Using the response form below: Submit a link to an interesting news source (for national or international news) that in some way offers a valuable or interesting alternative to typical network television news sources. ALSO provide a brief (roughly 5-sentence) overview of the site, including especially what you find valuable about it. Even better, indicate [...]

Due Thursday, April 17, in class: Submit a typed reflection, totaling 600 to 800 words, in response to 3-5 ideas from our April 10 class discussion. These could be ideas from: my lecture on Bowling Alone (see my post on that and the lecture slides here) the online lecture we viewed together, by Robert Reich [...]

Have you ever noticed that it’s really easy to think like a consumer, asking questions like: “What should I buy next? From where? And for how much?” Seems like such questions come naturally. Other questions come less naturally, such as, “How are my neighbors doing? How can I help improve my town or city? Which [...]

To make allowance for April 3rd’s Chesterton Lecture I am postponing Quiz #4. We will NOT have this quiz April 10. Most likely, I will simply combine it with our final exam, Thursday, May 1, 10:00 – 11:55 a.m. Your assignment for April 10: Come to class brimming with energy for some lecture, dialogue, and [...]

Due: Thursday, April 3, by class time Send me a link AND a 2-3 sentence description of something interesting on the Web about a topic relevant to media economics. It might be a news article, website, video, or other online resource. Here are some places to start. You might identify a great article or story [...]

Due March 27, by class time Send me a link to something interesting on the Web about a topic relevant to public relations. It might be a news article, website, corporate site with interesting information, a media-watchdog site, etc. Topics might include: Edward Bernays pseudo-events photo-ops corporate lobbyists astroturf lobbying sweatshops or working conditions and [...]

Here is a downloadable PDF of the lecture from Thursday, March 13: Week 10, Chapter 12 Lecture: Public Relations

You will recall that I postponed Quiz 2 because of the weather. So this quiz is a combined Quiz 2 and 3. To accommodate limitations because of the short class period this week, I have elected to make this an open-book take-home quiz, which you will complete in your own handwriting and bring to class [...]

The deadline for this assignment has now been moved to March 13. Download your assignment for Week 9, Chapter 11, here. It is a ZIP folder with PDF, Word, RTF, and Pages versions of the same assignment sheet.

(Formerly Known as the Bloggable Post Assignment) You have three options: Three short papers (due weeks 10, 13, 16) Two medium papers (due weeks 11 & 16) One long paper (proposal week 10, draft week 13, final week 16) These may be written EITHER in an informal style suitable for a blog post (albeit intelligent [...]

Here is the schedule of presentations:

 Turn in in class, Thursday, Feb. 28: List 5 interesting observations from Media & Culture Chapter 10: Books. Write these in full-sentence form, 2-3 sentences per observation. List 5 interesting observations from Ida Tarbell’s The History of the Standard Oil Company (also review Media & Culture pages 274-76 and 318-19). Write these in full-sentence form, [...]

In 1902, Ida Tarbell’s The History of the Standard Oil Company helped inaugurate muckraker journalism. The work first appeared as a series of 19 magazine articles, later made into a two-volume book. It was credited with hastening the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911, and in 1999 the New York Times listed The History of the Standard Oil Company [...]

21 Feb 2008 – 3:50 p.m. GOOD NEWS No class tonight, to avoid ice problems since it’ll be getting colder. Tonight’s scheduled presentations will be given next week. Next week’s scheduled Quiz #2 will be postponed and combined with Quiz #3 — scheduled for Mar 13. BAD NEWS Quiz #3 will be bigger, cover more [...]

 Due Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, in class. Please: read the assigned pages respond to the questions submit your answers to me IN CLASS Here is the downloadable assignment PDF Assignment Description for Week 7 MS Word Document Assignment Description for Week 7

Our first quiz is Thursday, Feb. 14, at 6:10 p.m. You will be given 30 minutes to answer the questions. We WILL hold a regular class session after the Quiz! The Quiz will be closed-book and include roughly 25 multiple choice questions. To prepare, you will need: the study guide (PDF) the lectures from weeks 1-3 [...]

Due at 6:10 on Thursday, Feb. 14. From Media & Culture Chapter 7, "Movies and the Impact of Images": Write 750 thoughtful words (total), reflecting on your favorite section(s) of chapter 7. You may reference more than one section. 750 thoughtful words is the key. Submit your answer in facebook, by e-mail to commarts.okwu@gmail.com, by [...]

Why in the heck am I creating another new online playground? Either I’m a nut who enjoys working like a dog on SATURDAY’s or I’m crazy enough to think that this may help us pull things together more effectively. One advantage of this spot: Here, with some effort, I can pull together assignments, links, and [...]