit on advertising and on the innovative ways advertisers are creating and distributing ads. You also might recall John Hockenberry’s description of a television executive’s fascination with TiVo, missing the point that it was a threat to his business (see subunit 8.2.6).
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.4.1.3 Why Watch Commercials at All?  
• Reading: The New York Times: Brian Stelter’s “A DVR Ad Eraser Causes Tremors at TV Upfronts”

  Link: The New York Times: Brian Stelter’s “A DVR Ad Eraser Causes Tremors at TV Upfronts”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Dish TV’s “Auto Hop” is a technology for automatically skipping commercials in digitally recorded television shows. It is the logical extension of time shifting, but of course television producers don’t like it.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.4.1.4 Facebook Will Bring Us Together in Prime Time  
• Reading: Social Media Explorer: Adam Helweh’s “Twitter, Time Shifting, Technology & Television”

  Link: Social Media Explorer: Adam Helweh’s “Twitter, Time Shifting, Technology & Television” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: After reading about time shifting and other disruptive technologies, read Adam Helweh’s interesting piece on how social media might bring people back to watching television in real time.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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8.4.2 The Next Big Thing  
• Reading: TechRadar: Marc Chacksfield’s “James Cameron on 3D: the TechRadar Interview”

  Link: TechRadar: Marc Chacksfield’s “James Cameron on 3D: the TechRadar Interview” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Author Marc Chacksfield calls movie director James Cameron “the biggest advocate for 3D working in Hollywood today.” Read this far-ranging interview with Cameron where he discusses television and movie technology and why he’s for three-dimensional television.
   
  Reading this interview should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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Unit 8 Assignment  
Unit 8 Assessment  
Unit 9: The Virtual World of Games  
In Unit 7, we discussed how movies, games and comic books coexist as transmedia, where familiar characters inhabit familiar worlds in stories dispersed across many types of media. At first, an electronic game might be based on a popular movie or television show, such as Star Wars. Today, the flow is just as likely to go the other way, with movies portraying characters from popular games inhabiting their familiar game worlds. For example, Angelina Jolie has starred in two movies as Lara Croft, the game character first seen in the Square-Enix game series Tomb Raider. Games have had a profound effect on other media, even broadcasts of sports events. This unit will explore the world of games, first looking at the technology, then the cultural aspects, concluding with movements to use games as educational tools.
Unit 9 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 9 Learning Outcomes   show close

9.1 From Pong to Wii: The Quest for Really Real Virtual Reality  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 10: Electronic Games and Entertainment, Introduction: Want to Get Away?”; “Section 1: The Evolution of Electronic Games”; and “Section 2: Influential Contemporary Games”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 10, Electronic Games and Entertainment, Introduction: Want to Get Away?”; “Section 1: The Evolution of Electronic Games”; and “Section 2: Influential Contemporary Games” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These sections of your textbook on pages 431-452 provide a good overview of the history of video games, the gaming industry, and the most influential video games. As we will see in the subunits to follow, the quest for more and more realistic games has gone hand in hand with their popularity.
   
  Reading these sections should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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9.1.1 As Processing Power and Bus Speed Increase, So Does the Fun  
9.1.1.1 Meet the Man Behind Your Video Board  
• Reading: All Things D: “Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang Describes Mobile’s Powerful Future at D@CES”

  Link: All Things D: “Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang Describes Mobile’s Powerful Future at D@CES”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read the interview and watch the video of Jen-Hsun Huang discussing the future of video graphics and the world of media. The quest for more realistic games has involved billions of dollars invested in research and development spent by some of the most talented computer designers and programmers in the world. Jen-Hsun Huang, the co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, discusses the history of his company and the challenges of innovation with Ina Fried. Where is mass media going? Huang thinks it will be to a new class of super cell phones.
   
  Reading the article and watching the video should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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9.1.1.2 Master of Complexity  
• Web Media: YouTube: “RSX: Reality Synthesizer - Part 1”

  Link: YouTube: “RSX: Reality Synthesizer -Part 1” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch this video as Jen-Hsun Huang explains some of the features and processes behind NVIDIA’s latest video-gaming breakthrough. He explains what went into the RSX Reality Synthesizer Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) and lays out how speed and beauty in video games are not compatible, leading to the quest for more and more processing power.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.1.1.3 Close Isn’t Good Enough in the Virtual Reality World  
• Web Media: YouTube: Popular Science: The Science of YouTube: “The Uncanny Valley”

  Link: YouTube: Popular Science: The Science of YouTube: “The Uncanny Valley” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: When the people in a virtual-reality world are almost -but not quite -real, you get an “almost human” presence on the screen that is creepy, an effect called the “uncanny valley,” to use the term coined by Japanese robotics Professor Masahiro Mori. Watch this explanation, then an example of the uncanny valley in the next subunit.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.1.1.4 A Creepy Example  
• Web Media: YouTube: Quantic Dream’s “Heavy Rain Casting Call”

  Link: YouTube: Quantic Dream’s “Heavy Rain Casting Call” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: You’ll see what Professor Mori means by watching some of this original demo for the game Heavy Rain, released in 2006. After you watch this video, compare the human-like qualities of its characters with those of the official game trailer, released in 2009.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.1.1.5 Heavy Rain Trailer  
• Web Media: YouTube: “Heavy Rain − Official E3 Trailer”

  Link: YouTube: “Heavy Rain-Official E3 Trailer”(YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch this trailer, released with the game in 2009, and compare it with the “casting call” segment in the previous subunit. Warning: This trailer contains violence and adult themes.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.1.2 Physical Action Becomes Part of the Game  
9.1.2.1 Wii Hacker Shows His Stuff  
• Web Media: YouTube: Carnegie Mellon University: Johnny Chung Lee’s “Tracking Fingers with the Wii Remote”

  Link: YouTube: Carnegie Mellon University: Johnny Chung Lee’s “Tracking Fingers with the Wii Remote” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: The ability of consoles to sense participant motion came to video games when Nintendo introduced the Wii remote in 2006. Microsoft followed in 2010 with the Kinect motion sensor for Xbox. Unlike Wii, the Kinect did not require the game player to hold a device, as the Wii did. But both devices immediately found uses outside of the gaming world. Watch this fascinating video in which hacker Johnny Chung Lee adapts the Wii remote for the kind of computer hand control seen in the movie Minority Report.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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9.1.2.2 Wii Becomes a Force for Good  
• Reading: Michigan State University: “Researcher Uses Nintendo Wii to Address Cancer-Related Fatigue”

