Ateneo Com101

Paper or Pair Orals?

2008-09-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Having posted the instructions for the final paper below, I just want to ask you again whether you really want to push through with the final paper requirement or whether you wish to do pair orals instead. I understand that we voted in class already last week. But, having reviewed your marks (where the average score in the Orientalism paper is 80% and the average oral exam mark is 90%), I just want to raise this issue again. I'm not sure whether we are playing to your strengths if we push through with the paper.

What are your thoughts on this? Please vote/comment below. If we have enough responses, I'm considering leaving the final requirement up to each student, where you can get to choose what type of assessment (paper or pair orals) you want for yourself.

I will see you on Tuesday, September 30 for the creative projects presentations. Please start preparing for your final requirements.

Final Paper Instructions

2008-09-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

The final paper is an academic essay that critically discusses a specific quotation from a media/communications theorist. The task is to: 1) explain and deconstruct the key concepts found in the quote, 2) situate the quote within the broader issues discussed in Com101, 3) relate this quote with the positions of other theories / theorists, 4) develop a critique of the author’s arguments by identifying its strengths and weaknesses, and 5) applying the key ideas to everyday life.

The paper should be three- to five- pages long, 1.5 or 2-spaced, 12pt font, on short bond paper. This is due October 9, Thursday, 12NN, to be dropped in my pigeonhole at the Department of Communication, 3F Social Sciences Building. This does not include the bibliography page. As this is an academic essay, you are required to cite at least five academic texts (feel free to use some of the quotes I used in my lectures) from books and journals in addition to examples that you might cite from pop culture artifacts (newspapers, websites, tv shows, etc.). Citations should follow the social science format of citation, e.g., “(Ong 2007: 47)”. As the message of the course is one about responsible practices of communication, I will be severe with cases of plagiarism, which breaks all ethical codes of communication.

Papers are to be marked for their a) depth in argumentation, b) breadth of knowledge about the field and related concepts to the article, c) ability to link ideas (discussed in class or in other classes, in the article or in other texts) with one another, d) clarity of argument, e) integration with everyday life, and f) creativity and originality. The key here is NOT to regurgitate the ideas discussed in class but to present your own argument about the topic at hand. In this light, you are given freedom to construct your paper as you see fit. You can, for instance, begin by presenting a real-life example or application of the key concept discussed in the article. Or you can narrate the debates within the field and then present your own stand.

1) “It is all about power, of course, in the end. The power the media have to set an agenda. The power they have to destroy one… The power to shift the balance between state and citizen, between country and country, between state, by the market, by the resistant or resisting audience, citizen, consumer… It is about reach. And it is about representation… It as about the power to listen and the power to speak and to be heard. The power to prompt and guide reflection and reflexivity. We study the media because we are concerned about their power: we fear it, we decry it, we adore it. And we want to harness that power for good rather than ill.” (Silverstone 1999)

2) “Communication has become central to reflections on democracy, love, romance, and our changing times. A great variety of thinkers have dealt with the tragedy, comedy, or absurdity of failed communication. The difficulty of communication across various social boundaries—gender, class, race, age, religion, nation, language—confronts us daily. But horizons of incommunicability loom beyond the merely human as well, in the vexing question of communication with animals, extraterrestrials, and smart machines. Communication is a registry of modern longings. The term evokes a utopia where nothing is understood, where hearts are open, and expression is uninhibited.” (Peters 1999)

3) “What is the epitome of love—the love that occurs between equals who are present to each other in body and soul? Or the love that leaps across the chasms?” (Peters 1999)

4) “Evil is a category of though which has emerged to try and account for the horrors of the world, horrors beyond understanding. Evil refers to actions and thoughts beyond reach, beyond imagination, beyond defence. Evil goes beyond crime, for crime has been imagined and framed in law… The supposed presence of evil has become a reason for not thinking… The presence of the discourse of evil in public culture has to be understood as deeply embedded in the values, ideas and discourses in the wider culture which the media reproduce as well as produce.” (Silverstone 2006)

