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M 09 Final draft of resume dueW 11 Discuss PortfoliosF 13 Portfolios DueDecember 16 - 19 FINALS WEEKSyllabus prepared by: Laura Sherwood,sherwoodlf@unk.eduCENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYCollege of Communication and Fine ArtsBCA 503 — CRITIQUING MASS MEDIA 3(3-0)SYLLABUSBulletin Description: Critical appraisal of mass communications systems and theircontent. Special attention to the electronic media’s aesthetic properties and societaleffects.Prerequisites: BCA 210 with a minimum grade of “C”.Rationale for Course Level: This is an advanced seminar in criticism that exposes thestudent to a variety of critical methodologies and sophisticated literature on a range oftheoretical perspectives. It demands a prior familiarity with media issues andstructures.Textbooks and Other Required Student-Furnished Materials:Orlik, Peter. Electronic Media Criticism: Applied Perspectives. Second Edition.(Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbarum Associates, 2001) Access to word processor ortypewriter.Special Requirements: This class is part of the BCA “core”. Therefore, BCA majorsand minors are required to earn a minimum grade of C (2.0) for successful coursecompletion.General Methodology Used in Teaching the Course: As an upper level seminar, thisclass uses discussion as a key device for the interpretation and clarification of ideas.The student should think of each class as a daily oral quiz and prepare accordingly.The quality of the student’s discussion contribution is a significant component of thefinal grade as noted later in the Evaluation section. Associated important characteristicsof the class include the following:1. Reading assignments are designed to correlate with in-class material to be presentedin immediately following class sessions. It is vital that these assignments are completedin time for the next meeting.2. Several audio and video presentations are screened in class. Students must rememberthat these are being auditioned as analytical rather than entertainment experiences.3. All papers are to be typed. Correct spelling is a basic expectation of professionalmass communicators. Grades on papers will drop substantially as misspellings increase.70Feedback February 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 1)BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 71
4. As in the media industries, deadlines must be met. The grade for late papers willdrop two levels (such as from a “B” to a “C+”) for each intervening week day. For fullcredit, assignments are due at the beginning of the class period. An assignment turnedin after class is already one day late. If assignments are turned in to the departmentaloffice, they must be time/date certified by a BCA secretarial assistant.5. This course assumes and assigns approximately two hours of outside work for everyone hour spent in class.Course Objectives: Upon course completion, the student should be able to:1. Define “criticism” and its essential ingredients.2. Identify a variety of methods of mass media criticism and analysis includingaesthetic, sociological, economic, structural, psychoanalytical and ethicalperspectives.3. Demonstrate familiarity with key literature in mass media criticism and analysis.4. Analyze the mass media depiction of gender, ethnic, age-group, and occupationalpopulations.5. Compare the content and structure of U.S. mass media with that of othercountries.6. Isolate key contemporary issues in mass media criticism.7. Describe the roles and interrelationships of media professionals, consumers,regulators and financial interests.8. Establish defensible criteria for evaluation of media performance.General Course Outline(NOTE: Specific daily assignments will be given as the term progresses. Somemodification in time devoted to each subject may occur to compensate for unforseencircumstances or media critical issues that surface in the industry during the term.)Week 1 — Key elements of criticism; the critical process; why media criticism isneeded; media literacy defined; eras of mass media criticism.Week 2 — Critic responsibilities; what critics value; the triangular systems model.Week 3 — Criticism and the communication process; knowledge processing: scientificapproaches.Week 4 — Knowledge processing continued: mystical, rhetorical and criticalapproaches; application of knowledge processing approaches to a singlemedia product.Week 5 — Media depiction; cultivation analysis; finding depictive lessons in mediamessages.Week 6 — Ingredients of the mass media message: music, creators and performers,transition devices, light and shadow, visual planes.Week 7 — Reconciling art and business; bottom-line considerations; measuringaudience reach; layout, schedule and flow analysis.Week 8 — Mid-term examination; defining ethics, values, and morality; the media asvalues suppliers; media access and freedom of expression.Week 9 — Predominating values systems; decoding programmatic values messages.Week 10 — Uses and gratifications analysis; the many sides of catharsis.Week 11 — Defining aesthetics; five philosophies of aesthetics; defining art and itstasks; fine, folk and popular art compared; “pop” vs. public art.Week 12 — The Logic of Aesthetic Form; applying the Logic to mediacommunications.Week 13 — Symbols and archetypes; ancient Greek comedic archetypes; ritual,mystique and myth; mythic media structures.Week 14 — Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis in message design; elements of semiotics.Week 15 — Reality program definition and critical issues; the four elements ofComposite Criticism (criticism and the communication process revisited).Week 16 — Final examination.Evaluation:20% — In-class discussion (Note that this is of equal importance to the writtenexams. Daily class preparation and participation is essential.)20% — Mid-term examination20% — Final examination40% — Composite of all assigned papers and related written exercises. (Certainpapers may be weighted more than others as will be announced when eachassignment is issued.)Regardless of the percentage distribution listed above, a grade of “E” on bothexaminations will result in an “E” for the course.No Incomplete (I) grades are given unless:a] at least 80% of the course has been completedb] the Incomplete results from a documented medical or family emergencyc] the student is not failing the course at the time the Incomplete is requested.Graduate Student Requirements: Graduate students will be assigned to read twoadditional books on critical theory and will be required to prepare written summaryevaluations of each.Selected BibliographyAllen, Robert, ed. Channels of Discourse: Television and Contemporary Criticism.Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.Altheide, David and Robert Snow. Media Logic. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979.Ang, Ien. Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge, 1991.Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.Butler, Jeremy. Television: Critical Methods and Applications. 2nd edition. Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Asso., 2001.Bryant, Jennings, and J. Alison Bryant (eds.). Television and the American Family, 2ndEdition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Asso., 2001.Day, Louis. Ethics in Media Communications. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1991.Edmonds, Robert. The Sights and Sounds of Cinema and Television. New York:Teachers College Press, 1982.72Feedback February 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 1)BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 73
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