SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 386-4

MEDIA, SPORT AND POPULAR CULTURE
(Special Topics)

Course Description:

This course examines the changing relationships between media, sport and popular culture in both a North American and a global context. The course adopts a broadly historical perspective, beginning with an exploration of the role of the mass press in the popularization and commercialization of sport in the nineteenth century. From here the course moves on to consider the close interrelationships that grew up between sport and radio, and sport and television. The final sections of the course examine sport as a key element of national popular cultures and identity formation as well as an important part of the broader entertainment industries in the age of digital technologies, media convergence, and globalization.

Course Evaluation:

Tutorial Participation 10%
Mid-Term Exam 25%
Term Paper 35%
Final-Exam 30%

Text Books:

Lawrence Wenner (ed.), Mediasport. New York: Routledge, 1998.
David Rowe, Sport, Culture and the Media: The Unholy Trinity. London: Open University
Press, 1999.

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation 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 current calendar, General Regulations Section).