Sample Syllabus--Semester Course

Welcome! The aim of this course is to help you understand the roles and activities of mass media in society. The hope is that by the end of the semester you will have a much better sense than you now do of the forces that guide the books we read, movies we enjoy, television shows we watch and even the toys we buy.

The course will be comprised of two lectures a week, readings from the required textbook, one paper, and 3 exams. The text, the readings from the text, and the dates for papers and the first two exams are noted below. The third exam will be given during the final exam period.

The class has a home page. It can be accessed at http://www.asc.upenn.edu/courses/comm130/index.html

On the home page you will find this syllabus plus many other class materials. Especially useful, we hope, will be the outlines to the Powerpoint slide lectures. They will typically be placed on the site the evening before class. Print them and bring them to class so that you can take notes on lecture material beyond the bullets on the slides.

Some Ground Rules:

ü Attendance in class is imperative. Please read the assigned material in advance of the date it is listed. The professor reserves the right to give unannounced quizzes that will be factored into your final grade.

üAssignments must be handed in when they are due. Only medical and University excuses will be accepted.

üAssignments are to be done individually, unless the professor notes otherwise.

Required Reading:

& Joseph Turow, Media Today, 3^rd Edition (New York and London: Routledge, 2008). Available at the Pennsylvania Book Center at 34^th Street off Walnut Street. The book has its own website with useful study materials.

The Class Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction to the Course

a: Understanding mass media and mass communication (9/4)

Week 2: a: Understanding mass media and mass communication (9/9)

$ Turow, Chapter 1

b: Making Sense of the Media Business (9/11)

$ Turow, Chapter 2

Week 3: a: Making Sense of Media Forms (9/16)

$ Turow, Chapter 2

b: Formal and Informal Controls on Media Content (9/18)

$ Turow, Chapter 3

Week 4: a: Formal and Informal Controls on Media Content (9/23)

$ Turow, Chapter 3

Lawrence Lessig on Remix: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3220/in-a-new-book-lessig-says-society-is-turning-artists-into-criminals?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

b: Making Sense of Research on Media Effects and Media Culture ( (9/25)

$ Turow, Chapter 4

Week 5: a: A World of Blurred Media Boundaries (9/30) NO CLASS, BUT POWERPOINT INSTEAD

$ Turow, Chapter 5

b: Strategies of Media Giants (10/2)

$ Turow, Chapter 6

Week 6: Exploring the Print Media

a: The book industry (10/7)
$ Turow, Chapter 7

b: NO CLASS (10/9)

Week 7: a: NO CLASS (10/14)

b: M Examination 1 on Weeks 1 through 5b (10/16)

Week 8: a: The contemporary newspaper industry (10/21)

$ Turow, Chapter 8

b: The contemporary magazine industry (10/23)

$ Turow, Chapter 9

Week 9: The Electronic Media

a: The rise of sound recordings and radio (10/28)

b: The contemporary recording industry (10/30)

$ Turow, Chapter 10

Week 10: a: The contemporary radio industry (11/4)

$ Turow, Chapter 11

b: M Examination 2 on Weeks 6a through 9b (11/6)

Week 11:

a: The rise of movies and television (11/11)

$ Turow, Chapter 12

b: The contemporary motion picture industry (11/13)

$ Turow, Chapter 13

Week 12: a: The contemporary television industry (11/18)

$ Turow, Chapter 13

View Tony Werner, “Comcast’s Technology Strategies for ’08 and Beyond”

http://www.screenplaysmag.com/sp_advanced_ad.html

b: The internet Industry (11/20)

$ Turow, Chapter 14

Week 13: a: The video game industry ¨ The rise of advertising and PR (11/25)

$ Turow, Chapter 15

4Paper Due

b: NO CLASS (11/27)

Week 14: a: The PR industry (12/2)

$ Turow, Chapter 16

b: Final considerations: You and the Media (12/4)

$ Turow, Epilogue

M The third exam will be given during final exam period. It will cover weeks 10a through 14.