5) “The problem with multiple images of distant suffering is not their multiplicity but their psychological and moral distance. Repetition just increases the sense of their remoteness from our lives… The message is get real, wise up and toughen up; the lesson is that nothing, nothing after all can be done with problems like these and people like these.” (Cohen 2001)

6) “Proper distance is the understanding of the more or less precise degree of proximity required in our mediated interrelationships if we are to create and sustain a sense of the Other sufficient not just for reciprocity but for a duty of care, obligation, responsibility and understanding… a relationship that is both close and far” (Silverstone 2006)

7) “The primary condition of existing media is already one of conditional hospitality. The news of the world invites the stranger onto page and screen. However the invitation is always conditional on good behavior; on the acceptance, by those who appear, of the editorial controls exercised by those constructing the texts. Even when such hospitality is extended to allow the voice of the Other to be heard, those editorial controls remain in place. They work to constrain those speaking either by marginalizing them in the schedule, or on the page, or by limiting the rights of access to the relatively safe or ordinary… The welcoming process is compromised by the edit, and by its exercise of symbolic power: you are entering the text, always, always on my terms.” (Silverstone 2006)

8) “We are all mediators, translators.” (Derrida 1995)

Lecture 6: Representations of the Other

2008-08-19T03:26:00.000-07:00

HERE are the lecture slides available for download. Filename is Reps of the Other 08.

Some questions for discussion:
1) Where do you see Othering today?
2) How do you think should suffering others be represented in the news? Should journalists maintain the objectivity norm, or is it acceptable for them to display emotion, just as Anderson Cooper's ecstatic news reporting of Hurricane Katrina?
3) Do you believe in the compassion fatigue thesis? Or is it really media fatigue?
4) According to Silverstone, what is proper distance? And why should we represent the Other as "both close and far"?

Oral Exam Thesis Statements

2008-07-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

1. We study the media because the world is always-already mediated, because issues of inclusion and exclusion abound, most especially in the stories that they tell about distant others—stories that enable or disable the way we see, hear, and touch.

2. Moving away from concerns with accuracy, reach, and speed of the transmission model of communication, John Durham Peters (1999) highlights two contrasting ethics of communication with the dialogue and dissemination models. Dialogue emphasizes soul-to-soul communication while dissemination stresses an asymmetric relation between self and others.

3. The scholars working within the Effects Tradition moved from conceiving the media as having (a) direct effects, (b) to limited effects, (c) to minimal effects, and finally (d) to powerful effects. Although distinct from one another, these approaches all subscribe to a positivist epistemology.

4. Stuart Hall’s (1979) Encoding/Decoding model eschews both the notion of a powerful media and a powerful audience and instead argues that there is a skewed but dialectical relationship between the two. Audiences take different decoding positions as elaborated by a variety of reception studies.

5. The study of representations is a matter of life and death. Using a constructivist, rather than simply a reflectionist, perspective, we gain a more critical understanding of how particular discourses, or regimes of truth, become prominent in how we think about a) race/nation, and b) gender/sexuality.

6. Edward Said’s (1985) discussion of Orientalism elaborates on how different practices of representation, such as scholarship, art and literature, form a racialized knowledge of the Other deeply implicated in the operations of power, namely that of imperialism.

7. It is in the “space of appearance” that we first, if not also exclusively, get to know about the Other. In this light, the media is at the heart of our moral future if we are to sustain a relationship with the Other based not just on reciprocity but on responsibility. This grand moral challenge can be best summed up by Roger Silverstone’s (2006) notion of proper distance, “a relationship that is both close and far”.

8. The Frankfurt School elaborates on how cultural forms sustain capitalist ideology. By manufacturing false needs and hiding individuals’ true needs, the culture industry distributes products that ultimately oppress, inhibit thinking, and control. In this view, power is located solely in media institutions—a view that audience studies scholars have argued against.

Lecture 5: Representations

2008-07-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

HERE are the lecture slides for Representations.

Because we don't have class on Thursday, I think that we should use this space to clarify certain concepts, ask questions, and cite examples of representations of nation/race/gender/sexuality in the media.