  Link: Michigan State University: “Researcher Uses Nintendo Wii to Address Cancer-Related Fatigue”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: The Wii also has been adopted for medical use, in this case as a form of exercise for cancer patients, according to this article. Consider this and the previous subunit as examples of how game technology is moving into many areas of everyday life.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.1.2.3 Kinect Becomes a Force for All Sorts of Things  
• Reading: The New York Times: Rob Walker’s “Freaks, Geeks and Microsoft: How Kinect Spawned a Commercial Ecosystem”

  Link: The New York Times: Rob Walker’s “Freaks, Geeks and Microsoft: How Kinect Spawned a Commercial Ecosystem” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: When Microsoft introduced the Kinect motion-detection interface, it provided programmers and developers with a low-cost, high-tech interface that could be adapted to a dizzying variety of uses – if only Microsoft would let them. Eventually Microsoft did, as Rob Walker recounts.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.1.2.3.1 Kinect Graffiti  
• Web Media: Vimeo: Jean-Cristophe Naour’s “Kinect Graffiti”

  Link: Vimeo: Jean-Cristophe Naour’s “Kinect Graffiti” (Vimeo)
   
  Instructions: Watch this video about how one artist uses the Kinect to create visual displays.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.1.2.3.2 The Kinect Effect  
• Web Media: TED Conferences: Ads Worth Spreading: “The Kinect Effect”

  Link: TED Conferences: Ads Worth Spreading: “The Kinect Effect” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Microsoft has fully embraced the use of Kinect for non-gaming situations, as this Xbox promotional video shows.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.2 Gaming’s Effect on Culture  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 10, Section 3: The Impact of Video Games on Culture” and “Section 4: Controversial Issues”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 10, Section 3: The Impact of Video Games on Culture” and “Section 4: Controversial Issues” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Read these sections of Chapter 10 on pages 452-468, paying special attention to the effects of video games on other media. Then, apply what you’ve learned to the subunits to follow.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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9.2.1 Violence and the Gaming Culture  
Note: This subunit is covered by the reading for subunit 9.2. Also, review the section of Chapter 2, Section 4 (page 87) from Understanding Media and Culturethat includes the story of Jack Thompson, a crusader against violent video games. It has implications for the readings below.
9.2.1.1 Psychologists Connect Games and Violence  
• Reading: American Psychological Association: “Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression”

  Link: American Psychological Association: “Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read the press release about the study from the American Psychological Association, and then read the journal article linked below.
   
  Reading the overview and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
  
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• Reading: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Craig A. Anderson and Karen E. Dill’s “Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life”

  Link: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Craig A. Anderson and Karen E. Dill’s “Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: After clicking the above link, find the section titled “Read the Journal Article,” and click on the title. Skim the article, paying special attention to the methods and results. Note the complexity and limited scope of the research. This study in its opening paragraphs refers to the shootings in April 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado. Is the conclusion warranted that video games “may be more harmful than violent television and movies because of the interactive nature of the games”? Most people will not read the research itself, but instead take the conclusion at face value.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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9.2.1.2 The Opposing View  
• Reading: Forbes: John Gaudiosi’s “Expert Calls Blaming Video Games on Tragic Massacres Like Oslo and Columbine Racist”

  Link: Forbes: John Gaudiosi’s Expert Calls Blaming Video Games on Tragic Massacres Like Oslo and Columbine Racist” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University, a leading expert on video game violence and mass killings, tells Forbes that blaming video games for Columbine-like massacres is playing to a stereotype of the white male. And not all mass killers play video games.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.2.1.3 Where Children Go to Make Sense of Violence  
• Web Media: MIT: Henry Jenkins’s “Media Literacy as a Strategy for Combatting Moral Panic”

  Link: MIT: Henry Jenkins’s “Media Literacy as a Strategy for Combatting Moral Panic” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Henry Jenkins makes the case in this video that the online world was a place for young people to gather and help each other cope with the Columbine tragedy. What does Jenkins say about the assumptions we make concerning children and media?
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
  This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. It is attributed to Henry Jenkins and MIT OpenCourseWare, and the original version can be found here.

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9.2.1.4 No Doubting the Link Between Violence and This Game  
• Web Media: YouTube: “Super Columbine Massacre RPG (trailer)”

  Link: YouTube: “Super Columbine Massacre RPG (trailer)” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: “Super Columbine RPG” takes another approach entirely to the place of video games in such tragedies as Columbine: the lock and load approach.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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9.2.2 Sexism in Games  
9.2.2.1 The Problem Explained  
• Web Media: YouTube: Feminist Frequency: Anita Sarkeesian’s “Support My Kickstarter Project − Tropes vs. Women in Video Games”

  Link: YouTube: Feminist Frequency: Anita Sarkeesian’s “Support My Kickstarter Project -Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: If you love video games, you have to be concerned about the issue of sexism in the games themselves. As the Entertainment Software Association notes, 47 percent of video game players are women, and this segment of the audience is growing fast. Anita Sarkeesian decided to turn her feminist point of view on games into a research project; watch her Kickstarter video soliciting funds to study female tropes in video games. Note that it received a spectacular response from contributors, almost $160,000 when she was asking for $6,000.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.2.2.2 An Example from the Movies  
• Web Media: YouTube: Feminist Frequency: Anita Sarkeesian’s “Tropes vs. Women #4: The Evil Demon Seductress”

  Link: YouTube: Feminist Frequency: Anita Sarkeesian’s “Tropes vs. Women #4: The Evil Demon Seductress” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: In this video, Anita Sarkeesian explains the concept of a trope and uses the movies to provide an example. Make sure you understand what she means by a “trope” and try to apply it to other things you’ve seen in the media. How is a trope related to a stereotype?
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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9.2.2.3 Why Anita Sarkeesian Raised All That Money  
• Reading: The Huffington Post: Sara O’Meara’s “Internet Trolls Up Their Harassment Game With ‘Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian’”

  Link: The Huffington Post: Sara O’Meara’s “Internet Trolls Up Their Harassment Game With ‘Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian’” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read this article and look at the pictures and slides that go with it. Sarkeesian’s initiative on games drew a violent and hostile response from some who may or may not be representative of the gamer culture. It led to an outpouring of support.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.2.2.4 Does Video Gaming Have a Place for Women?  
• Reading: The American Prospect: Amanda Marcotte’s “Move Over, Mario”

