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• Put your name, the participant’s name and age, and the relationship you have with your
interview participant at the top of the page.
• Group your interview participant’s answers under the assignment’s four categories: sound
recording, radio, TV/cable, and movies.
• Write at least a paragraph (single–spaced) for each category.
• Paraphrase your interview. However, if there’s a great quote—something that you think
might be fun to read in class—include what your participant said verbatim.
• Include only information that seems the most poignant or interesting. For example, if your
participant didn’t say anything interesting or worthwhile about radio, skip that category
entirely. (He or she might make up for it in another category.)
• Use bold text for the responses that are the most poignant or interesting to you—something
that made you say “Wow” or “Aha!”
• The entire project should be between one and two pages, single-spaced.
—Adapted from Jimmie Reeves, Texas Tech University
4. In–Class Presentation and Discussion Facilitation
With a partner, create an in–class presentation of material from an assigned chapter of the
Media & Culture textbook. You will be responsible for a ten- to fifteen–minute presentation
of the assigned material, followed by a twenty-minute led discussion/activity with the class.
Presentations should (a) illustrate the main purpose and argument of the reading; (b) point to
and comment on two to three important passages and two to three key terms; and (c) propose
at least two topics for discussion. Though you will certainly cover some key aspects of the
material, this is not meant to be just a summary of the assigned reading. Rather, it should
function as a guide to the pivotal issues raised in the readings and as a catalyst for generating
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class discussion, which may include bringing in your own relevant outside examples. Prepare
and photocopy a one-page typed handout that briefly outlines the key issues/terms you will
cover in your presentation, and be ready to distribute it. On the day you present, turn in either
a detailed outline or a “script” of your presentation that clearly explains what you will talk
about—who does what in what order, etc. Also hand in any hard copies of overheads or other
supplemental materials.
—Developed by Karen Pitcher, University of Iowa
5. Collaborative Critical Media Inquiry
Begin to develop an understanding of the critical process as a class and move to applying it
in a collaborative project with a classmate. Each collaborative team will be pursuing a
response to the same question: “How is sexual behavior portrayed in the media?” You and
your partner will select a single medium to explore, either one of those media covered in the
textbook (e.g., recorded lyrics, films, magazine ads) or other media not directly addressed in
the readings (e.g., poster art, comic books, video games). The two of you should consume a
number of messages within your given medium and meet to work through the critical process
(describe, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and engage).
In a jointly authored report, you should describe, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and
ultimately engage the messages within your medium. Brief examples of working through the
critical process are modeled in each chapter’s “Media Literacy and the Critical Process”
boxes.
—Developed by Matthew Smith, Wittenberg University
6. Applied Media Literacy Proposal and Paper
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This assignment asks you to demonstrate an understanding of the critical process presented in
Media & Culture and to do so by means of developing a sophisticated response to an original
question that you have about the media, their content, or their role in society.
Proposal
Provide an introduction to the topic, assuming an intelligent but uninitiated reader who has not
consumed the message(s) or is not as familiar with the given issue as you are. Establish a
rationale for the study of this particular medium, issue, or message (you may wish to consult
outside sources to help strengthen your reasoning). Identify clearly the question you wish to
explore. For this you will want to look at the “Media Literacy and the Critical Process” boxes
within each chapter for inspiration or guidance. Additionally, look ahead to chapters we have yet
to cover for questions. The proposal should be no more than two pages in length (without
references). Cite accurately any and all sources used to create this proposal, including any
primary sources among the media (e.g., actual magazines or specific episodes of a television
series).
Paper
This paper should build on your proposal and should account for each step in the critical process
(description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement). This means that you will
create an original piece of criticism. If you consult outside scholarly sources, be careful not to be
unduly influenced by their readings of the media. This is not a synthesis paper collecting the
findings of previously published scholarship. Your paper should demonstrate your ability to
engage the media in a critical fashion and to communicate your criticism in effective academic
prose. Write about eight to twelve pages (not including bibliography for the artifact[s] under
scrutiny and additional supporting materials).
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—Developed by Matthew Smith, Wittenberg University
7. Carrying the Critical Process into Civic Engagement
This assignment is designed to work as a course final project paper with a twist. You will be
asked to take a position on an issue in the media (pending instructor approval) and prepare a
well-researched argument defending that position. But unlike a regular persuasive piece for a
class, you will be asked to prepare a cover letter for your argument and to send both parts to
an appropriate lawmaker, community leader, or organization to ask them to take an action or
endorse a position. For example, you might investigate the success or failure of community
Wi-Fi systems around the country and then send a letter backed up by a copy of your
research to a local mayor or city council asking for a similar system.