Feel free to answer the guide questions below.
1. Give an example of a recent tv show/movie/advert/etc and how it constructs stories about nation/race/gender/sexuality. How does your chosen media text enable and/or disable, empower and/or oppress?
2. What assumptions do we have about what it means to be a Filipino? How "must" a Filipino act, according to discourses in the media and in everyday life? How do these assumptions become naturalized or taken for granted?
3. In class, I cited the show Ugly Betty as a show that has 'progressive' representations in the sense that it makes available different narratives about nation/race/gender/sexuality. Rather than rely on existing stereotypes, Ugly Betty, I argue, puts forth alternative ideas about what it means to be American, male or female, homosexual, transsexual, etc. and is therefore more inclusive and democratic in its representations. Do you have a media text that you admire for its challenging representations?
4. In class, I also cited the film 300 for its negative representations of non-Western people as being villainous/hideous/barbaric/exotic/homosexual/etc. What media text do you find has restrictive and simplistic representations of nation/race/gender/sexuality?

FINAL FINAL Schedules

2008-07-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

Please see revised schedules. Chavez et al and Co et al have new reading assignments.

---

July 31: no classes

Aug 5: Representations seminar
+ reading presentations
Media Audiences - De Guzman et al
Mediating the Nation - Balmaceda et al
Media Discourse - Agoncillo et al
+ reading assignments to be fixed for the term

Aug 7: no classes

Aug 12: Representations of the Other Lecture

Aug 14: Representations of the Other Seminar
+ WRITTEN QUIZ
+ reading presentations
Exhibiting Masculinities - Baranda et al
Orientalism - Crespo et al
+ REVEAL ORAL EXAM QUESTIONS

Aug 19: no classes

Aug 21: Student Presentations Part 2
5 = reflectionists/constructivists take on travel magazines - Abello
6 = typology of news about Philippine tragedies - Castro
7 = representations of non-Manilenyos in the Philippines - Cortez
8 = Orientalism today - Romualdez
9 = media fatigue or compassion fatigue? - Libongco

Aug 26: Culture Industry Lecturette/Seminar
+ reading presentations
Theories Part 1 - Cayaba et al
Theories Part 2 - Chavez et al

Aug 28: Orals Preparation Day
+ reading presentations
9/11 - Bautista et al
Why Study the Media? (the Other) - Castro et al
+ post SIGN UP SHEET FOR ORALS

Sep 2: Oral Exam

Sep 4: Oral Exam

Sep 9: Media and Morality Lecture 1 (plenary)

Sep 11: Media and Morality Lecture 2 (plenary)

Sep 16: Media and Morality Seminar (Jason)
+ WRITTEN QUIZ

Sep 18: Paper Writing Plenary (Jason)

Oct 2: Creative Projects Presentations
1 = culture industry - Aldover
2 = dialogue and dissemination - Crespo
3 = why study the media? - Alegre
4 = proper distance representations of poverty - Chavez
5 = media as environment - Abello

Oct 7: Creative Projects Presentations
6 = Orientalism in Hollywood movies - Castro
7 = how to represent suffering? - Cortez
8 = children watching children - Romualdez
9 = media power and audiences - Libongco

Oct 9: Conclusion
Why Study the Media Conclusion - Co et al

----

Below is the list of all the required readings that we have for this class. These required readings are important for your oral exams and final paper (and, for some of you, even the creative projects). These readings are to be photocopied by the beadle and distributed to everyone. But, as you know, we have supplementary readings that you and your classmates report on. These supplementary readings are good to consult when you prepare for your orals and final papers (and creative projects). You may request copies of supplementary readings from me or from the groups that reported on them in class.

*ORAL EXAMS*
1. INTRO TO MEDIA: Silverstone. Why Study the Media? Chapter 3.
2. INTRO TO COMM: Peters. Dialogue and Dissemination. Speaking into the Air.
3. NATURE AND PROCESS OF THEORIZING: none. consult notes.
4. EFFECTS TRADITION: Gitlin. 'Media sociology: The Dominant Paradigm.' TCS.
5. ENCODING/DECODING AND RECEPTION STUDIES: none. consult lecture slides.
6. REPRESENTATIONS: Hall. Representation. Chapter 1.
7. REPRESENTATIONS OF THE OTHER: Hall. Representation. 'The Spectacle of the Other.'
8. CULTURE INDUSTRY: Strinati. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. Chapter on Frankfurt School.

