Media Theory
CommRC 1125 – Spring 2001
MWF 11-11:50, 235 Cathedral of Learning
Professor Jonathan Sterne
Office Hours: 3:15-4:15 Mondays
and 12:15-1:15 Wednesdays, and by appt.
Office Location: 1130 Cathedral
of Learning
Office Phone: 624-6797 (I
check voice mail at least once a day MWF)
Mailbox: Department of Communication,
1117 Cathedral of Learning
Email: jsterne+@pitt.edu
(please list Comm 1125 as the subject of your message)
Email is the best way to
contact me outside of class.
To take this class, you must have earned a passing grade in Mass Communication Process (CommRC0320). A course in Public Speaking will help, too.
Are there fundamental differences between mediated and face-to-face communication? Why do we refer to massive social and technological systems for communication as “media”? What is mediation anyway? Do and how do media work — and how can we know?
Media studies is often concerned with what particular media texts mean, the institutional structure of the mass media, or their history. In contrast, this course offers students a chance for extended reflection on what media are and what they do.
Media Theory introduces students to basic philosophical questions about the mass media. It also introduces a philosophical approach to thinking, reading, and talking about media.
This is a reading and discussion course, so students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss and debate ideas from the readings. Students’ grades will be determined by a number of factors: their basic comprehension of the course materials, their ability to consider the relationships among ideas and positions, and their ability to think creatively about the issues discussed in class. All assignments will be discussed in greater detail in class. Also, please note the strict attendance policy on page 3.
Participation [10%]: Since this is a discussion class, I want to encourage discussion. Participation means attending all class meetings, being prepared and attentive, having something relevant to ask or tell, and being courteous toward your classmates and your teachers. Basically, I want you to be engaged with the course. Note that adequate participation means a 7%, exceptional participation means 10%.
Reading Quizzes, Questions, Exegeses: [30%] Discussion always goes better when people have done the readings; this part of the course is designed to reward you for doing the readings and to help you become a better reader. Your lowest quiz or question score will be dropped.
Pop Quizzes are short and simple. Grading will be on a 3 tier scale. They will not be announced beforehand. They may cover readings, lectures, or class discussions.
Reading Questions are written by students before they come to class, and used as the basis of discussion. They will also be graded on a 3 tier scale.
Exegeses are 1-page discussions of an important passage from the readings. They will follow guidelines I provide in class and will also be graded on a 3 tier scale.
An occasional short in-class or out-of-class assignment may count as a quiz.
Group Presentations [10%]: Throughout the semester, groups of students will make presentations on selected readings. Each student will present with one group. The group will receive a grade based on their effectiveness in explaining the material to the class and facilitating discussion.
Being a Media Theorist (The Creative/Semester Project): [25%] There are a number of ways to satisfy this grade. You can take on the persona of a media theorist in a debate at the end of the semester, or devise another kind of creative project that directly engages the course material and other people. Creation and distribution of written materials will also be considered as a way to satisfy part of this grade. More details about this assignment will be revealed later.
Responses to Presentations: [5%] During the Media Theory Bazaar, students will fill out response forms (available on the assignments section of the website) and provide constructive feedback to all the presenters on a given day. More details are available with the assignment.
Grades will be based on the standard university grading scale.
90-100% = A range
80-89% = B range
70-79% = C range
60-69% = D range
0-59% = F
The professor reserves the right to adjust students’ semester grades based on his evaluation of their overall performance.
Texts: The required texts are:
Robert McChesney, Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy (New York: Seven Stories Press), available from the Pitt bookstore for $5.95 plus tax. . .
. . . and a copy packet available from the Pitt bookstore for approximately $40.
Internet Resources: Students are encouraged to use e-mail as a preferred means to contact the professor outside of office hours or class time.
Course Website: A course website has been set up at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~jsterne/comm1125/index.html
It includes this syllabus, and will grow over the course of the semester to include all assignments, questions to guide your reading, and other materials relevant to the course.