  Link: The American Prospect: Amanda Marcotte’s “Move Over, Mario” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Amanda Marcotte believes that a violent sexism is deeply ingrained in gamer culture, and that has to change if for no other reason than women are as much into games as men. Connect this with what you read in the previous subunit. It is an example of how a culture can develop around the act of creating and distributing media.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.2.3 Televised Sports and Video Games Influence Each Other  
9.2.3.1 The Cultural Convergence of Games and Broadcast Television  
• Reading: Spectator: Christopher Hanson’s “Television Sport Broadcasting and Technology”

  Link: Spectator: Christopher Hanson’s “Television Sport Broadcasting and Technology” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Download Christopher Hanson’s article in PDF form from the University of Southern California archive. Hanson analyzes in depth the relationship between sports and video games. Concentrate on the last section beginning with the heading “Aesthetics and Implications of Sport on Television and in Video Games.”
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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9.2.3.2 A Clip From “Madden NFL 13”  
• Web Media: YouTube: EA Sports’s “Madden NFL 13 @ E3: Raw Gameplay of RGIII & Andrew Luck - Colts @ Redskins”

  Link: YouTube: EA Sports’s “Madden NFL 13 @ E3: Raw Gameplay of RGIII & Andrew Luck -Colts @ Redskins” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch this clip from the video game “Madden NFL 13.” Note the use of graphics, the blimp shot, and the camera angles that all mimic broadcast television. But also note the view of the game from behind the play. As you watch, remember the video about the “uncanny valley.” You might see that effect here.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.2.3.3 The Television Game  
• Web Media: National Football League: “Superbowl XLVI Highlights”

  Link: National Football League: “Superbowl XLVI Highlights” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Now watch highlights of the 2012 Super Bowl. Compare the use of camera angles with the video game clip. Note the on-field graphics in the “live” game highlights. It’s something designed to integrate the gamer look into the televised game.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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9.2.3.4 Skycam Takes You Inside the Action  
• Web Media: Skycam: “Skycam in Action”

  Link: Skycam: “Skycam in Action” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Once you get to this webpage, click on the start arrow to watch Skycam in action. Compare some of the shots in this promotional video to the video game angles.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.2.4 Virtual Cameras, Warts and All  
9.2.4.1 Lens Flare, Hold the Lens: Games and the Conventions of the Camera  
• Web Media: GamesRadar: Justin Towell’s “A Brief History of the Most Over-Used Special Effect in Video Games: Lens Flare”

  Link: GamesRadar: Justin Towell’s “A Brief History of the Most Over-Used Special Effect in Video Games: Lens Flare” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This reading is subtitled, “Virtual cameras don’t have lenses. You know that, right?” So how do you make something look more realistic? Put in the imperfections caused by lenses that show up in pictures taken with real cameras. Read the article decrying the overuse of this technique in video games.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.2.4.2 Nice Flare  
• Web Media: YouTube: “Star Trek: Into Darkness”

  Link: YouTube: “Star Trek: Into Darkness” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Visit this website for the latest Star Trek movie. Watch the trailer and see how the director, J.J. Abrams, incorporated lens flare and “lens schmutz” into his computer generated imagery. A careful comparison of movie video and game video shows how much each medium has influenced the other. Finally, if you have a smart phone, download the app. Note how Paramount Studios is using a game-like experience on your phone to promote the movie.
   
  Watching this web media video and exploring the phone app should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.3 Expanding the Functions of Video Games  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 10, Section 5: Blurring the Boundaries Between Video Games, Information, Entertainment, and Communication”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 10, Section 5: Blurring the Boundaries Between Video Games, Information, Entertainment, and Communication” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 10, Section 5 on pages 468-474 sets the foundation for understanding how an entertainment medium such video games can become a way of spreading culture in ways not originally intended. As you read this section, think back to the unit on television: in its early days, many thought of television as a medium for education and the arts, but it soon branched out into a medium for news, sports, and entertainment. Is the medium of video games developing in a similar way?
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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9.3.1 Games in Education  
• Reading: University of Wisconsin-Madison: David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee’s “Video Games and the Future of Learning”

  Link: University of Wisconsin-Madison: David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee’s “Video Games and the Future of Learning” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In this paper, four proponents of video games in education discuss the promise and the issues of gaming in the schools. They argue that the most powerful learning experiences are personally meaningful and experiential, and that most educational games have been developed without any coherent educational theory. The authors then try to fill in the theoretical gap.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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9.3.2 Where Video Games and Military Training Meet  
9.3.2.1 Militainment  
• Web Media: TEDTalks: “P. W. Singer on Military Robots and the Future of War”

  Link: TEDTalks: “P. W. Singer on Military Robots and the Future of War” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: P. W. Singer describes a new kind of warfare, using robots controlled by soldiers far away from the reaction – and recording it all. Killing the enemy is more like a video game than wars of the past. Watch this video, and then go on to more of Singer’s ideas in the subunit below, in which he directly links video games to the military.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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9.3.2.2 P.W. Singer Discusses the Implications of Military Gaming  
• Web Media: YouTube: Big Think: “P. W. Singer on Video Games and War”

  Link: YouTube: Big Think: “P. W. Singer on Video Games and War” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Singer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, discusses the implications of the military’s use of games for training and recruitment.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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9.3.2.3 Game Break! “America’s Army”  
• Optional Activity: “America’s Army”

  Link: “America’s Army” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: For this OPTIONAL activity, visit the US Army’s website, where you can download “America’s Army” and play the video game. Maybe you’ll sign up for duty. But mostly note how this game makes the Army seem exciting and even sexy.
   
  Completing this activity should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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Unit 9 Assignments  
Unit 9 Assessment  
Unit 10: Social Media  
If something has been tweeted, is it still news? Apparently the British Broadcasting Corporation believes the answer is no. In February 2012, the corporation issued new rules to all of its correspondents, reporters, and producers not to break news stories on Twitter before the BBC newsroom knows about it.[viii] Journalists are just one group struggling to harness the power of social media. Facebook has a special place for businesses competing to be “liked” and “friended” by users. Government, too, is involved in Facebook, giving rise to fears that information on the site will be used for domestic surveillance. And social media has changed the nature of political campaigns. Facebook wasn’t 10 years old until 2013, yet it has more than 800 million users; if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest on Earth. This unit will explore how the Internet has developed from a Defense Department research project into a worldwide engine of commerce and social change.