*FINAL PAPER*
9. MEDIA AND MORALITY:
* Cabanes. Agency and Responsibility: On the Question of Being Human in a Mediated World.
* Ong. Children Watching Children: How Filipino Kids Represent and Receive News Images of Distant Suffering. Journal of Children and the Media.
* Ong. The Cosmopolitan Continuum. Locating Cosmopolitanism in Media and Cultural Studies. Media Culture and Society.

Quiz 1 Hall of Fame + Announcement

2008-07-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

For the top performers for quiz one, please post your answers here for all to see. Kindly indicate which question you answered.

Also, I am canceling classes for tomorrow, 17 July. I am attending the AMIC Conference in Manila Hotel to support some colleagues in the department.

We will see each other on 22 July for the creative projects presentations in our regular classroom for seminars. Future presenters (especially those with no readings yet), please email me at jo296@cam.ac.uk or bertiebott@hotmail.com.

See you next week!

Lecture 5: Encoding/Decoding and Reception Studies

2008-07-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

HERE are the slides from Jason's lecture. HERE are my Children Watching Children slides.

Here is our schedule for the rest of the term:

JULY 17 - EVERYDAY LIFE APPROACH

JULY 22 - STUDENT PRESENTATIONS (4)
1 = diffusion of innovations and Facebook - Aldover
2 = encoding/decoding and hate blogs - Crespo
3 = effects of online pornography - Alegre
4 = u and g of YouTube - Chavez

TASK: Do a 20-minute report that relates the theory and the issue assigned to you.

The first 12-15 minutes of the report should have the following parts:
a. creative introduction to the report
b. overview of the report
c. definition of key theoretical concepts
d. application of the theoretical concepts to the issue
e. conclusion/synthesis of the report

The final 5ish minutes will be devoted to questions from the teacher and/or the audience.

The report will be graded as follows:
a. application of the theory to the issue: 50 %
b. organization of the report: 25%
c. creativity of the report: 25%

JULY 24 - REPRESENTATIONS LECTURE (JON)

JULY 29 - REPRESENTATIONS SEMINAR
a. De Guzman et al (Media Audiences, Gillespie)
b. Balmaceda et al (Mediating the Nation, Madianou)
c. Agoncillo et al (Exploring Media Discourse, MacDonald)

JULY 31 - REPRESENTATIONS OF OTHER LECTURE (JON)

AUG 05 - REPRESENTATIONS OF THE OTHER SEMINAR
a. Flores et al (Exhibiting Masculinities, Hall)
b. Baranda et al (Spectacle of the Other, Hall)
c. Crespo et al (Orientalism, Said)

AUG 07- STUDENT PRESENTATIONS (5)
5 = reflectionists/constructivists take on travel magazines - Abello
6 = typology of news about Philippine tragedies - Castro
7 = representations of non-Manilenyos in the Philippines - Cortez
8 = Orientalism today - Romualdez
9 = media fatigue or compassion fatigue? - Libongco

AUG 12 - POLITICAL ECONOMY LECTURE (JASON)

AUG 14 - POLITICAL ECONOMY SEMINAR
a. Cayaba et al (Censorship of Money, Williams)
b. Chavez et al (Compassion Fatigue, Moeller)

AUG 19 - CULTURE INDUSTRY LECTURE (JASON AND JON)

AUG 21 - CULTURE INDUSTRY SEMINAR
a. Bautista et al (Frankfurt School, Strinati)

AUG 26 - MEDIA RITUALS LECTURE (JASON)

AUG 28 - MEDIA RITUALS SEMINAR
a. Castro et al (Media Rituals, Couldry)