Course Policies
1. Compliance
By staying enrolled in this class, you acknowledge that you understand – and agree to abide by – the following rules and regulations and the University’s policies (for instance, on cheating and plagiarism). Failure to follow the letter and the spirit of these reasonable guidelines can result in a reduction of your final grade and/or other penalties as set by University policy.
2. Attendance – Also Quite Important
In a class based on readings and discussion, such as this one, regular and punctual attendance is crucial. Therefore, a simple attendance policy is in effect:
You are allowed three absences over the course of the semester (equivalent to missing one full week of class). Students who miss four or more classes will fail the course. For the purposes of this policy, two late arrivals will count as a single absence.
Absences in excess of three will be excused only under exceptional and unavoidable circumstances. Requests for excused absences must be submitted in writing, with documentation, and immediately upon a student’s return to class. Students who enroll late are not exempt from this policy. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to get notes from that day from another student.
3. Assignments and Extensions
Assignments (except for quizzes, questions, and the like) will be announced well in advance of due dates. If you know in advance that you can’t make a due date for a paper, please discuss it with me beforehand. Requests for extensions after a due date has passed will only be granted in exceptional and unavoidable circumstances and must include (a) one typed, double-spaced page explaining the reason for missing the deadline, and (b) relevant documentation such as an official doctor’s note. The written request for an extension must be in my hands within one week after the scheduled due date.
4. Missed Quizzes
Missed quizzes cannot be made up. Your first missed quiz will be dropped from your final grade as your lowest scoring quiz. After that, quizzes can only be excused in exceptional circumstances for which you provide appropriate documentation (see #3 for details).
5. Grades
I am eager to help you do well on assignments before they are due. Please visit me during office hours to ask me questions when you are working on an assignment or reviewing material.
Grades are final. I grade assignments and quizzes on performance, not effort. Effort will be recognized in your participation grade for the course. Here are the circumstances under which I would change a grade: (a) if I have made an error, or (b) if I have failed to hold you to the same standard as everyone else. In the event that you feel they received an undeserved grade, you should make your case in writing to me within two weeks of receiving the grade. Under no circumstance will I award a grade of “incomplete” for the course.
I do not give out grades over email or the telephone.
6. Special Considerations:
Some students require special accommodations. If you have a disability that requires special testing accommodations or other classroom modifications, please notify both the professor and Disability Resources and Services by the end of the first week of the term. Disability Resources and Services is located in 216 William Pitt Union (624-7890 [voice or TDD]), and their website is at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~osaweb/drs/drs.html
Course Outline and Official Schedule
Important Note: Because this is a discussion-oriented class, this is only a rough schedule. We may take more or less time with a given reading. Actual due dates will be announced in class and posted to the this page. Starred readings are group presentation days.
Welcome to Media Theory.
W Jan 3rd
Introduction to the course
F Jan 5th
Lecture: Media, Mediation, and Communication
But please, be modest. . .
M Jan 8th
W. Phillips Davison. 1983. The Third Person Effect in Communication. Public Opinion Quarterly 47:5, pp. 1-15.
…because it’s not rocket science
W Jan 10th
Armand and Michele Mattelart. 1998. Information Theory. Theories of Communication: A Short Introduction. Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 43-56.
F Jan 12th
William Langewiesche. 1998 (March). Making Sense of Valujet 592. The Atlantic Monthly 281:3, pp. 81-86.
M Jan 15th – No Class, Happy MLK Day
Communication is more than the message
W Jan 17th-F Jan 19th
James Carey. 1975/1988. A Cultural Approach to Communication. Communication as Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman, pp. 13-36.
Media and Experience
M Jan 22nd
Jody Berland. 1993. Contradicting Media: Toward A Political Phenomenology of Listening. Radiotext(e), ed. Neil Strauss. New York: Semiotext(e), pp. 209-217.
W Jan 24th
Media biography due. Discuss media biographies.
F Jan 26th
Ambient media phenomenology due. Discuss ambient media.
