WEEKLY READINGS AND LECTURE NOTES

Sept. 10 : Introduction and Organization

Sept. 12 & 17: The Politics of Culture and Communication: Concepts and Approaches

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Taras, ch. 1: Putting the Media Under the Spotlight 1-27.
Taras, ch. 2: Media, Citizens, and Democracy 29-60.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 1: Why? How? What? 11-32.
M. Sharon Jeannotte & Dick Stanley, "How will we live together?" Canadian Journal of Communication (27, 2-3: 2002), 133-139. NOTE: This reading can be obtained on-line at www.CJC-online.ca.

Supplementary:
Robert Babe, Foundations of Canadian Communication Thought, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 24 (2000), 19-37.
McNair, Introduction to Political Communication, esp. 1-28.
Ted Magder, Taking Culture Seriously: A political economy of communications, in W. Clement and G. Williams, eds., The New Canadian Political Economy (1989), 278-96.
Frank Manning, Reversible Resistance: Canadian Popular Culture and the American Order, in D.H. Flaherty and F.E. Manning, eds., The Beaver Bites Back: American Popular Culture in Canada (1993), 3-28.
Reg Whitaker, Canadian Politics at the End of the Millenium: Old Dreams, New Nightmares, in D. Taras and B. Rasporich, eds., A Passion for Identity (3rd ed., 1997), 119-37.

Sept. 19, 24 & 26: Media and Politics

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 2: "Press Gangs: The Role of the Newspaper in Canadian Political Life," 55-82.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 5: "The (Almost) Everywhere They are in Chains: The Political Economy of Communications in Canada," 109-136.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 6: "Sticks, Carrots, and Party Favours: State and Political Regulation of the Media," 137-164.
R. Everett and F. Fletcher, "The Mass Media and Political Communication in Canada," in McKie and Singer, 165-178.

Supplementary:
R. A. Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao, Sustaining Democracy? Journalism and the Politics of Objectivity (1998), esp. 1-14.
S. Graydon and D. Mitchell, "Politicians, Journalists and the Need for Civil Dialogue," in D. Logan, ed., Journalism in the New Millennium (1998), 60-72.
C. Black, "The Proliferation of Choice Guarantees Stronger Newspapers," in Logan, 91-8.
V. Carlin, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Corporate Newspaper Control," in Logan, 101-110.

Oct. 1 & 3: Media Culture

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Taras, ch. 3: "Convergence and the High Waves of Media Change,"61-92.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 4: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Culture, Ideology, and the Media," 83-108.
R. Anderson, et al., eds., TVTV: The television revolution: the debate (1996), excerpts.

Supplementary:
Martin Laba, "No Borders, No Problems: Mixed Media, Cultures of Youth, and Music in the Marketplace," in H. Holmes and D. Taras, eds., Seeing Ourselves: Media Power and Policy in Canada (2nd ed., 1996), 73-83. [cited as Holmes and Taras]
Terry Cheney, "Tending to Societ, Tending to Yourself: The Roles of Culture," Canadian Journal of Communication (27, 2-3: 2002), 253-67. NOTE: This reading can be obtained on-line at www.CJC-online.ca.
L. Grossberg, E. Wartella, and D.C. Whitney, MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture (1998).
S. and E. Ewen. Channels of Desire: Mass Images and the Shaping of American Consciousness (2nd ed., 1992), 189-220.

 

Oct. 8 & 10: News as Political Discourse, I

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 7: "Life in the Sausage Factory: Possibilities and Constraints of Media Organizations," 165-198.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 10: "Drums and Wires: The Political Deconstruction of Canadian Texts," 249-278.
Taras, ch. 8: "The Winds of Right-Wing Change in Canadian Journalism," 199-218.

Supplementary:
P. Dahlgren, Television and the Public Sphere (1995), 46-70.
Roger Bird, The End of News (1997), esp. 1-10 and 133-155.
R. A. Hackett and R. Gruneau et al., The Missing News: Filters and Blind Spots in Canada's Press (2000), 17-45.