SEP 02 - ORAL EXAM

SEP 04 - ORAL EXAM

SEP 09 - MEDIA AND MORALITY LECTURE 1

SEP 11 - MEDIA AND MORALITY LECTURE 2

SEP 16 - MEDIA AND MORALITY SEMINAR

SEP 18 - PAPER WRITING PLENARY

OCT 2 - CREATIVE PROJECTS DAY 1

OCT 7 - CREATIVE PROJECTS DAY 2 / CONCLUSION

CREATIVE PROJECTS (5-7min video)
1 = culture industry and telenovelas - Aldover
2 = dialogue and dissemination - Crespo
3 = why study the media? - Alegre
4 = proper distance representations of poverty - Chavez
5 = media as environment - Abello
6 = Orientalism in Hollywood movies - Castro
7 = how to represent suffering? - Cortez
8 = children watching children - Romualdez
9 = media rituals and reality tv - Libongco

Oral exam thesis statements should be made available in around two weeks' time. I am considering conducting the oral exam in your creative projects group instead of in pairs. We can discuss this further when we next meet.

Announcement

2008-07-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Our class on Tuesday, 8 July, is in Escaler Hall. Jason and I will present on Encoding/Decoding. This is our second lecture in the Audiences block of the course. Make sure that you have a copy of the reading.

Seminar and recitation on Thursday.

Congratulations to the following who got As in our first quiz:
* Kevin Baranda - 9.5 / 10.0
* Jaime Barcelon - 11.0
* Martin Benedicto - 10.0
* Arianne Co - 10.0
* Francis de Guzman - 10
* Josemari Juinio - 9.5
* Beatrix Roqueza - 9.5
* Rayana So - 9.5
* Joseph Yu - 10.5

Lecture 4: The Effects Tradition

2008-07-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

HERE are the lecture slides for download.

Feel free to raise any questions about our lecture and discussion.

Announcements + HW

2008-06-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hi.

Our class on Tuesday, 1 July, will be held in Escaler Hall. Jason Cabanes will lecture on the Effects Tradition of Mass Communication. The required reading for the Tuesday lecture and Thursday seminar is Todd Gitlin's 'Media Sociology: The Dominant Paradigm.' This will be made available by Monday, 30 June c/o Ivan, your beadle.

On Thursday, we will have our first written quiz. This will cover the Gitlin reading and Jason's lecture on the Effects Tradition. There will also be questions pertaining to the previous three lectures. As I have mentioned, quizzes in this class are essay-based, and you can choose to answer ONE of FIVE questions. In this way, you can choose to study the topics that you are most interested in.

See you on Tuesday!

Lecture 3: Nature and Process of Theorizing

2008-06-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

Hi. I hope you enjoyed today's guest lecture by Leloy Claudio. Thank you to the students who recited in today's class! We teachers do get competitive ourselves in such occasions and wish for our students to be more dialogic than the rest! :)

Here are some points for discussion to prepare you for Thursday's seminar:
1) How do we differentiate positivism and critical theory? What are their different tenets? How do they understand reality? Or specifically: cultures, identities, individuals?
2) Try to apply both frameworks in studying the same media phenomenon. For example, what are the differences in questions and methods that the two perspectives have when studying children's use of home computers? (You may use other cases)
3) What is reflexivity? And what is its contribution to media and communications research?

See you all on Thursday! Prepare for (what I hope to be a lively) discussion of ideas covered in Lectures 1, 2, and 3!

Announcements + HW

2008-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm hoping that we make up for our lack of dialogue and recitation this afternoon through a good and critical mediated conversation here in our blog. As homework, I require you to post in either the Lecture 1 or Lecture 2 posts (or in both, if you wish). You're free to answer the discussion questions or bring in your own insights and examples and experiences to discuss some of the issues that we have raised.

We have a guest speaker on Tuesday, Leloy Claudio, who will be taking his master's in the University of Melbourne. Let's be in our best and most dialogic behavior, okay? :)

See you in Escaler Hall on Tuesday. Happy weekend.

Lecture 2: Introduction to Communication

2008-06-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hi. HERE are the lecture slides for download.

