Government and Mass Media

Course Schedule

 
01/07: Introduction
 

Introduction and course objectives

 

I: HISTORY AND THEORY

 01/09: Government, Mass Media and Democracy: Defining Terms
 
 
 
Read and be prepared to discuss:
 
McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. Ch. 1 "Journalism and Democracy: The debate"
 
Cook, Timothy. 1998.  Governing With The News. Ch.1 "Why Don't We Call Journalists Political Actors?   
 
 
 
 
01/12-01/16: The History of Mass Media
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

Cook, Timothy. 1998.  Governing With The News. Ch.2 "The Decline of the Sponsored Press," and Ch.3 "The Subsidized News Media."

Tocqueville, Alexis De. 1835. Democracy in America. Vol 1. Ch.11. "Liberty of the Press in the United States." and Vol2. Sect. 2. Ch. VI  "Of the Relation Between Public Associations and the Newspapers."

 

II: THE MEDIA INSTITUTION? 

 
A: MEDIA AS A POLITICAL ACTOR?
 
01/19-01/23:  The Media System(s): "A Marketplace of Ideas?"
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. Ch.2 "The Political Public Sphere."

Cook, Timothy. 1998.  Governing With The News. Ch.4. "The Institutional News Media." 

 

Browse:

Who Owns What? Columbia Journalism Review.

 

01/26-01/30: The News Media As A Political Institution
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

Cook, Timothy. 1998.  Governing With The News. Ch.5. "The Political News Media."

Layton, Charles. 1999. "State of the American Newspaper" American Journalism Review.

 

02/02-02/06: Constructing Political Reality: Journalists and Media Organizations
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. Ch.3. "Policy, Process, Performance and Sleaze."

Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder 1984. News That Matters.  Ch.1 A Primordial Power?

Gilens, Martin and Craig Hertzman. 2000. "Corporate Ownership and News Bias: Newspaper Coverage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act." The Journal of Politics, Vol 62.2: 369-386. (From JSTOR)
 
 
 
02/09-02/13: Constructing Political Reality: Political Reporting
 
 
Read and be prepared to discuss:
 
McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. Ch.4. "The Interpretative moment: the journalism of commentary and analysis."  Ch.5 " The interrogative moment: the British political interview."

Patterson, Thomas E. 2000. "Doing Well and Doing Good." The Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy.

 

B: POLITICIANS AND GOVERNMENT AS MEDIA ACTORS?

02/16-02/23: Governing by Publicity
 
 
McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. Ch.7 "'Spin, whores spin': the demonisation of political public relations."
 
Cook, Timothy. 1998.  Governing With The News. Ch.6 "The Uses of News: Theory and (Presidential) Practice. Ch.7 "Beyond the White House."
 
 
02/25-02/27: Mass Media and the Public
 
 
Read and be prepared to discuss:
 
McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere.  Ch. 6. "The sound of the crowd: access and the political media."
 
Putnam, Robert. 1995. "Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America." PS: Political Science and Politics.  (From JSTOR)
 
 
Browse:
 
Pew Research Center For The People and the Press. 2002. "News Media's Improved Image Proves Short-Lived."
 
Website: Pew Center For Civic Journalism.
 
 
 
 
03/01-03/05: What does it mean for representation?
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

McNair, Brian. 2000.  Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere.  Ch.9 " Political journalism and the crisis of mass representation."

Cook, Timothy. 1998.  Governing With The News. Ch. 8 "Conclusion: The First Amendment and the Fourth Branch- Toward Redesigning a News Media Policy."

 

03/08-03/12:  Review, Individual Conferences and Mid-term
 
 
MID-TERM: Wednesday March 10, 2004.
 
 
03/15- 03/19 SPRING BREAK
 
University Closed
 
 
 
III: MEDIA EFFECTS
 
03/22- 03/26:  Media Analysis: Experimentation and Survey Research
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder 1984. News That Matters. Ch.2 " Pathways to Knowledge: Experimentation and the Analysis of Television's Power." and Ch.3 "The Agenda-Setting Effect." 

Price, Vincent and John Zaller. 1993. "Who Gets the News?" Alternative Measures of News Reception and their Implications for Research." Public Opinion Quarterly 57: 133-164. (From JSTOR).

 

03/29-04/02: Agenda-Setting and Framing (I)
 
 
Read and be prepared to discuss:
 
Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder 1984. News That Matters. Ch. 4 " Vivid Cases and Lead Stories." and Ch. 5" Personal Predicaments and National Problems."
 
 
04/05-04/09: Agenda-Setting and Framing (II)
 

Read and be prepared to discuss:

Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder 1984. News That Matters. Ch. 6. "Victims of Agenda-setting." Ch.7 "The Priming Effect."

 

04/12-04/16: Priming (I)
 
 
Read and be prepared to discuss:
 
Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder 1984. News That Matters. Ch.8 "Priming and Presidential Character."  Ch.9 Priming and Presidential Responsibility." Ch. 10 " Victims of Priming"

 

04/19-04/23 Priming (II) and Conclusion. 
 
Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder 1984. News That Matters. Ch. 11 "Electoral Consequences of Priming." Ch. 12. " News That Matters."

 

Exam Period 
 

Presentation of Research