Courses

Studies theories and perspectives of mass communication and explores the role of mass media in society. Prerequisites: Restricted to Journalism & Mass Communication (JOUR), Communication (COMM or COMC) or Telecommunications (TELE) graduate students only.

Continuation of JOUR 6051, emphasizing experimental and survey research methods.

Introduction to critical theories and analysis of media and popular culture. Examines major theoretical traditions and/or theorists that significantly inform media studies (e.g., culturalism, structuralism, Marxism, critical theory, feminism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism) and applies these to media analysis and criticism. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Covers mass communication within the international system, including similarities and differences in functions, facilities, and content; social theories of the press; and the international flow of mass communication. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Studies and analyzes communications technologies and techniques used in addressing social problems in developing countries.

Introduces students to historical and contemporary uses of fundamental concepts in research and theory about media institutions, particularly public, community, mass, publicity, public space, public opinion, public interest, and the public sphere.

Studies free-speech issues in the context of current and historical philosophical foundations for freedom of expression.

Analyzes the work of journalists who became some of the greatest fiction writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and examines the increasingly indistinct lines between journalism and narrative fiction. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Explores the dynamic relationships involving media and politics, focusing primarily on the American political system. Readings and seminar discussion incorporate normative and empirical perspectives on the media-politics complex. Areas covered include media effects on public opinion and policy, uses of media in governance, journalism sociology, coverage of elections, and implications of interactive media for governance and civic participation. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Examining the concepts of children and childhood from the historical, social, cultural, economic and political perspectives, this course explores the interaction between mass media and the socialization and cultivation process of children and youth. Many theoretical traditions are used as a framework to study a variety of issues, such as multicultural literature for children and Disney's role in storytelling, and tween movies and the tweens. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Surveys historical and contemporary developments in telecommunications policy, emphasizing social and cultural dimensions, and focusing primarily on the context of the United States.

Graduate seminar in communications law. Studies changing law and applied legal research techniques. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Develops a theoretical framework with which to recognize and analyze ethical issues as they arise in the media. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Anthropological and interpretative exploration of cultural practices of media audiences. Addresses theoretical and methodological implications of studying audiences from a culturalist perspective,with particular focus on media audience practices. Students engage in field research projects related to course content. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Inquiry into relationship of the arts and the mass media, including study of critics, their function, and their works. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Investigates how mass media messages work in terms of such effects as perception, learning and comprehension, and persuasion. Effectiveness is analyzed in terms of how well mass communication messages meet their objectives.

Examines specialized areas in the history of mass communication. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Discusses economic problems and political issues relevant to newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, and CATV. Examines problems of telecommunications and the impact of future technology on mass communication.

Introduces the principal concepts, literature, and theoretical and paradigmatic perspectives of media studies and mass communication and their ties and contributions to parallel domains in the social sciences and humanities. Prerequisites: Restricted to Communication (COMM or COMC) graduate students only.

Continuation of JOUR 7011. Prereq., JOUR 7011.

Examines various methods of qualitative data gathering and analysis in the mass media context. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.