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[viii]John Plunkett, “Don’t break stories on Twitter, BBC journalists told,” The Guardian website, posted Feb. 8, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/08/twitter-bbc-journalists
Unit 10 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 10 Learning Outcomes   show close

10.1 The Repurposing and Re-Repurposing of the Internet  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11: The Internet and Social Media, Introduction: Cleaning Up Your Online Act” and “Section 1: The Evolution of the Internet”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11: The Internet and Social Media, Introduction: Cleaning Up Your Online Act” and “Section 1: The Evolution of the Internet” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These sections of Understanding Media and Culture on pages 478-494 provide a thorough history of the Internet and what it has become today. Those unfamiliar with this history will be surprised to learn that the Internet started as a defense measure, a network with high survivability in the event of nuclear war. Think of that the next time you’re on Facebook.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.1.1 How Right He Was  
• Reading: The New York Times Magazine: William Gibson’s “The Net Is a Waste of Time”

  Link: The New York Times Magazine: William Gibson’s “The Net Is a Waste of Time” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: You’ll enjoy reading William Gibson’s prophetic article about the pleasures of wasting time surfing the web (the title is ironic). Gibson, the science fiction novelist, coined the term “cyberspace.”
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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10.1.2 A Communications Network for the Cold War  
• Reading: Forbes ASAP: George Gilder’s “Inventing the Internet Again”

  Link: Forbes ASAP: George Gilder’s “Inventing the Internet Again” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Paul Baran helped develop packet switching, a key component in building the Internet as we know it today. Read George Gilder’s account and learn about what Baran did after the Internet came about.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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10.1.2 Tim Berners-Lee on the Why of the Internet  
10.1.2.1 Berners-Lee’s Original Proposal  
• Reading: CERN: Tim Berners-Lee’s “Information Management: A Proposal”

  Link: CERN: Tim Berners-Lee’s “Information Management: A Proposal” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Tim Berners-Lee, who developed the Internet protocols that make web browsers work, set out with the original aim of creating an open system of information access. In his original proposal for a worldwide hypertext system, Berners-Lee wrote, “We should work toward a universal linked information system, in which generality and portability are more important than fancy graphics techniques and complex extra facilities. The aim would be to allow a place to be found for any information or reference which one felt was important, and a way of finding it afterwards.”[1] Skim the proposal for yourself.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.1.2.2 Tim Berners-Lee on the Web Today  
• Web Media: TEDTalks: “Tim Berners-Lee on the Next Web”

  Link: TEDTalks: “Tim Berners-Lee on the Next Web” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Watch the video, in which Berners-Lee promotes the value of making raw data available through the web.
   
  Watching this video and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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10.2 With Social Media, Who Do You Trust?  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11, Section 2: Social Media and Web 2.0”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11, Section 2: Social Media and Web 2.0” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 11, Section 2 (pages 494-511) breaks down social media and “Web 2.0,” the idea of the web as a place for sharing and collaboration that spawned social media and websites such as YouTube, Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram, and, of course, Facebook. Read this section of Chapter 11, and then apply it to the upcoming subunits.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.2.1 Who’s Watching You?  
10.2.1.1 Social Media and Privacy: Myths and Facts  
• Reading: Stanford Technology Law Review: Lothar Determann’s “Social Media Privacy: A Dozen Myths and Facts”

  Link: Stanford Technology Law Review: Lothar Determann’s “Social Media Privacy: A Dozen Myths and Facts”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: The informal corporate motto of Google is, “Don’t be evil.” So should we fear giving up our information to the online behemoth? What is the real story about social media and privacy? Click “Download Full Article” to read Lothar Determann’s detailed rundown of your rights and some of the fallacies surrounding social media privacy.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.2.1.2 Privacy Checklist  
• Reading: PCWorld: Nick Mediati’s “Google Privacy Checklist: What to Do Before Google’s Privacy Policy Changes on March 1”

  Link: PCWorld: Nick Mediati’s “Google Privacy Checklist: What to Do Before Google’s Privacy Policy Changes on March 1” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Nick Mediati runs down what you should do if you want to protect your privacy from Google.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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10.2.1.3 Our Data, Ourselves  
• Reading: Wired: Olivia Solon’s “You are Facebook’s Product, Not Customer”

  Link: Wired: Olivia Solon’s “You are Facebook’s Product, Not Customer” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: You might remember Douglas Rushkoff from The Persuaders, the video from our unit (Unit 3) on advertising. Rushkoff believes we have to change our thinking about the relationship we have with social media sites such as Facebook. This reading describes what he thinks the true relationship might look like.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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10.2.2 Always Connected  
10.2.2.1 You Can Take It (the Internet) with You  
• Web Media: YouTube: Intel Corporation’s “In-Vehicle Infotainment Demonstration”

  Link: YouTube: Intel Corporation’s “In-Vehicle Infotainment Demonstration” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: If you’ve ever been in an elevator with six people who are all staring at their smart phones, then you know that for many of us, being constantly connected is the ultimate goal. And plenty of companies out there are working hard to make it come true. For example, despite recent awareness in the media about distracted driving, Intel wants to put even more media in your car.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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10.2.2.2 Google Glass Makes Your Real World a Virtual World, Too  
• Reading: TechRadar: James Rivington’s “Are Google’s Glasses More Than Just a Gimmick?”

  Link: TechRadar: James Rivington’s “Are Google’s Glasses More Than Just a Gimmick?” (HTML)
   
  Instruction: Google Glass goes one further than Intel: wearing special “glasses” -really a heads-up computer display -you can rule your world digitally. Read this article, and then keep it in mind for the subunits to follow.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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10.2.2.3 More on Project Glass  
• Web Media: YouTube: Google’s “Project Glass: One Day...”

  Link: YouTube: Google’s “Project Glass: One Day...”(YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch this idyllic video about how great Project Glass will be. The idea is that we will wear glasses that keep us constantly connected to Google and to each other. Is this something you want in your daily life? Do we want Google monitoring our every move?
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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10.2.2.4 Project Glass Gone Awry, Part 1  
• Web Media: YouTube: Jonathan McIntosh’s “ADmented Reality − Google Glasses Remixed with Google Ads”

  Link: YouTube: Jonathan McIntosh’s “ADmented Reality -Google Glasses Remixed with Google Ads”(YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Of course, what’s in it for Google? Remember that for Google, we are not customers; we’re the product: an audience of consumers delivered up for marketers.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
  This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to Jonathan McIntosh, and the original version can be found here.