 

Oct. 15 & 17: News as Political Discourse, II

Readings:
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 11: "Moving Voters, Moving Accounts, and Moving Wallpaper: The Politics of Reading," 279-308.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 12: "Lies, Damn Lies, and Opinion Polls: Do the Media Massage the Message?" 309-334.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 13: "From Experience to Editorial: Agenda Setting, Priming and Framing," 335-370.

Supplementary:
N. Nevitte, et al., Unsteady State: The 1997 Canadian Federal Election (2000), 24-44.
M. Mendelsohn, Television Frames in the 1993 Canadian Election," in Holmes and Taras, 8-22.
D. Taras, "A Question of Character: Political Reporting in the United States and Canada," in D. Thomas, ed., Canada and the United States: Differences that Count (1993), 326-342.

 

Oct. 22 & 24: Media, Culture, and Identity, I

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Jane Jenson, "Identifying the Links: Social Cohesion and Culture," Canadian Journal of Communication (27, 2-3: 2002), 141-151. NOTE: This reading can be obtained on-line at www.CJC-online.ca.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 8: "'The Decline and Fall of the American Empire': Space and Time in the Work of Innis, Grant and McLuhan," 199-220.
Joel Smith, "Media Policy, National Identity, and Citizenry in Changing Democratic Societies: The Case of Canada", in J. Smith, ed., Media Policy, National Identity, and Citizenry in Changing Democratic Societies: The Case of Canada (1998), 3-30.

Supplementary:
L. Grossberg, E. Wartella, and D.C. Whitney, MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture (1998), 205-34.
John D. Jackson, "Broadcasting: Centralization, Regionalization, and Canadian Identity," in McKie & Singer, 80-88.
H. Newcomb, "Other People's Fictions: Cultural Appropriation, Cultural Integrity, and International Media Strategies," in E.G. McAnany and K. T. Wilkinson, eds., Mass Media and Free Trade (1996), 92-109.
D. Whitson, "Hockey and Canadian Identities: From Frozen Rivers to Revenue Streams," in D. Taras and B. Rasporich, eds., A Passion for Identity (3rd ed., 1997), 297-320.
J. Gillet et al., "The Prime Minister of Saturday Night: Don Cherry, the CBC, and the Cultural Production of Intolerance," in Holmes and Taras, 59-72.

 

Oct. 29 & 31: Media, Culture, and Identity, II

Readings:
Taras, ch. 6: "The Worst Assignment: Reporting National Unity," 141-170.
G. J. Robinson, Constructing the Quebec Referendum: French and English Media Voices (1998), 182-222.
L. Balthazar, "The Faces of Quebec Nationalism," in D. Taras and B. Rasporich, eds., A Passion for Identity (3rd ed., 1997), 65-84.

Supplementary:
F. Fletcher, "Media and Political Identity: Canada and Quebec in the Era of Globalization," Canadian Journal of Communication (23 1998), 359-80.
G. Neilsen, "Culture and the Politics of Being Québécois: Identity and Communication," in M. Fournier et al., eds., Quebec Society: Critical Issues (1997), 81-94.
Marc Raboy, "Linguistic Duality in Broadcasting Policy," in Holmes and Taras, 154-72.

 

Nov. 5 & 7: Promoting Canadian Culture

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 3: "The Masses and the Masseys: The Political History of Broadcasting in Canada," 55-82.
Taras, ch. 5: "Chilled to the Bone: The Crisis of Public Broadcasting," 117-140.
Taras, ch. 7: "Bringing You Hollywood: Private Broadcasters and the Public Interest," 171-197.
Leslie Regan Shade, "O Canada: What Happens When the Mouse Meets the Mounties?" in Paul Attallah & Leslie Regan Shade, Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communications (2002), 397-410.

