2014-15-Undergraduate-Catalog

Course Descriptions • 415MCOM 361 Gender and CommunicationThis course considers how gender influences interpersonal and mediated communication with a focus on gendertheory, rhetorical analysis, media criticism and personal experiences. Students study the relationship betweengender and communication with a particular emphasis on how gender can help shape discourse and meaning.Three credits.MCOM 365 Editing the NewsAdvanced practice in journalistic writing, broadcast reporting and news editorial. Students act as editors for thecampus newspaper, supervising and editing the work of the student staff. This class will also provide students withhands-on opportunities to practice the craft of news editing in various media including print, broadcast and online.Prerequisite: Grade of “B” or better in MCOM 335. Three credits.MCOM 370 Practicum in Interactive Media ProductionAdvanced techniques for the design and production of multimedia, hypermedia and other interactive media. Threecredits.MCOM 381 Studio Television ProductionThis course is designed to introduce the student to the principles, procedures, and techniques of television studioproduction through lectures, reading, computer simulations and hands-on practice in the campus television studio.Students will also be required to participate outside of class on the SUTV production crew. Three credits.MCOM 395 Topics in Visual CommunicationsStudy of special topics, issues or themes within the field of visual communications. Three credits.MCOM 398 Campus Media InternshipAn on-campus internship with one of the university media, public relations or information offices. Prerequisite:Junior standing. Three credits.MCOM 401 Topics in Applied WritingThe backbone of the pre-production process is script writing. Effective conceptualization and organization as aproducer/director is practiced in several field settings. The class will generate a series of “magazine” televisionprograms, with each student writing one show. Three credits.MCOM 405 Public Relations Planning and ManagementThis course explores theory, techniques and models related to setting long- and short-term goals and objectives,designing strategies and tactics, segmenting audiences, analyzing problems and opportunities, communicating withtop management, developing budgets, contingency planning for crises and disasters, managing issues, developingtimetables and calendars and assigning authority and responsibility. Three credits.MCOM 411 Media LawThis course examines media law using historical, theoretical and case study approaches. Among topics covered arethe First Amendment, libel, privacy, journalist privilege, free press/fair trial, indecency and obscenity. Three credits.MCOM 420 Seminar in Intercultural CommunicationThis course examines the relationship between culture and communication with an emphasis on theory andpractical application in intercultural contexts. Ethnography and other approaches will be used to studyinterpersonal and public communication among people from different cultures. Three credits.MCOM 425 Public Affairs ReportingThis course introduces student to covering government (primarily state and local), public schools, courts, crime,and social services. Using Winchester and Frederick County as their laboratory, student will cover city and/orcounty government and school board meetings, courts, the police beat, the environment, health care, and otherpublic policy stories. It also introduces them to the theory of civic journalism and explores the role of journalism ina democratic society. Three credits.MCOM 441 Violence, Sex and the Sports MediaThis course looks at the intersection of sex and violence in the American sports media. Particular emphasis will beplaced on how the media frame highly publicized cases and trials. Three credits.