And here are our discussion questions. But of course, you can comment on anything about the lecture and the many, many ideas raised today. Feel free to ask questions (not to me, specifically, but to your classmates) as well.
1) Discuss one specific media phenomenon of your choice using the different models of communication.
2) Why or how do you privilege dialogue over dissemination? Transmission over ritual?
3) What is YOUR dream for perfect communication?

Lecture 1: Introduction to Media

2008-06-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

The slides are available for download HERE.

I'd like to know your comments, questions, reactions from today's lecture. Here are some possible discussion questions for you to ponder:
1) What are the grand claims being made about the media today, in adverts, by marketers, by politicians, by teens, etc.? How can we be more critical about them?
2) What happens when love and affection are mediated? What is your take on the mediation of emotions?
3) What kinds of stories in the media made you think twice about a common assumption that you have about the world, others, yourself? How did that particular story succeed in making you put yourself in another person's shoes?

See you all on Thursday.

Announcements

2008-06-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

The venue for Tuesday and Thursday is Ching Tan Room at JGSOM.

Getting to Know You

2008-06-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

It seems most fitting for a class about media and communications to first have the predictable yet indispensable exercise of self-presentation in a mediated environment. Obviously the manner of communication in cyberspace is starkly different from face-to-face interaction, with the loss of many symbolic cues--from body language to the rise and fall of voice pitch. But much are added as well--from the adoption of avatars to the narrative closure afforded by one's writing of a beginning, middle, and end. And in both types of communication, the challenge is to make a good first impression. What is frustrating--and exciting--of course is that we simply don't know just how our audience will react, respond, remember, reply. And, with the affordances of technology, also: comment, forward, poke, reject, block, digg, flame, spam.

However this site, and this class, is a site of hospitality. It is a site of learning and exchange. It aims to be a space premised not simply on reason and/or emotion, but on responsibility, Roger Silverstone's (2006) lofty requirement for a mediaspace. This homepage is home.

I am happy to welcome you to the website of Com101 Communication Theory Section E. I wish that you treat this online space not simply as a supplement to our offline lectures but as a meaningful resource for learning, an active and vibrant space for discussion, and a shared experience with your fellow classmates and lecturer.

Kindly reply to this post and introduce yourself below so that we can get our discussions going. Aside from your name, of course, I'd especially like to know why you picked your course. Additionally, you have the option of answering any, or all, of the following questions:
1) name a favorite tv show or movie or book and state why it makes your list.
2) how much time do you spend on the media in a typical day? do you consider yourself a heavy, medium, light user? a fan/addict/junkie of a particular technology or program or artist? why? how?
3) how do you plan to make use of your course for your future career?

Switching to a different medium, please bring a 5x7" index card with 2x2" ID photo on June 17, Tuesday. Please include: name, birth date, and contact information (cell phone and email address).

June 17, Tuesday is the first classroom lecture. Please be prepared with the Silverstone readings.

Syllabus: Com101 Communication Theory

2008-06-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

COM 101 Syllabus: Communication Theory
Lecturer: Jonathan C. Ong
1 Semester 2008-2009
Department of Communication
Ateneo de Manila University

I. Course Description
This course is an introduction to the study of media forms, texts, systems, and audiences and their contribution to social life. By highlighting the centrality of media and communication technologies in the practices of everyday life, this course challenges students to think critically about their own experiences as users/producers of media products in light of theoretical debates within the field. Adopting a critical approach, this course expands on the key question of Roger Silverstone (2006): “The media may have extended our reach but have they extended understanding?” By reviewing key concepts such as communication, representation, identity, mass culture, and political economy, this course encourages critical attention as to how the media enable or disable dialogue and understanding in a world of complex connectivity. The course is divided into three main blocks: Audiences, Texts, and Institutions.

