first paper assignment: media companies analysis 

For this paper you will choose from among the options below and research the merger or acquisition of  media companies to form the conglomerates that define the contemporary industry.  Your paper should describe the conglomeration (i.e., which companies were being acquired or merged and what their significant subsidiaries were); it should explain the rationale for the two (or more) companies coming together; and it should discuss the benefits these companies perceived would result from their conglomeration.  Basically, your paper should answer the question: Why did these companies form a conglomerate?

Your paper must have a minimum of three (3) contemporaneous sources* from the business or trade press** (e.g., articles from the New York Times or Variety) and all of the paper's most important ideas should come from these sources.  You might try searching the websites of these publications for sources; many publications have searchable online archives.  You should also search Lexis/Nexis Academic, which is available in the Library's Databases A-Z.

It's a good idea to begin by looking up your companies in Wikipedia, which will give you an overview of your topic, but you should not rely on Wikipedia as a source.  You might find good sources in the references at the end of Wikipedia entries (e.g., see the Footnotes and External links sections at the bottom of the entry on  Time Warner). 

The paper must be a minimum of 1000 and a maximum of 1200 words (approximately 3-4 pages).  This assignment is worth 15% of your final grade.  (Please refer to general paper policies below.)

options:

  • Sony and Columbia Pictures (1989), an electronics manufacturer and a Hollywood movie studio 
  • Time and Warner Communications (1990), a magazine empire and a Hollywood movie, TV, and music company
  • AOL and Time-Warner (2000), an internet company and a multimedia conglomerate including publishing, movies, and cable TV
  • Disney and Capital Cities/ABC (1996), Disney and a group of television stations, cable channels such as ESPN, and a major TV network
  • Viacom and Paramount Pictures (1993), a multimedia conglomerate including MTV and Nickelodeon and a Hollywood movie studio
  • News Corporation and 20th Century Fox (1984), an international newspaper and satellite TV company owned by Rupert Murdoch and a Hollywood movie studio
  • General Electric (owner of NBC) and Universal (2004), a TV network and a Hollywood movie studio. 
  • Another conglomeration, subject to the approval of your instructor 

*A contemporaneous source is one from the time of the events you are writing about; contemporaneous sources on GE-Universal would be sources from 2004.

**The business press is made up of publications aimed at readers who have an interest in business and includes titles like The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Business Week, as well as the business sections of general interest publications like The New York Times.  A trade press is made up of publications aimed at people working in a specific industry; e.g., Variety is a trade paper in the entertainment industry, and Publisher's Weekly is a trade paper in the publishing industry.

second paper assignment: media and civic culture analysis

For this paper you must first read Peter Dahlgren, "Media, Citizenship, and Civic Culture."  This is a  challenging article, and you will need to read it slowly and carefully and more than once, taking notes and thinking seriously about its points.  If there are terms you don't understand in this article, you should look them up (searching Google often works well).  Please also refer to the readings questions and glossary of terms on the course D2L site.

In his article, Dahlgren writes about the ways that media might or might not promote citizenship in a democratic society.  He implies that citizenship requires an engagement with politics, and identifies two kinds of politics that citizens engage with: “traditional” politics and “lifestyle” politics.

Dahlgren also describes four components of civic culture—culture that promotes citizenship—and considers ways in which media promotes these aspects of civic culture (see pages 321-2).  These four are: 

1.    knowledge
2.    values
3.    practices
4.    identities 
 
Your assignment is to choose a media text (see below) and discuss whether it promotes citizenship in a democratic society.  In particular, you should identify the political content in your media text as either traditional politics or lifestyle politics, as some combination of the two, or as neither one.  You should make an argument about whether or not this constitutes a form of civic engagement.  You should also describe ways in which your media text contributes to any or all of the four components of civic culture (you may see it contributing to some but not others).  To make your task manageable you might choose to write about one issue of a print publication or one episode of a television program.

Basically, your paper should answer the question: How does [name of media text] function (or fail to function) as civic culture? 

("Civic" is an adjectival form of "citizen" -- civic culture is a culture of and for citizens.  If you need help figuring out what it means to be a citizen, read Dahlgren carefully, especially page 317-319, and look up "civic" and "citizen" in a good dictionary or encyclopedia.  If you are still confused, please seek the advice of your instructor.)

