SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 130-3

 

Catherine Murray  
Fall 2001
CC 6149: 291-5322 
Burnaby Day
Email: murraye@sfu.ca  

                                  

EXPLORATIONS IN COMMUNICATION

This course introduces the media, popular culture and society in Canada.  For non-majors, the intent is to introduce the principal debates over freedom of expression and regulation of democratic communication today.  For majors, this course will also introduce the various streams or theoretical approaches to the study of communication, to suggest later courses and related readings.

Required Text:

R. Lorimer and M. Gasher (2000), Mass Communication in Canada,4th edition, Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford.

Recommended Text:

Lawrence Grossberg et al (1998), MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture, Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage.

Supplementary Materials:

There is a CMNS-130 Custom  Course Reader entitled Controversies in Canadian Communication which is required for your tutorials.

Grade Distribution:

 

Tutorial Attendance
5%
Tutorial Participation  
20%
Proposal for Term Paper (250 words and Biblio) 
10%
FINAL PAPER DUE WEEK 11 
30%
FINAL EXAM ( scheduled in exam period)
35%

                     

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relations to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades.  In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty”, and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations Section).

Work Load:

You will be expected to attend all lectures and tutorials.  To keep up with the class lecture, you will be expected to read at least 30 pages a week on average.  There will be additional readings for your tutorial and essay assignments.

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES*

Media in Time and Space: ( History and Political Economy)

1.     Introduction: Mapping the Flow

2.     Social History of the Media

3.     State Power, Regulation and the Media

4.     Politics and the Media

5.     Mo’ Money Blues: Economics and the Media

Making Sense of the Media ( Popular Culture)

6.     Advertising and Consumerism

7.     Garage Bands and Bare Naked Ladies: the Canadian Music Industry

8.     Producing Identities: The Construction of Gender and Race

9.     Moral Panics? Violence in the Media

Media, Consumers, and Democracy ( Public Policy)

10.  Star Wars: Broadcasting in Canada

11.  Public, Alternative Media

12.  Convergence: Digital Democracy and the Media

13.  Review

*Note: Schedule may be adjusted week to week.

CMNS 130 Schedule* of Readings for Lectures 

Media in Time and Space: ( History and Political Economy)

1. Introduction: Mapping the Flow

Lorimer & Gasher Text, Chapter 1, pp. 1-12.
Recommended: Keep a Media Diary for a 72 hour period.

2. Social History of the Media
Lorimer & Gasher Text, Chapter 1, pp. 12-27. Chapter 3, pp. 54-60.
Recommended: Grossberg et al, “Narratives of Media History”pp. 33-49.

3. State Power, Regulation and the Media
Lorimer & Gasher Text, Chapter 2,pp. 30-52; Chapter 6, pp. 156-160;164-175

4. Politics, Ideology and the Media
Lorimer & Gasher Text, Chapter 3,pp 60-77.
Recommended:Grossberg, Chapter 14, pp. 375-394.

5. Mo’ Money Blues: Global Markets and the Media
Lorimer & Gasher Text, Chapter 8, pp. 205-229; Chapter 11. pp. 293-311.
Recommended: Grossberg, Chapter 4, pp. 89-116.

Making Sense of the Media ( Popular Culture)

6. Advertising and Consumerism
Recommended: Custom Courseware: Shirley Biagi, “Advertising” pp. 227-245
Martin,  Tutorial Readings pp. 199-237.

7. Garage Bands and Bare Naked Ladies: the Canadian Music Industry
Lorimer & Gasher Text, Chapter 7, pp. 177-188
Recommended: Geoff Pevere, “Apocalypse Now: the 90s Sound Explosion” in Mondo Canuck, Tutorial Readings.

8. Producing Identities: The Construction of Gender and Race
Recommended: Grossberg, Chapter 8 pp. 205-235.

9. Moral Panics? Violence in the Media
Lorimer & Gasher, Text. Pp. 110-113;
Recommended: Tutorial Readings, Straubhaar and LaRose, pp. 399-414.

Media, Consumers, and Democracy ( Public Policy)

10. Star Wars: Broadcasting in Canada
Murray, De la Garde and Martin – custom courseware

11. The CBC and Public Dreams of Alternative Media
Tutorial Readings: Mandate Review Committee, Making Our Voices Heard,

12. Convergence: Digital Democracy and the Media
Lorimer & Gasher text, Chapter 10, pp. 272-288. Chapter 12, pp. 313-326.

13. Review

*Note: Schedule may be adjusted week to week.

 

CMNS 130 Schedule for Tutorials

Attendance at Tutorials is Marked.  You will have a key portion of a presentation grade awarded to your participation in presentations and debates.

1. The Media Imperative: Introduction
How media in/ dependent are you? Which media do you prefer? Why? What do you use the media for?
Bring your media diary tracking your swim in the media flow for 72 hours.

Related reading : Grossberg, Consuming the Media – Being There; especially pp. 235-236;246-249.

2. What are the two models of Communication which Grossberg explores? Which is more reflective of your ‘being in the media flow’ and why?

Readings: Custom Courseware: Grossberg pp. 15-26. Bring a three point summary to the tutorial.

3. What is the ‘ Canadian Model of the Study of Communication’?  Who are the major thinkers? The Key Ideas?

Readings: Custom Courseware: Martin, pp.39-45.

4. How are politics and the media related today?  Describe their interdependency.

Readings: Custom Courseware: Fletcher pp. 381-402.

5. Freedom of Expression is one of the fundamental democratic protections today. Is Freedom of Expression absolute? How is it reconciled with other values in Canadian law?

