COMM 414-1                             

Mass Communication Readings in English       

Prof. Jamal Al-Menayes

Purpose of course

This course is designed to give you a broad overview of the field of journalism and mass communication using English as the language of instruction.  Since you have already completed COMM 101 and COMM 201, you should be familiar with most of the topics covered in this course. Therefore, the main difference is going to be the LANGUAGE.  Students taking this course are expected to be quite conversant with English (Hint: If you feel comfortable reading this syllabus, that's a good sign that you are conversant with English).  The course will not teach English.  It will use English to teach mass communication.

Required textbook

Pavlik and McIntosh, Converging Media: An Introduction to Mass Communication, Allyn & Bacon.

This book should be available at the University Bookstore in the Shuwaik campus.  If not, I will make copies available in the College of Arts library.  In addition to the required text, other reading material will be distributed in class during the semester.

Recommended books

Agee, W.K., Ault, P.H. & E. Emery (1991). Introduction to Mass Communications, New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Biagi, S. (1993). Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Bittner, J. (1991). Mass Communication: An Introduction.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Defleur, M. & E. Dennis (1994). Understanding Mass Communication.  Princeton, NJ: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Discussion topics and reading assignments

This course is highly participatory.  In other words, students are expected to be actively involved in class discussions.  This will be done systematically by assigning each of you a topic or two to present in class during the semester.  The presentation WILL BE GRADED, so shyness is a definite handicap in this course.

I will lecture for the first couple of weeks, from then on each of you will assume responsibility for a whole class period. For each class meeting, two students will jointly conduct the session with myself acting as a moderator.  The first student, the discussant, will deliver a brief presentation on the class topic using all means available to him or her.  The second student, the respondent, will comment on what the discussant said.  My role is to moderate between the two, and to encourage classmate participation.  Remember, this is not a debate.  It is simply a discussion (and hopefully a lively one at that!) between two or more people.  This activity is worth 20% of your final grade.

Examinations

Two in number.  First, a brief short-answer exam on the reading material, to be given half way through the semester.  It is worth 20% of the final grade.  Second, the final exam as per official schedule.  It is worth 35% of your final grade.

Paper

For this paper you are required to examine a media product, service, campaign, technology, legal development or ethical development that is quite new to our society or to the world at large.  Your analysis of the new media development should address the following:

*Describe the new program, product, service, etc.  What is its content?

*What is new about it?  What does it attempt to do that has not been done before?

*What is not new about it?  How does it build on past traditions?

*What are the risks involved in this new initiative?  Are there commercial risks? Public interest  risks?  Technological or legal risks?

 *What can we learn about the evolution of the media from this new initiative?

 *What is the likelihood of success, in your view?  Why?

 

It is expected that your paper will reflect your understanding of some of the major issues dealt with throughout the course.

The paper should be no more than six pages (1500 words) in length, excluding any title page or end notes.  It must be typed and spaced double.  Do not hand in a first draft.  Leave yourself time for multiple drafts so that you can polish the prose.  There should be no errors of grammar, spelling or punctuation.  A brief, in-class presentation will be scheduled for each of you in the second half of the semester.  The final typed paper is due in class the final day of classes. 

No later than 15 April you will hand in a one paragraph proposal that states what media development you have selected for your analysis, and why.  Your reading for the clip file (see below) should help you identify many possible paper topics.  This will guard against your selecting a topic that is too large to handle in such a paper, or that has little relevance to this course.

The paper is worth 25% of the final grade.

CLIP FILE.  To encourage you to keep current on developments in the mass media, and to help you find suitable paper topics, I am asking that you maintain a clip file during the term.  This file should include articles from newspapers and magazines about major developments in the mass media on topics of particular interest to you.  Do not attempt to clip everything you see about the media in Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Kuwait Times, etc.  You would quickly run out of room and file folders.  Be selective, based on your interests.  If you are primarily interested in advertising, then look for material on that.  If satellite television captures your fancy, then focus on that.  Start on this NOW.  You will use your clip file in writing your paper and in answering a question on the final exam.

Recapping, grade distribution is as follows

            20% Class presentations and discussions

            20% Mid-term exam  

            25% Term paper      

            35% Final exam