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10.2.2.5 Project Glass Gone Awry, Part 2: This Is Your Future  
• Web Media: Vimeo: Sight Systems: Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo’s “Sight”

  Link: Vimeo: Sight Systems: Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo’s “Sight” (Vimeo)
   
  Instructions: You’ll enjoy the short sci-fi film on the ultimate system, “Sight,” in which you live in a world of apps. It gives new meaning to William Gibson’s term “cyberspace.”
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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10.2.3 YouTube and Your 15 Minutes of Fame  
10.2.3.1 The “Numa Numa” Guy  
• Web Media: YouTube: Gary Brolsma’s “Numa Numa”

  Link: YouTube: Gary Brolsma’s “Numa Numa” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: The term “viral video” had hardly been thought of when Gary Brolsma, a New Jersey teenager, posted his lip-synching video on YouTube. It became an international sensation. His experience, related in the next subunit, shows the power of the Internet to disrupt lives, maybe for the better.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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10.2.3.2 Introduction to the Meme  
• Web Media: Know Your Meme: “Numa Numa”

  Link: Know Your Meme: “Numa Numa” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: “Numa Numa” became a prime example of a meme, some visual element in our culture that is passed on from person to person, often as imitation or with some adaptation. The website Know Your Meme provides a good discussion of Brolsma’s case. Be sure to watch some of the video memes of “Numa Numa.”
   
  Reading this webpage and viewing the associated videos should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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10.2.4 Instagram, Pinterest: Bring Us the Visual Tweet  
• Reading: UC Berkeley NewsCenter: Carol Ness’s “For Photojournalist at the Pinnacle, Instagram Is a Game Changer”

  Link: UC Berkeley NewsCenter: Carol Ness’s “For Photojournalist at the Pinnacle, Instagram is a Game Changer” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The social media websites designed for posting pictures, Instagram and Pinterest, also are being used by photojournalists. This reading illustrates how social media begins as one thing and often morphs into something else. One photojournalist, Richard Koci Hernandez, is using his cell phone and the website Instagram to practice the art of street photography. What sets him apart is his training and his philosophy that perfect isn’t better. Be sure to click the video link about halfway down the page labeled “Tips on smartphone photography.”
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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10.3 Social Media, Your World, and the Wide World  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11, Section 3: The Effects of the Internet and Globalization on Popular Culture and Interpersonal Communication”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11, Section 3: The Effects of the Internet and Globalization on Popular Culture and Interpersonal Communication” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 11, Section 3 on pages 511-526 presents a wide-ranging discussion of the effects of the Internet on our daily lives and those of people around the world. In the two subunits to follow, we will look at two different but related issues: the connectedness of people around the world and how it affects world events, and the Internet as a place to form personal relationships.
   
  Reading this selection should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.3.1 Social Media and the Arab Spring  
10.3.1.1 For Neda  
• Web Media: Open Culture: Dan Colman’s “For Neda: The New HBO Documentary Now Online”

  Link: Open Culture: HBO’s “For Neda: The New HBO Documentary Now Online”(YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Watch at least the first half of this riveting documentary about Neda Agha Soltan. A sniper shot and killed her on June 20, 2009. The cell-phone video of her death immediately went viral, and she came to be known as just Neda to millions of people around the world. The first part of the video makes a case for that cell-phone video being a seminal moment in the Arab Spring.
   
  Reading this section and viewing the associated video should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.3.1.2 CNN Picks Up Social Media  
• Web Media: CNN: “Her Name Was Neda”

  Link: CNN’s “Her Name Was Neda” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Today’s journalists often must rely on amateur video or photos posted on social media to get the story from places impossible to visit. This CNN report reflects this trend. As you watch, consider this – how does a news organization such as CNN know the video is authentic?
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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10.3.1.3 Would the Story Be a Story Without Social Media?  
• Reading: The New York Times: Nazila Fathi’s “In a Death Seen Around the World, a Symbol of Iranian Protests”

  Link: The New York Times: Nazila Fathi’s “In a Death Seen Around the World, a Symbol of Iranian Protests” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: This reading from The New York Times and the report by CNN are examples of how Neda’s story, told first on the Internet, became a major story for world media. The question is, would that have been the case without cell phones and the Internet?
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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10.3.1.4 Panel Discussion on the Role of Social Media and Arab Spring  
• Web Media: iTunes: Arab American National Museum; Michigan Radio: “The Revolution is Online: Social Media + Arab World Uprisings”

  Link: iTunes: Arab American National Museum; Michigan Radio: “The Revolution is Online: Social Media + Arab World Uprisings” (iTunes)
   
  Instructions: Watch this video of a panel of experts, including Mona Altahawy, Jigar Mehta, Atef Said, and Tim Kiska, as they try to gauge the impact of social media on the Middle East. Think back to the subunit proposing that printed tracts were the social media of the Reformation. Do you see a similarity?
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 2 hours.
   
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10.3.2 Love Is Where You Find It  
• Reading: The New Yorker: Nick Paumgarten’s “True Romance Dept.: Looking for Someone”

  Link: The New Yorker: Nick Paumgarten’s “True Romance Dept.: Looking for Someone” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Nick Paumgarten takes us on an entertaining journey through the world of online dating, where people tell websites their most personal details in hopes of finding true love. By now you should be seeing just how versatile and adaptable the Internet has become for everything from journalism to social relationships.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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10.4 Where Is It All Taking Us?  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11, Section 4: Issues and Trends”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 11, Section 4: Issues and Trends” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: The Internet and social media have revolutionized the way we communicate with each other and as a society. Journalism has been turned upside down. Another issue, one upon which the innovative, creative Internet rests, is net neutrality. Read Chapter 11, Section 4 on pages 526-539, and then delve deeper into these two issues in the subunits below.
   
  Reading this selection should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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10.4.1 Blogs, Twitter, and Citizen Journalism  
10.4.1.1 The Need for Journalism’s Values  
• Reading: Nieman Reports: Geneva Overholser’s “What Is Journalism’s Place in Social Media?”