This assignment is designed to:
• Engage you in a particular area of mass media
• Give you practice in developing informed, critical opinions about the mass media
• Give you a chance to explore who controls various aspects of the mass media, a vital
component in knowing to whom you should send your letter/argument
• Give you a chance to prepare a re search paper for someone other than an instructor,
which can motivate extra care in your writing
• Drive ho me the concept of engagement as part of the critical process, hopefully
igniting your sense of empowerment in a democratic society beyond just casting a vote
every few years
Note to instructors: Here are a couple of hints for success:
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• Have students turn in two copies of their research paper and cover letter, one for you
and one in an addressed and stamped but unsealed envelope to make sure the students’
work gets m ailed— an important part of learning engagement.
• Have the assignment due a couple of weeks before the end of the course so there is a
possibility that at least some of the students will get a response, which can then be
shared and discussed during class.
—Developed by Shawn Harmsen, University of Wisconsin–Superior
USING MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM
Media examples are crucial when teaching mass communication. We have provided numerous
video suggestions, PowerPoint slides, and web links (compiled over years of teaching) for you to
use in your classroom as well as a list of “tried and true” video documentaries that we and other
instructors swear by and urge you to acquire for your personal or university library.
When playing an audio or video segment, you will often find it helpful to provide a guiding
summary beforehand so that students have a critical framework as they’re watching it. Using a
video example to fill up an entire lecture or discussion section is not as effective as leaving time
at the beginning and end of class for clarification and exploration. For those occasions when a
video does fill the entire class time, make sure students take notes or write a short response for
discussion in the following class.
In addition to using the resources provided here and purchased or library-loaned videos or
DVDs in class, you will also probably be recording television news shows, documentaries, news
reports, and commercials for classroom use. We have noticed, though, that across the United
States instructors and media lab directors are confused about the legality of using programs and
segments taped from television.
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You might be surprised to learn that there is no national law on using self-recorded programs
in class. Creators of videos have exclusive rights to their works under the Copyright Act of 1976,
but educators and critics have “fair-use” rights to limited amounts of copyrighted work. The
debate has been over how much use is fair use. In 1982, the U.S. House of Representatives
suggested a policy called “Guidelines for Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programming for
Educational Purposes,” but the policy is not legally binding. The guidelines suggest that material
recorded for class must be used within ten days of recording. Furthermore, the recording can be
used once again in class within forty-five days but should then be erased. The intent of the
guidelines is for the instructor to use self-recorded videos in the short run but to purchase tapes
in the long run.
A helpful guide is “The Copyright Implications of Using Video in the Classroom” by Lance
Speer and Paul Parsons (Journalism Educator 49, no. 4 [Winter 1995]: 11–20). Based on the
interpretations of three legal scholars, Speer and Parsons conclude that most off-air recording for
classroom use is fair, even if the instructor archives videos for future classroom use. If a
recording is available for purchase (e.g., a broadcast documentary), the instructor (or the school’s
library) should indeed buy it. To assist instructors in locating videos, the list of video resources at
the back of this manual includes contact information for a large number of video distributors. If
the program or excerpts aren’t available for purchase, however, recording, archiving, and making
copies for other instructors is permissible because these activities are for educational use and
cause no harm to the copyright holder.
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Chapter 1
Mass Communication: A Critical Approach
In this chapter, we will:
• Address key ideas, including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication
• Investigate important periods in communication history: the oral, written, print, electronic,
and digital eras
• Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence
• Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media
• Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture
• Discuss the skyscraper and map models for organizing and categorizing culture
• Trace important cultural values in both modern and postmodern societies
• Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis,
interpretation, evaluation, and engagement
Preview Story: In the wake of the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida, students and young people took to social media to hold a debate
over gun control and gun violence, this time inspiring a longer conversation on the topic than had
been prompted from previous school shootings. The movement quickly developed into March
for Our Lives, resulting in countless marches all across the country. The use of social media in
this movement was a large factor, and it exists as a strong example of how our current
technologies can propel us forward and connect us politically.