Your paper does not need to include any sources other than Dahlgren and the media text you choose.  It must be a minimum of 1200 and a maximum of 1500 words (approximately 4-5 pages).  This assignment is worth 25% of your final grade.  (Please refer to general paper policies below.)
 
Options:
  •     A local news program on broadcast television (e.g., Today's TMJ4 News at Live at 10:00)
  •     A local news program on the radio (e.g., the WUWM portions of Morning Edition)
  •     A national news program on broadcast television (e.g., CBS Evening News with Katie Couric)
  •     A national news program on the radio (e.g., the NPR portions of Morning Edition)
  •     A daytime talk show (e.g., Live with Regis and Kelly, The View, Oprah)
  •     An evening cable news program (e.g., The O'Reilly Factor)
  •     A local mainstream newspaper (e.g., Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
  •     A local alternative newspaper (e.g., Shepherd Express)
  •     A national newspaper (e.g., USA Today)
  •     A national news magazine (e.g., Time)
  •     A political blog (e.g., DailyKos or The Huffington Post, which are liberal, and Power Line or Little Green Footballs, which are conservative)
  •     A comedy show with political content (e.g., The Daily Show With Jon Stewart)     * A movie or TV drama that engages with political issues (e.g., a documentary like An Inconvenient Truth or a show like The West Wing or The Wire that tries to be informative about civic concerns)
  •     Another media text, subject to the approval of your TA

Checklist: before handing in your paper you should make sure you can answer “yes” to all of the following questions:
  • Does my paper have a title?
  • Does my paper have a thesis statement, which is clear and specific?
  • Does my paper meet the length requirement?
  • Does my paper analyze a specific media text?
  • Does my paper say whether or not this media text functions as civic culture in a democratic society?
  • Does my paper identify the politics of this media text as traditional politics, lifestyle politics, or some combination of the two?
  • Does my paper say whether this media text contributes to any or all of the four components of civic culture Dahlgren discusses?
  • Does my paper discuss its topic in specific detail, describing and analyzing particular parts and making clear their significance?
  • Does my paper have an introduction and conclusion?
  • Are my pages numbered and stapled together?
  • Have I proofread my paper carefully to make sure that my writing is clear and polished? 

general paper policies

Your paper must be written in well-crafted sentences and paragraphs of appropriate length (no one or two sentence paragraphs—it isn’t a news story).  You must spell correctly and use standard grammar, syntax, and word usage.  Every paper should have a brief introduction and conclusion and should be organized logically as a series of points, all of which are supported by evidence from your research.  These points should cohere around a single main idea: your thesis, or argument.  Your paper should have a title, something more descriptive than "Intro to Mass Media Paper."  Sources must be cited properly as we shall discuss in class.  Badly written papers will get bad grades even if the ideas contained in them are good.

Very important: your instructor will not read your paper if it is not typed and double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides and 12-point Times or Times New Roman font.  They will not read it if the pages are not numbered and stapled together.  Seriously, they will hand it back to you and it will be late.
Even more important: papers containing plagiarism will be given an F and the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken with your dean.

Unless your instructor indicates otherwise, no paper will be accepted via email.

Late papers will be penalized 1/2 a letter grade per day. 

grading criteria:


1)    Adherence to the requirements of the assignment.

2)    Clarity, expressiveness, and organization of the writing.

3)    Degree of thoroughness, insightfulness, and originality in the research and analysis.

4)    Concreteness, clarity, coherence, and originality of the argument and adequacy of research and analytical support for that argument.

The grade given to average work on all assignments is a C.   B or A indicates impressive achievement above the average.  A indicates exceptional work.  Grades C and below indicate inadequacies in any or all of the grading criteria. 

notes on style:

-Italicize titles of newspapers, magazines, books, movies, television shows, games: The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Da Vinci Code, Spider-Man 3, Laguna Beach, World of Warcraft.

-Put titles of episodes of television shows in quotation marks.  When referring to a television show, refer to episodes by their original air date, e.g.: “In the series premiere of Laguna Beach, “A Black & White Affair” (originally aired September 28, 2004), we are introduced to the show’s main characters.”  You have the option of putting episode titles and dates in footnotes instead.

-When first mentioning a movie, put its original release date in parentheses, e.g., “In Spider-Man 3 (2007), Tobey Maguire and Kristin Dunst return to play Peter and Mary Jane.”