  Link: Nieman Reports: Geneva Overholser’s “What Is Journalism’s Place in Social Media?”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Here’s the conundrum for mainstream media organizations: how do you stay relevant in a world where news travels faster than you do? Geneva Overholser describes how she found out that Michael Jackson had died: from a blog on her smart phone. She goes on to analyze the place of journalism in the Internet world.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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10.4.1.2 Searching for Relevance  
• Reading: Nieman Reports: Michael Skoler’s “Why the News Media Became Irrelevant - And How Social Media Can Help”

  Link: Nieman Reports: Michael Skoler’s “Why the News Media Became Irrelevant - And How Social Media Can Help” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Michael Skoler picks up the discussion, taking the angle that journalists need to change their culture and embrace citizen journalism and social media.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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10.4.1.3 The Ink-Stained Wretches  
• Reading: Christian Science Monitor: Robert G. Picard’s “Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay”

  Link: Christian Science Monitor: Robert G. Picard’s “Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Robert G. Picard delivers the cold, hard reality that journalism, under its traditional model of controlling information, has low value in today’s society. It will stay that way, Picard says, until journalists come up with a new model that creates value to consumers.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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10.4.2 The Battle for Net Neutrality  
10.4.2.1 Net Neutrality Explained  
• Reading: The New York Times: Eduardo Porter’s “Keeping the Internet Neutral”

  Link: The New York Times: Eduardo Porter’s “Keeping the Internet Neutral” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Who controls the pipe carrying the Internet into your home? Should that company be allowed to control what can pass through and what can’t? Eduardo Porter explains net neutrality and tells why it is important if the Internet is to continue to be a place of innovation.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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10.4.2.2 Tim Berners-Lee Weighs In  
• Web Media: BBC: “Tim Berners-Lee Warns over Threats to Online Freedom”

  Link: BBC: “Tim Berners-Lee Warns over Threats to Online Freedom” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Tim Berners-Lee makes the case that the Arab Spring would not have happened without a free and open Internet. Recall that the panelists in subunit 10.3.1.4 voiced much the same idea. Think of how the ability to control access to the Internet might be abused. Ask what roles the Internet plays in your life – commerce, education, entertainment – and how corporate control of the network might affect your experience.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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Unit 10 Assignments  
Unit 10 Assessment  
Unit 11: Media Law and Media Ethics  
Ethics, someone once said, govern your behavior even when no one is looking. In today’s world of mass communication, someone is always looking and all too eager to point out your bad behavior. In a way this is good. The reporter who makes stuff up, the photographer who fakes a picture, even the student who rips off someone else’s work, are much less likely to get away with it, thanks to the millions of eyes that might be watching and the efficient search engines at our command. Mass media can do great harm or great good, and today we all have that massive power at our command. This unit will take a too brief look at ethical and legal considerations surrounding mass communication.
Unit 11 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 11 Learning Outcomes   show close

11.1 Ethical Issues in Mass Media  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 14, Introduction: TMZ, Tabloids, and Celebrity Gossip: Freedom of the Press or Invasion of Privacy?”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 14, Introduction: TMZ, Tabloids, and Celebrity Gossip: Freedom of the Press or Invasion of Privacy?” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In his introduction to Chapter 14 on pages 626-628, the author discusses the role of celebrity and how that has skewed our view of what is news. Read it carefully, and then apply it to the subunits below.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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11.1.1 News About News  
• Web Media: TEDTalks: Alisa Miller’s “The News About the News”

  Link: TEDTalks: Alisa Miller’s “The News About the News” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: In this short talk, Alisa Miller graphically shows how our view of the world might be skewed, judging from our news coverage. Try to connect what she is saying with The Daily Show excerpt in the next subunit and John Hockenberry’s article “‘You Don’t Understand Our Audience’: What I Learned about Network Television at Dateline NBC” from subunit 8.2.6.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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11.1.2 Time Magazine’s US Edition  
• Web Media: Comedy Central: The Daily Show with John Stewart: “TIME Magazine’s US Edition”

  Link: Comedy Central: The Daily Show with John Stewart: “TIME Magazine’s US Edition” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Jon Stewart of The Daily Show plays it for laughs, but inside the comedy is a serious demonstration of how our own media goes for what sells. Stewart compares the covers of TIME’s foreign editions with what we see in the United States. What does this say about our culture and the cultures of other countries?
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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11.1.3 The Internet’s Data Bubble  
• Web Media: TEDTalks: Ethan Zuckerman’s “Listening to Global Voices”

  Link: TEDTalks: Ethan Zuckerman’s “Listening to Global Voices” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: If the mainstream media insist on pandering to what it thinks we want, rather than giving us news we need, maybe the Internet will save us. It might, but only if we work at it. Ethan Zuckerman provides information on how we live in a data bubble on the Internet.
   
  Watching this video should take approximately 20 minutes.
   
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11.2 Round Up the Usual Suspects: Race, Gender, and Sex  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 14, Section 1: Ethical Issues in Mass Media”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 14, Section 1: Ethical Issues in Mass Media” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: In Chapter 14, Section 1 on pages 628-639, the author talks about portrayals of race, gender, and sex in the “legacy” media, especially television. He centers his discussion on how race, gender, and sex are represented, and how these representations promote stereotypes. Read this section carefully and apply it to the following subunits.
   
  Reading this section should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.2.1 Racism in the Media  
11.2.1.1 Stereotyping the Black Male  
• Reading: Yale Political Quarterly: Stephen Balkaran’s “Mass Media and Racism”

  Link: Yale Political Quarterly: Stephen Balkaran’s “Mass Media and Racism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read Stephen Balkaran’s article; he believes the media has “stereotyped young African-American males as gangsters or drug dealers.” And he doesn’t limit this charge to entertainment; the news media, he writes, spend “too little time to describing the background problems of African-Americans,” instead “enumerating the wounded.”
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.2.1.2 Sports Has a Built-In Bias  
• Reading: University of Central Florida: Richard Lapchick’s “The 2010−11 Associated Press

  Link: University of Central Florida: Richard Lapchick’s “The 2010-11 Associated Press Sports Editors Racial and Gender Report Card” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Find the link to the 2011 Associated Press Sports Editors report to download the PDF document. Read the overall findings and skim the results. Lapchick writes, “It is important to have voices from different backgrounds in the media,” and yet he finds the sports departments of Associated Press member newspapers to be overwhelmingly white. What sports news organization seems to have done the best job of hiring minorities and women?
   