Readings: Custom Courseware: Sharpe and Swinton. Pp. 92-113.

6. Freedom of the Press is a fundamental principle in democratic regimes. Pyrcz debates Carmichael on whether journalists have responsibilities above and beyond the liberal principle.  Which view is closer to your own and why?

Readings: Custom Courseware: Pyricz and Carmichael. Pp. 145-160.

7. Identify three main influences on the News Media Today.
Readings: Custom Courseware: Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Pp. 122-155.
Controversies over Freedom of Expression and Regulation. (No sources)

8. Debate: Pornography on the Internet should be regulated. ( 3 reasons pro, 3 reasons con: arranged in  two teams of three each).  Prepare 3 minutes, use audio visual aids, or ‘street interviews’ for your point. Be sure to coordinate for a persuasive side of the debate.

9. Debate: Napster’s legal defeat is a surrender of consumer sovereignty ( 3 reasons pro and 3 reasons con  in  two teams of three each).

10. Debate: Can Con regulations for Canadian music on radio should be abolished. ( 3 reasons pro and 3 reasons con in two teams of three each).
There are two ‘wild card’ tutorials for use as each Tutorial may decide.

Guide to Essays

The essays in this class present arguments.  You provide a thesis or a topic sentence, explore three reasons why your thesis or topic assertion is defensible, and then anticipate several reasons why some may disagree, but refute them.  You then conclude by repeating your topic sentence forcefully.  Be creative with essay titles.

Essays are to be between 6 and 8 pages in length, and to be your own individual work.  You are to consult at least one book and three to five articles in supplementary research.  A short outline must be approved by your tutorial leader no later than week 5.  Do not wait to start your essays, since materials are in short supply.  Essays are due week 10.

There are outlines for a set of suggested essay topics available from your tutorial leader.

The list of suggested topics:

1.     Is Canada a Democracy Without Citizens? The role of the Media in Canadian Democracy.

2.     Sex on the Net: Censorship, Regulation and Pornography

3.     News as Persuasion: It ain’t just the facts, Ma’am.

4.     Violence and the Media

5.     The History of Canadian Communication Thought: Ideas without Borders

6.     Race and the Media

7.     Gender Portrayal and the Media

8.     Media and Social Panics

9.     How to Influence the Media: Democratic Reforms

10.  Advertising and the Media

11.   Public Broadcasting

12.  Concentration and Convergence: Loss of Democratic Freedom?

13.  Caught Napping: the Napster story and Copyright

14.  Wild Card—topic of your choice, if pre cleared by tutorial leader.

Custom Courseware CMNS 130  Controversies in Canadian Communication

For Dr. Catherine Murray, School of Communication

Table of Contents

A.    Supplementary Readings for Tutorials

Lawrence Grossberg,Ellen Wartella and D. Charles Whitney (1998), “Consuming the Media” in Chapter 9, MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture, Belmont, Ca: Sage.  Pp. 235-236;247,249.  ISBN 0-7619-1177-4.

Lawrence Grossberg,Ellen Wartella and D. Charles Whitney (1998), “Two Models of Communication” in Chapter 1, MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture, Belmont, Ca: Sage.  Pp. 15-25.    ISBN 0-7619-1177-4.

Michelle Martin (1997), “ The Canadian School of Communication Model” in Communication, and Mass Media: Culture, Domination and Opposition, Scarborough, Ontario, Prentice Hall, Allyn and Bacon. Pp. 39-45.  ISBN 0-13-3768074.

Frederick J. Fletcher and Robert Everett (2000), “ The Media and Canadian Politics in an Era of Globalization” in Canadian Politics in the 21st Century, edited by Michael Whittingdon and Glen Williams, Scarborough: Nelson.  Pp. 381-402.  ISBN 0-17-616676-9.

Robert J. Sharpe and Katherine Swinton (1998), “Freedom of Expression” in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Toronto: Irwin Law.  Pp. 92-113.  ISBN 1-55221-015-4.

Greg Pyrcz and Don Carmichael (2000), “Democracy and Freedom of the Press” in Democracy, Rights and Well-Being in Canada, edited by Don Carmichael,Tom Pocklington, Greg Pyrcz, 2nd. Ed., Toronto: Harcourt Brace Canada.  Pp. 145-160.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (2001), “Influencing the News Media” in The Interplay of Influence: News, Advertising, Politics and the Mass Media, Toronto: Wadsworth. Pp. 122-155.  ISBN 0-534-53364-7.

B.    Supplementary Readings for Lectures on Popular Culture and Policy

Shirley Biagi (2001) “Advertising” in Media Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media, 5th ed. Toronto: Wadsworth. Pp. 227-243. ISBN 0-534057510-2.

Michelle Martin (1997), “Advertising as Mass Culture “ in Communication, and Mass Media: Culture, Domination and Opposition, Scarborough, Ontario, Prentice Hall, Allyn and Bacon. Pp. 199-221.  ISBN 0-13-3768074.

Geoff Pevere (1996), “Apocalypse Now: the 90s Sound Explosion” in Mondo Canuck: A Canadian Pop Culture Odyssey  Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada, pp. 158-171.

Joseph Straubhaar and Robert LaRose (2000), “Communications Media and Antisocial/Prosocial Behavior” in Media Now: Communications Media in the Information Age, 2nd ed., Toronto: Wadworth, pp. 399-415.  ISBN 0-534-54828-8.

Catherine Murray, Roger de la Garde and Claude Martin (2001), “Star Wars: Broadcasting in Canada” in The EuroFiction Project 2000,Strasbourg; Council of Europe. Forthcoming.