II. General Objectives
This course aims to:
• introduce theories and concepts from the field of media and communication studies
• chart the development of media and communications as a social science discipline, highlighting its intersections with related fields
• underscore the political, social, cultural, and moral relevance in understanding the media’s role in today’s world
• train students in critical, dialectical thinking

III. Methodology
Media and communications is an academic discipline that requires much reading—reading from textbooks and academic journals as well as “reading” from media such as film, television, and music. The quintessential Ateneo Communication student is someone who is able to link “theoretical knowledge” gathered from books and “practical knowledge” acquired from exposure to media artifacts. It is the student’s responsibility to keep up with the varied reading materials. The lecturer requires students to read only one of the listed readings per week.
The course consists of lectures, lecturettes, guest lectures from industry professionals, seminar discussions, online discussions, film viewings, research work, and creative work.

IV. Topic Outline
1. Week 1 (June 10, 12): Course Overview
• Introduces course aims, methods, and requirements

2. Week 2 (June 17): Introduction to Media
• Provides an overview of the field of media and communications research
• Key readings:
a. Silverstone, R. (1999). Why Study the Media? London: Sage. (Chapter 1)
b. Silverstone, R. (1999). Why Study the Media? London: Sage. (Chapter 3)

3. Week 2 (June 19): Introduction to Communication
• Presents different paradigms in how communication has been historically viewed in philosophy, psychology, engineering, etc.
• Contrasts dissemination and dialogic models of communication as well as ritual and transmission models
• Key readings:
a. Thompson, J. (1995). Media and Modernity. Cambridge: CUP.
b. Peters, J.D. (1999). Speaking into the Air. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

4. Week 3 (June 24, 26): Nature and Process of Theorizing
• June 24 Guest Lecturer: Lisandro Claudio
• Exposes students to epistemology and invites them to reflect on the assumptions behind media scholars’—and their own—arguments
• Key reading:
a. Jansen, S.C. (2002). ‘Scholarly writing is an unnatural act’. In Critical Communication Theory: Power, Media, Gender, and Technology. USA: Rowman and Littlefield.

5. Week 4 (July 1, 3): The Effects Tradition
• The Audiences block of the course begins by presenting the “dominant paradigm” of mass communication research
• Examines the relevance of the “effects” framework for policy-, commercial-, and development-oriented projects
• Key readings:
a. Gitlin, T. (1978). ‘Media sociology: The dominant paradigm.” Theory, Culture & Society, 6: 205-253).

6. Week 5 (July 8, 10): Encoding/Decoding
• Introduces the tradition of reception studies in audience research
• Presents Hall’s encoding/decoding model and Morley’s Nationwide study, alongside other case studies
• Key readings:
a. Hall, S. (2003). ‘Encoding/decoding.’ In Nightingale, V. & K. Ross. Critical Readings: Media Audiences. Berkshire: Open University Press.

7. Week 6 (July 15, 17): Everyday Life
* Introduces the tradition of everyday life in audience research
• Case studies to be discussed include Young and the Restless in Trinidad, soap opera viewers in Korea, Indian news viewers in London
• Key readings:
a. Gillespie, M. (2005). Media Audiences. Berkshire: Open University England. (Chapter 5)

8. Week 7 (July 22): Student Presentations
• Students present on new media audiences

9. Week 7 (July 24) & Week 8 (July 29): Representations
• The Texts block of the course begins with a presentation of quantitative and qualitative approaches to textual analysis, including news framing, semiotics, and discourse analysis
• Key readings:
a. Hall, S. (ed.) (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Open UP. (Chapter 1)
b. Macdonald, M. (2003). Exploring Media Discourse. London: Arnold. (Chapter 5)

10. Week 8 (July 31) & Week 9 (Aug 5): Representations of the Other
• Develops a critique of the processes of Other-ing present in popular media representations
• Introduces the concepts of Orientalism, compassion fatigue, media fatigue, and proper distance
• Key readings:
a. Silverstone, R. (2006). Media and Morality: On the Rise of the Mediapolis. London: Polity. (Chapter 3)
b. Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. London: Routledge. Pp. 1-28, 49-73.

11. Week 9 (Aug 7): Student Presentations
• Students analyze print media texts

12. Week 10 (Aug 12, 14): Political Economy
• The opening lecture of the Institutions block explores how the paradigm of the political economy of communications contributes to a critical understanding of inequalities in ownership, access, and literacy in today’s media environment
• Key readings:
a. Williams, K. (2003). “The Censorship of Money: Theories of Media Ownership and Control.” Understanding Media Theory. London: Arnold.

