Ian Gordon

NUS

ASC

Course Description	Teaching Format	Assessment	Tutorials	Textbook
Lecture Schedule
Lecture 1	Lecture 2	Lecture 3	Lecture 4	Lecture 5
Lecture 6	Lecture 7	Lecture 8	Lecture 9	Lecture 10
Lecture 11	Lecture 12	Lecture 13	Lecture Outlines & Study Guides	Case Studies
Useful Web Sites
Turow's Web Site	First Amendment Center	Annenberg Public Policy Center	Global Beat	Press, Politics, and Public Policy

Course Description
It is almost obligatory for Hollywood films that deal with U.S. politics to depict policy makers as fixated with how issues are discussed in the media. In this version of policy formation the media is a key player in the process of decision making and policy is reduced to a series of "media events". How true is Hollywood's version? This module examines the part of the U.S. media in shaping policy beginning with the New York Journal's advocacy of the Spanish- American War of 1898 through to the role played by CNN in the 1990s. The module will review the growth of mass circulated newspapers, magazines, radio and television and examine how new media forms, such as the Internet, shape and are shaped by public policy.

Students can focus on one, two, or all three of the following approaches:

1. Media Analysis (Content and Audience Reception of Media), or
2. Media Industries, or
3. Media Influence on Politics and Policy Formation

Teaching Format
A weekly two hour lecture with a program of one hour tutorials.

Assessment
Students are expected to attend lectures and tutorial in accordance with university policy and to actively participate in tutorials. Assessment is based on continuous assessment (50%)  and an open book final exam (50%).  The 50% for continuous assessment consists of Essay (30%), Tutorial Assignment (5%), Tutorial and Discussion Forum Participation (10%), and Tutorial Presentation (5%).

The tutorial bibliographical assignment is due January 30.

The essay is due March 16, 2001. You must follow this link to the essay guide page.

Textbook
Joseph Turow, Media Today: An Introduction to Mass Communication (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999). The textbook will be supported by a package of  readings, which is available in the Co-Op.

Useful Films, Video and Audio in NUS Library

Lecture Schedule
Be sure to follow the individual lecture links to the outline, detailed schedule of readings, links, tutorial guide, and other resources for each lecture.

Lecture 1(January 3)
The Media on the Media: Hollywood's Version

Lecture 2(January 10)
Origins of the Mass Media: Newspapers in America 1880-1910

Lecture 3(January 17)
How the Media Shapes Events, Case Study One: The Spanish-American War 1898

Lecture 4(January 24) Chinese New Year Holiday Make up lecture date to be advised
The Motion Picture Industry

Lecture 5(January 31)
Radio: From Invention to Commercialization and
How the Media Shapes Events, Case Study Two: The War of the Worlds

Lecture 6(February 7)
Television: Networks and Suburbanization

Lecture 7(February 14)
The Impact of Television on Politics and Policy Formation

Lecture 8(February 28)
The Presidency and the Media: The Kennedy vs Nixon Debate and Beyond

Lecture 9(March 7)
Trying to Control the Media

Lecture 1O(March 14)
New Media: The Net, The Web, The U.S., and Globalization

Lecture 11(March 21)
How the Media Shapes Events, Case Study Three: Civil Rights

Lecture 12(March 28)
How the Media Shapes Events, Case Study Four: The Vietnam War

Lecture 13(April 4)
How the Media Shapes Events, Case Study Five: The Gulf War

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