M Jan 29th
Preparation Day for group presentations.
Theoretical Perspectives on Media, Communication, and Mass Communication
W Jan 31st
Raymond Williams. 1997/1961. Mass and Masses. The Media Reader (eds. Tim O’Sullivan and Yvonne Jewkes). New York: Arnold, pp. 18-27. [note: this reading is not in the packet and will be handed out in class]
F Feb 2nd
Gary Gumpert. 1987. The Talking Tombstone, or Introduction to a Theme. Talking Tombstones & Other Tales of the Media Age. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-14 (notes, p. 194).
M Feb 5th
*Charles Cooley. 1909/1929. Modern Communication: Enlargement and Animation; Modern Communication: Individuality; and Modern Communication: Superficiality and Strain. Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, pp. 80-106.
W Feb 7th
Lisbet van Zoonen. 1995. Gender, Representation and the Media. Questioning the Media, 2nd Edition (eds. John Downing, Ali Mohammadi, and Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi). Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp.311-328.
F Feb 9th
Paul Gilroy. 1987/1991. Diaspora, Utopia and the Critique of Capitalism. There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 153-222.
M Feb 12th-W Feb 14th
John Durham Peters. 1994. The Gaps of Which Communication is Made. Critical Studies in Mass Communication 11:2, 117-140.
F Feb 16th
*Clifford Stoll. 1995. An Amalgam of Popular Fictions About the Internet, Including Brief Trips to China and the City of No Illusions. Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. New York: Anchor Books, pp. 15-41.
M Feb 19th
Evan Eisenberg. 1987. Clarence. The Recording Angel: The Experience of Music from Aristotle to Zappa. New York: Penguin Books, pp. 1-9
W Feb 21st-F Feb 23rd
Walter Benjamin. 1968. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Illuminations, trans. Hannah Arendt. New York: Shocken, pp. 217-252.
M Feb 26th
*Charles Keil. 1984/1994. Music Mediated and Live in Japan. Music Grooves: Essays and Dialogues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 247-256.
Politics, Ethics, and Media
W Feb 28th
Lecture/Discussion: Media Politics and Ethics
F March 2nd-F March 9th
No Class, Spring Break 2001!
M March 12th-W March 14th
Reflection paper due.
*Robert W. McChesney. 1997. Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy. New York: Seven Stories Press.F March 16th
*Thomas Frank, 1995/1997. Why Johnny Can’t Dissent. Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos From The Baffler, eds. Thomas Frank and Matt Weiland. New York: W.W. Norton, pp. 31-45.
M March 19th
*Richard Sclove. 1995. Making Technology Democratic. Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information (Ed. James Brook and Iain A. Boal). San Francisco: City Lights, pp. 85-101.
W March 21st
Robert Scheer. 2000 (25 October). No Defense: How the New York Times Convicted Wen Ho Lee. The Nation. 271(12), pp. 11-20.
F March 23rd
*John C. Stauber and Sheldon Rampton. 1995. Burning Books Before They’re Printed. Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, pp. 5-16 (notes p. 215).
M March 26th
*Oscar Gandy. 1995. It’s Discrimination, Stupid! Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information (Ed. James Brook and Iain A. Boal). San Francisco: City Lights, pp. 35-48.
W March 28th
Jane Gaines. 1991. Superman, Television, and the Protective Strength of the Trademark. Contested Culture: The Image, The Voice, and the Law. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, pp. 208-227 (notes pp. 290-294).
F March 30th
Online readings about sampling, mp3’s.
M April 2nd
Joshua Wolf Shenk. 1999. America’s Altered States. Harper’s 298:1788 (May), pp. 38-52.
W April 4th– F April 19th
Media Theory Bazaar, featuring debates, presentations, and other curious events.
T April 24th 12-1:50 p.m.
Final Exam Period. May be used if necessary for Media Theory Bazaar. Take Home Final Due at beginning of exam period.
Other readings may be announced in class.