I. Culture and the Evolution of Mass Communication
A. Oral and Written Eras in Communication
B. The Print Revolution
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C. The Electronic Era
D. The Digital Era
E. The Linear Model of Mass Communication
F. A Cultural Model for Understanding Mass Communication.
II. The Development of Media and Their Role in Our Society
A. The Evolution of Media: From Emergence to Convergence
B. Media Convergence
1. The Dual Meanings of Media Convergence
2. Media Businesses in a Converged World
3. Media Convergence and Cultural Change
C. Stories: The Foundation of Media
D. Media Stories in Everyday Life
III. Surveying the Cultural Landscape
A. Culture as a Skyscraper
1. An Inability to Appreciate Fine Art
2. A Tendency to Exploit High Culture
3. A Throwaway Ethic
4. A Diminished Audience for High Culture
5. Dulling Our Cultural Taste Buds
B. Culture as a Map
1. The Comfort of Familiar Stories
2. Innovation and the Attraction of “What’s New”
3. A Wide Range of Messages
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4. Challenging the Nostalgia for a Better Past
C. Cultural Values of the Modern Period
D. Shifting Values in Postmodern Culture
IV. Critiquing Media and Culture
A. Media Literacy and the Critical Process
B. Benefits of a Critical Perspective
Examining Ethics: Covering War and Displaying Images
Media Literacy and the Critical Process
LECTURE IDEAS
I. Culture and the Evolution of Mass Communication
• Help students understand, as early in the semester as possible, that “media” are not one
thing, one entity, or even one industry. That’s why the word is plural (always say/write
“media are,” not “is” The word “medium” is the singular of “media,” and each medium is
capable of producing worthy products or pandering to society’s worst side. Ask students if it
makes sense to group all of the following into only one category: Snapchat, their Media &
Culture textbook, Pandora, the print version of the New York Times, Netflix, e–mail, a press
release, Verizon FIOS, Macbeth, and Microsoft Word.
• Describe the five eras of media and communication: oral, written, print, electronic, and
digital. Explore their impact on cultural history as well as their continued cross–reliance on
one another. In other words, explain why one form of communication has not completely
supplanted another (e.g., e-mail is a form of both oral and written communication, with
electronic and digital components). You may want to refer to the interactive timeline on the
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LaunchPad to help students situate the various eras of mass communication and to illustrate
the accelerated adaptation of communication tools.
The invention of the alphabet was an enormous leap in human communication. The simple
notion of using a graphic symbol to represent a sound meant that suddenly any utterance could
be recorded. Writing was first used as a memory aid before evolving into a primary
communication tool.
• Describe the cultural impact of the printing press in terms of the Protestant Reformation
and the Industrial Revolution.
Industrialization in the United States required a more educated workforce and provided
opportunities for women, who generally stayed in high school longer than men and tended to
have more proficient writing and reading skills. These skills would come in handy for dealing
with the burgeoning amounts of paperwork generated by the industrial bureaucracy.
We like to stress the drastic shift from agrarian to industrial society because it is such a
significant period in the development of electronic media. If you have a large lecture class, you
may ask 20 percent to stand (representing the city-dwelling population in the 1880s) and then ask
them to sit while the other 80 percent stands (representing the city-dweller population by the
1920s). You may want to talk in general about the Industrial Revolution and the changing roles
of literacy during this period.
• Explain how the Internet and social media have changed the ways in which media culture is
engaged and consumed. Examine the ownership implications of media convergence by using
the foldout chart “Media Ownership: Who Owns What in the Mass Media?” at the front of
the text. Ask students to consider how much of their daily media consumption is produced
and controlled by such corporations. Discuss the implications of media multitasking.
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II. The Development of Media and Their Role in Our Society
• Demonstrate the presence of media convergence in the classroom by examining the
technology that students carry with them, such as smartphones, e-readers, laptops, or tablet
devices. Explain how these devices tie into the theme of media convergence by asking
students to list the types of media content they have on one device.
• To illustrate media convergence, you may want to discuss the latest breakthroughs in
smartphone and tablet development since the revolutionary iPhone was released in June
2007, with a multitouch interface that connects users to the device’s phone, camera, and
music and video libraries as well as to the Internet.
The growing popularity and market dominance of the iPhone and iPad have led other
companies to create their own counterparts to Apple’s gadgets. As these and other tablets and
phones gain more popularity and add to their capabilities—more apps, better user interfaces,
streaming media, and higher-resolution video recording—what role do they play in the changing
habits of our media consumption? How might NYT VR from the New York Times
(http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2015/nytvr) and Apple watches
(http://www.apple.com/watch) alter our daily lives?
• Discuss a third type of media convergence (type one: content that appears in more than one
medium; type two: corporate ownership across platforms). This third type examines
convergence by device (e.g., a phone is not just a phone anymore, cable television offers
widgets for weather and sports, and Netflix is accessible from gaming consoles).
III. Surveying the Cultural Landscape
• According to historian Lawrence Levine in his book Highbrow/Lowbrow (1988), the works
and performances of Shakespeare enjoyed wide popularity in nineteenth-century America.