finalqs

FINAL, 5/5/03:

Here are the four final exam questions, now in finalized form (there will be no further changes). The relevant sources for each question include: Buckingham (whole book), Croteau and Hoynes; lectures and recitations post-midterm. You are certainly not limited to these resources; nor are you required to use all of those mentioned. However, make sure that your answers demonstrate that you have read the materials for class and understood them, and that you are able to integrate insights you've gleaned from lecture and recitation into your answer when applicable.

1. You have been approached by an educational foundation that would like to design a news program for older teens. This foundation will locate funding for the program, and wants it to be a noncommercial enterprise that offers an alternative to what is currently available in the U.S. media market. Using Buckingham’s The Making of Citizens, explain how you would set up the program. Which of the various television programs he reviewed would you use as a model for your own program (or, which would you avoid and why)? How would you construct, address, and/or attempt to empower the viewer? How would you propose a research plan that would evaluate the program (in other words, propose a realistic means of determining that it is successful, considering such issues as socially desirable responses from and discursive strategies among research participants)?

2. In the two books you have read during the second half of this class, you have been presented with two differing ways to understand and address the problem of bias in news media. One focuses on the ways in which bias takes place at the point of the construction/creation of the news, and the other focuses on how bias is understood at the point of news reception (e.g., among its audiences). Explain the arguments that support each of these positions, and choose one example that illustrates each kind of bias from the many examples we reviewed in lecture, recitation, readings, and videos. Choose examples that enable you to demonstrate an understanding of bias that helpfully moves beyond notions of objectivity to important issues of social/cultural context and perspective.

3. Major changes to telecommunication ownership policies are currently being debated by the FCC. With this in mind, write a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, offering your argument about the proposed changes to telecommunications policies, describing what you believe are the implications of the proposed changes in light of the public sphere model of media. Be specific about what you understand regarding trends in the industries and the appeal those trends hold for companies. Refer to three specific examples from course readings, lectures, videos, and/or web sites to support your position (e.g., news stories we discussed, news stories viewed on video, web materials about journalism and the war, etc.). Make it clear in the letter that you are writing from the perspective of a college student who anticipates being a part of the media industries, and articulate your vision for what you’d like the media industry of your chosen career to be like. (In this question, you will want to consider why companies are supportive of the changes (economies of scale, etc.), give specifics about who owns what, and in at least one case use the terms horizontal and/or vertical integration and/or synergy)

4. Throughout this course, we have discussed possibilities for activism and democratic social change within and through the media industries. In this essay, describe a positive way in which ONE of the following can be employed as an agent of change: news designed specifically for young people, public television, music, "culture jamming," contributions to debates over FCC policy, the Internet, and mainstream or alternative journalism. Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen approach in the context of the market model. Conclude with a statement about how your chosen approach relates to your vision for getting young people motivated to participate in democracy in a way that moves beyond "Rock the Vote."


		last updated: 4/29/03 FINAL, 5/5/03: Here are the four final exam questions, now in finalized form (there will be no further changes). The relevant sources for each question include: Buckingham (whole book), Croteau and Hoynes; lectures and recitations post-midterm. You are certainly not limited to these resources; nor are you required to use all of those mentioned. However, make sure that your answers demonstrate that you have read the materials for class and understood them, and that you are able to integrate insights you've gleaned from lecture and recitation into your answer when applicable. 1. You have been approached by an educational foundation that would like to design a news program for older teens. This foundation will locate funding for the program, and wants it to be a noncommercial enterprise that offers an alternative to what is currently available in the U.S. media market. Using Buckingham’s The Making of Citizens, explain how you would set up the program. Which of the various television programs he reviewed would you use as a model for your own program (or, which would you avoid and why)? How would you construct, address, and/or attempt to empower the viewer? How would you propose a research plan that would evaluate the program (in other words, propose a realistic means of determining that it is successful, considering such issues as socially desirable responses from and discursive strategies among research participants)? 2. In the two books you have read during the second half of this class, you have been presented with two differing ways to understand and address the problem of bias in news media. One focuses on the ways in which bias takes place at the point of the construction/creation of the news, and the other focuses on how bias is understood at the point of news reception (e.g., among its audiences). Explain the arguments that support each of these positions, and choose one example that illustrates each kind of bias from the many examples we reviewed in lecture, recitation, readings, and videos. Choose examples that enable you to demonstrate an understanding of bias that helpfully moves beyond notions of objectivity to important issues of social/cultural context and perspective. 3. Major changes to telecommunication ownership policies are currently being debated by the FCC. With this in mind, write a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, offering your argument about the proposed changes to telecommunications policies, describing what you believe are the implications of the proposed changes in light of the public sphere model of media. Be specific about what you understand regarding trends in the industries and the appeal those trends hold for companies. Refer to three specific examples from course readings, lectures, videos, and/or web sites to support your position (e.g., news stories we discussed, news stories viewed on video, web materials about journalism and the war, etc.). Make it clear in the letter that you are writing from the perspective of a college student who anticipates being a part of the media industries, and articulate your vision for what you’d like the media industry of your chosen career to be like. (In this question, you will want to consider why companies are supportive of the changes (economies of scale, etc.), give specifics about who owns what, and in at least one case use the terms horizontal and/or vertical integration and/or synergy) 4. Throughout this course, we have discussed possibilities for activism and democratic social change within and through the media industries. In this essay, describe a positive way in which ONE of the following can be employed as an agent of change: news designed specifically for young people, public television, music, "culture jamming," contributions to debates over FCC policy, the Internet, and mainstream or alternative journalism. Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen approach in the context of the market model. Conclude with a statement about how your chosen approach relates to your vision for getting young people motivated to participate in democracy in a way that moves beyond "Rock the Vote."