12. Week 11 (Aug 19, 21): Culture Industry
• Explores the contribution of the Frankfurt School in the analysis of how power is exercised through the processes of media production and consumption
• Introduces the concept of ideology
• Key readings:
a. Adorno, T. (1975). ‘Culture Industry Reconsidered’. New German Critique, 6.
b. Strinati, D. (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London: Routledge. (Chapter 2)

13. Week 12 (Aug 26, 28): Media Rituals
• Discusses the concept of media rituals and the “myth of the mediated center”
• Key readings:
a. Couldry, N. (2003). Media Rituals: A Critical Approach. London: Routledge.

14. Week 13 (Sept 2, 4): Oral Exams

15. Week 14 (Sept 9): Student Presentations
• Students examine broadcast media organizations

16. Week 14 (Sept 11), Week 15 (Sept 16, 18): Media and Morality
• The last series of concluding lectures underscores the moral role of all participants in the global media: owners, producers, actors, and audiences
• Introduces the concepts of mediapolis, responsibility, cosmopolitanism, and risk society
• Key readings:
a. Cabanes, J. (2007). ‘Agency & Responsibility: On the Question of Being Human in a Mediated World. A paper presented at MediaTalk@admu: News and the Other. ADMU.
b. Corpus Ong, J. (in press). ‘Where is the Cosmopolitan? Locating Cosmopolitanism in Media and Cultural Studies’. Media, Culture & Society.

17. Week 16 (Sept 23, 25), Week 17 (Sept 30): TBA
• The Lecturer is in London at this time. Activity to be announced.

18. Week 17 (Oct 2): Creative Projects Presentation

19. Week 18 (Oct 7): Conclusion
• Presents a summary of the course and provides suggestions as to its application in everyday life
• Key readings:
a. Silverstone, R. (1999). Why Study the Media? London: Sage. (Chapters 15-16)
b. Orgad, S. (2007). “The Internet as a Moral Space: The Legacy of Roger Silverstone.” In New Media & Society, 9 (1).

V. Course Requirements
1) Oral exam - 20%
2) Creative project – 20%
3) Quizzes – 20%
4) Final paper – 25%
5) Participation – 15%

1 - The oral exam is done in pairs. For 15 minutes, students are expected to expound on thesis statements provided beforehand and field follow-up questions from the examiner. It is crucial for students to display understanding of authors’ main arguments, know their strengths and weaknesses/limitations, and provide specific “everyday life” examples to contextualize each theory/concept. Students should also be prepared to answer questions about the readings.

2 – The creative project (documentary, fiction film, ad campaign, webisodes, website, “media event”, debate, etc) is an attempt to challenge students to become effective and responsible media producers. The objective of the creative project is to provoke further debate in a specific issue (or issues) discussed in class. This is to be accomplished by groups of not more than five (5) students. Examples of creative projects may be: 1) a documentary about poverty using the concept of “proper distance”, 2) a mini-soap opera about soap opera viewers and encoding-decoding research, 3) a satire of effects tradition research methodology, 4) a reality TV program that tries to find the “ultimate cosmopolitan,” etc.

3 – There will be at least four quizzes throughout the term. Quizzes can be essay-based or can take the form of class presentations.

4 – The final paper is a take-home essay. Essay questions will be revealed in class in early September.

5 – Participation takes into account classroom discussions and online discussions. Students are expected to display critical thinking, wide reading, and the ability to link concepts from the various lectures and even from their other classes.

VI. Biographical Notes
Jonathan Corpus Ong is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of Cambridge. He is one of only 100 students in his batch with the prestigious Bill Gates Scholarship. He has an MSc in Politics and Communication (with Distinction) from the London School of Economics and a BA in Communication (summa cum laude) from the Ateneo de Manila University. His industry experience includes becoming the youngest manager at GMA Network, media planning at McCann-Erickson Phils., and working as a research assistant at the BBC. His research interests are on media and morality, media and migration, and mediated public participation.