  Reading this report and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.2.2 Spreading Hate Against Women  
• Reading: Forbes: David DiSalvo’s “The Horrific World of Online Sexual Violence Against Women”

  Link: Forbes: David DiSalvo’s “The Horrific World of Online Sexual Violence Against Women” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: David DiSalvo indicts the online world as being a place where the worst possible depictions of violence against women are readily available. Ask yourself, who’s watching this stuff?
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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11.3 Competing Models: Utilitarianism vs. the Moral Imperative  
• Reading: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Journalism Ethics: Stephen J. A. Ward’s “Approaches to Ethics”

  Link: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Journalism Ethics: Stephen J. A. Ward’s “Approaches to Ethics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Before we go further, read this summary of various ethical models. Those in the media must strike a balance between duty and care for others. For example, a television reporter has a duty to report corruption in government, but these reports usually affect the people involved. When the story is less important to the greater good, the decision to report something that might harm someone becomes harder to make. After this subunit, you can apply what you’ve learned to the news media in the next subunit.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.3.1 News Media, Objectivity, and Truth  
• Reading: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Journalism Ethics: Stephen J. A. Ward’s “Nature of Journalism Ethics”

  Link: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Journalism Ethics: Stephen J. A. Ward’s “Nature of Journalism Ethics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read on, as Stephen J. A. Ward continues his discussion of ethical models as they apply to the news media in the first reading of this subunit.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.3.2 Ethics for the Working Journalist  
• Reading: University of Minnesota, Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law: Geneva Overholser’s “High Hopes and Dire Warnings: In Search of a Credo for Today’s Journalist”

  Link: University of Minnesota, Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law: Geneva Overholser’s “High Hopes and Dire Warnings: In Search of a Credo for Today’s Journalist” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Scan the webpage for the title above, and click on “PDF” to open the reading. Geneva Overholser, a former newspaper editor for Gannett, takes the discussion to a more personal level, that of the journalist on the job, who often faces an ambiguous and difficult world to report.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.3.3 Putting the People First  
• Reading: The Poynter Institute: Bob Steele’s “The Ethics of Civic Journalism: Independence as the Guide”

  Link: The Poynter Institute: Bob Steele’s “The Ethics of Civic Journalism: Independence as the Guide” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute discusses civic journalism, a form of journalism that seeks to put people in the community first. It is a style of journalism that many in the news business believe strays into the realm of making news, not just reporting it. What do you think? How far should a journalist go to tease out the news that affects everyday people?
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.3.4 Journalism Codes of Ethics  
Note: Each organization concerned with journalism has its code of ethics. As you read over these various ethics codes, look for the rules of conduct these organizations hold in common. Look for those principles that are grounded in duty, such as telling the truth and avoiding plagiarism, and those that are based on caring for others.
11.3.4.1 SPJ  
• Reading: Society of Professional Journalists: “Code of Ethics”

  Link: Society of Professional Journalists: “Code of Ethics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The SPJ writes that its code of ethics is “intended not as a set of ‘rules’ but as a resource for ethical decision-making.” Keep in mind the idea that ethics cannot be governed by “rules” because every situation has its own set of variables.
   
  Reading this text should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.3.4.2 NPPA Code of Ethics  
• Reading: National Press Photographers Association: “Code of Ethics”

  Link: National Press Photographers Association’s “Code of Ethics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The NPPA website says the aims of its code of ethics are “to promote the highest quality in all forms of visual journalism and to strengthen public confidence in the profession.” Quality and public confidence often are at odds with creating a striking image. Which do you believe should be emphasized?
   
  Reading this text should take about 15 minutes.
   
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11.3.4.3 Digital manipulation and credibility  
• Reading: NPPA Special Report: “Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography”

  Link: NPPA Special Report: “Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography”
   
  Instructions: Read all the sections of this article. The code of ethics for digital manipulation is all about protecting the profession. John Long of the NPPA discusses what is unethical and what is merely bad taste – an important distinction – and makes a case for limiting digital manipulation to protect the credibility of photojournalism.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.3.4.4 RTDNA  
• Reading: Radio Television Digital News Association: “Code of Ethics”

  Link: Radio Television Digital News Association: “Code of Ethics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Broadcast journalists have a special obligation: to use the public airways to broadcast in the public interest. How do you think the migration to digital cable or satellite digital television, with hundreds of channels, has affected this sense of duty?
   
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.3.4.5 IGDA  
• Reading: International Game Developers Association: “Mission and Code of Ethics”

  Link: International Game Developers Association: “Mission and Code of Ethics” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: The gamer’s code of ethics warns against “[d]iscrimination or the tolerance of discrimination of any kind, whether on the basis of race, gender, creed, age, sexuality, family status, disability, or national origin.” Think back to Anita Sarkeesian’s experience with proposing a study of games from a feminist perspective. Does the code of ethics square with what you’ve read about the gamer culture and its treatment of women?
   
  Reading this text should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.4 Ethical Considerations of the Online World  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 14, Section 3: Ethical Considerations of the Online World”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 14, Section 3: Ethical Considerations of the Online World” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Chapter 13, Section 4 on pages 654-664 summarizes the main issues involving your relationship with Internet service providers and Internet sites such as Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook. The subunits below will take a different approach: your ethical responsibilities as a web user.
   
  Reading this selection and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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11.4.1 Virtual Bullying is Real Bullying  
• Lecture: Internet Safety Technical Task Force: Michele Ybarra’s “Social Networking Sites, Unwanted Sexual Solicitation, Internet Harassment, and Cyberbullying”

  Link: Internet Safety Technical Task Force: Michele Ybarra’s “Social Networking Sites, Unwanted Sexual Solicitation, Internet Harassment, and Cyberbullying” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Watch this video lecture in which Michelle Ybarra provides definitions and some numbers on cyberbullying and sexual solicitation online. It’s a good grounding in the subject that you can apply to the readings in the next subunits.
   
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to Michele Ybarra, and the original version can be found here.

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11.4.1.1 The High School Scene  
• Reading: Stuyvesant High School’s The Spectator: “Virtual Bullying, Real Life Consequences”

  Link: Stuyvesant High School’s The Spectator: “Virtual Bullying, Real Life Consequences” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read the editorial from the Stuyvesant High School’s The Spectator for a more visceral account of cyberbullying. After all, students are much closer to the issue than academic researchers.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 5 minutes.
   
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11.4.1.2 Cyberbullying Goes to College  
• Reading: BU Today: Caleb Daniloff’s “Cyberbullying Goes to College: Online Harassment Can Turn Campus Life into a Virtual Hell”

  Link: BU Today: Caleb Daniloff’s “Cyberbullying Goes to College: Online Harassment Can Turn Campus Life into a Virtual Hell” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: If you think you are immune from cyberbullying because you are an adult, the story from Boston University Today tells a different story. What ethical duty does a social media company, such as Facebook, have in preventing the harm cyberbullying can inflict on a person?
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.4.2 The Long Tail of the News and Requests to “Unpublish”  
11.4.2.1 A New Challenge for Online Journalists  
• Reading: Associated Press Media Editors: Kathy English’s “The Long Tail of News: To Unpublish or Not to Unpublish”

  Link: Associated Press Media Editors: Kathy English’s “The Long Tail of News: To Unpublish or Not to Unpublish” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: After clicking the link above, find and click “Download the Report.” Kathy English, Public Editor for the Toronto Star, addresses an issue that should be on the minds of every online journalist and blogger. The “long tail” refers to the thousands of small newspapers and websites that together account for millions of readers. These small news organizations used to be difficult to find, but today a Google search of a person’s name will turn up everything, even long forgotten newspaper articles about past offenses. Read about the increase in subjects asking for stories to be “unpublished” and English’s nuanced approach to the problem.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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11.4.2.2 Taking Care of Yourself  
• Reading: Google Webmaster Central Blog: Susan Moskwa’s “Managing Your Reputation Through Search Results”

  Link: Google Webmaster Central Blog: Susan Moskwa’s “Managing Your Reputation Through Search Results” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Google steadfastly maintains that it doesn’t censor the Internet, but it does offer advice on how to protect your reputation from the “long tail.”
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 10 minutes.
   
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11.5 The Law and Mass Media Messages  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Introduction: Facebook Versus the FTC,” “Section 1: Government Regulation of Media” and “Section 2: The Law and Mass Media Messages”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Introduction: Facebook Versus the FTC,” “Section 1: Government Regulation of Media” and “Section 2: The Law and Mass Media Messages” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These sections of Understanding Media and Culture on pages 669-686 provide an analysis of the relationship of media to free speech and government regulation. The First Amendment says Congress shall make NO law abridging freedom of speech, but of course speech is highly regulated in many media settings. Read these chapter sections to learn why and how.
   
  Reading these sections should take approximately 45 minutes.
   
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11.5.1 Freedom of Speech  
• Reading: Bill Kovarik’s Media Law (400): “The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights”

  Link: Bill Kovarik’s Media Law (400): “The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Professor Kovarik lays out the constitutional protection of freedom of speech embodied in the First Amendment. As you read subunits below about government regulation of broadcasting, keep in mind that most speech is out of the government’s control; it is free.
   
  Reading this section should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.5.1.2 Libel  
• Reading: Bill Kovarik’s Media Law (400): “Libel” and “Libel Cases”

  Link: Bill Kovarik’s Media Law (400): “Libel” (HTML) and “Libel Cases” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Read these two sections of Professor Kovarik’s website, paying close attention to what constitutes libel. Keep in mind that libel cases in the courts are civil cases; someone who believes he or she has been libeled must sue for damages. News organizations in particular want to avoid libel suits because they are expensive and because such suits hurt the organization’s reputation. But libel carries no criminal penalties. In the review of libel cases, pay special attention to the 1964 case New York Times v. Sullivan. This case established many of the precedents that protect the media in its coverage of government and public figures.
   
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
   
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11.5.1.3 First Amendment Timeline  
• Reading: First Amendment Center: “First Amendment Timeline”

  Link: First Amendment Center: “First Amendment Timeline” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Skim through the First Amendment timeline to get a sense of how this battle for free speech was carried out.
   
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.5.2 Censorship and Freedom of Speech  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Section 3: Censorship and Freedom of Speech”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Section 3: Censorship and Freedom of Speech” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Many of the controversies over censorship arise from the special place broadcasting holds in communication law. Because radio and television stations use a limited resource -the spectrum of electromagnetic broadcast waves -they have been required to broadcast in the public interest under the watchful eye of the Federal Communications Commission. This section of your textbook on pages 686-696 discusses these issues in depth.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.5.3 Intellectual Property Issues in the Mass Media  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Section 4: Intellectual Property Issues in the Mass Media”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Section 4: Intellectual Property Issues in the Mass Media” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: As you read this discussion of copyright and intellectual property rights in this section on pages 696-703, think back to previous units where these issues came up, especially the subunit on piracy of media.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.5.4 Digital Democracy and Its Possible Effects  
• Reading: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Section 5: Digital Democracy and Its Possible Effects” and “Section 6: Media Influence on Laws and Government”

  Link: Understanding Media and Culture: “Chapter 15, Section 5: Digital Democracy and Its Possible Effects” and “Section 6: Media Influence on Laws and Government” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These sections on pages 703-713 cover the effects of media on the political process. Read them carefully and connect what you read to the subunits that follow.
   
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
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11.5.4.1 Super PAC Mania  
• Reading: Columbia Law School Magazine: Robert Barnes’s “Super Pac Mania”

  Link: Columbia Law School Magazine: Robert Barnes’s “Super Pac Mania” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Robert Barnes of Columbia Law School addresses the massive amounts of money going into political campaigns from “super” political action committees. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on advertising and social media. Some see this as a corrupting influence.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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11.5.4.2 The Silly but Serious Super PAC  
• Reading: The New York Times: Jason Zinoman’s “Beneath a Deeply Silly Campaign, a Deeply Serious Performer”

  Link: The New York Times: Jason Zinoman’s “Beneath a Deeply Silly Campaign, a Deeply Serious Performer” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert sees the super PAC as an opportunity to have some fun while making a serious point about the nature of today’s politics.
   
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
   
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Unit 11 Assignments  
Unit 11 Assessment  
Final Exam  

• Final Exam: The Saylor Foundation’s “COMM002 Final Exam”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation’s “COMM002 Final Exam”
  
  Instructions: You must be logged into your Saylor Foundation School account in order to access this exam. If you do not yet have an account, you will be able to create one, free of charge, after clicking the link.

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