Supplementary:
Jody Berland and Will Straw," Getting Down to Business: Cultural Politics and Policies in Canada," in McKie & Singer, 256-270.
R. Lorimer and N. Duxbury, "Of Culture, the Economy, Cultural Production, and Cultural Producers,"Canadian Journal of Communication (19 1994), 259-290.
L. Jeffrey, "Rethinging Audiences for Cultural Industries: Implications for Canadian Research," Canadian Journal of Communication (19, 1994), 495-522.
K. Dowler, "The Cultural Industries Policy Apparatus," in M. Dorland, ed., The Cultural Industries in Canada (1996), 328-346.
R. Collins, "Trading in Culture: The Role of Language," Canadian Journal of Communication (19, 1994), 377-400.
R. de la Garde, et al., "Cultural Development: State of the Problem and Prospects for Quebec," Canadian Journal of Communication (19, 1994), 447-476.
B. Szuchewycz and J. Sloniowski, Canadian Communications: Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture (1999), chs. 13 and 17.

 

Nov. 12 & 14: Issues of Representation

Lecture Notes

Readings:
A. Fleras, "Couched in Compromise: Media-Minority Relations in a Multicultural Society," in McKie & Singer, 308-322
S. Graydon, "The Portrayal of Women in the Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful," in McKie & Singer, 179-195.
Lorna Roth, "The Delicate Acts of 'Colour Balancing': Multiculturalism and Canadian Television Broadcasting Policies and Practices," Canadian Journal of Communication, 23.4 (1998), 487-505.

Supplementary:
Lorna Roth, "First Peoples’ Television in the Canadian North: A Case Study of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network," in Paul Attallah & Leslie Regan Shade, Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communications (2002), 295-310..
John Miller, Yesterday's News: Why Canada's Daily Newspapers are Failing Us (1998), ch. 6.
Bud White Eye, "Journalism and First Nations," in V. Alia, et al., eds., Deadlines and Diversity (1996), 92-97.
Fil Fraser, "The Participation of Aboriginal and Other Cultural Minorities in Cultural Development,"Canadian Journal of Communication (19, 1994), 477-94.
E. Thomas, "Canadian Broadcasting and Multiculturalism," Canadian Journal of Communication (17.3, 1992), 281-300.
B. Szuchewycz and J. Sloniowski, eds., Canadian Communications: Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture (1999), chs. 8-10.
Augie Fleras and Jean Leonard Elliott, Engaging Diversity: Multiculturalism in Canada (2nd ed., 2002).
Frances Henry, "Canada’s Contribution to the "Management" of Ethno-Cultural Diversity," Canadian Journal of Communication (27, 2-3: 2002), 231-42. NOTE: This reading can be obtained on-line at www.CJC-online.ca.

 

Nov. 19 & 21: New Media

Lecture Notes

New Media slides (Wendy Cukier)
download powerpoint format
download pdf format

Readings:
Lorimer and Gasher, Mass Communication in Canada, 260-292.
Taras, ch. 4: "Fragmentation Bombs: The New Media and the Erosion of Public Life," 93-116.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 9: "Mass Rallies, Mass Consumption and (Mass) Confusion: Approaches to the Media in the Post-Modern World," 221-248.

Supplementary:
Susan Bryant & Richard Smith, "Computers and the Internet," in Paul Attallah & Leslie Regan Shade, Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communications (2002), 235-51.
Mike Gasher, "On-line Journalism," in Paul Attallah & Leslie Regan Shade, Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communications (2002), 235-51.
Singer and McKie, 89-118.
M. Fraser. Free-for-All: The Struggle for Dominance on the Digital Frontier (1999), ch. 8: "The Multimedia Revolution," 257-94.
L. A. Pal, "Wired Governance: The Political Implications of the Information Revolution," in in R. Boyce, ed., The Communications Revolution at Work. McGill-Queen's, 1999, 11-37.
R. J. Deibert, "Altered Worlds: Social Forces in the Hypermedia Environment," in C. J. Alexander and L. A. Pal, eds., Digital Democracy: Policy and Politics in the Wired World. Oxford, 1998, 23-45.
James H. May, "Information Technology for Indigenous Peoples: The North American Experience," Alexander and Pal, 220-237.
V. Mosco, "Place Matters: Citizenship and the new Computer Technopolis," in R. Boyce, ed., The Communications Revolution at Work. McGill-Queen's, 1999, 39-55.

 

Nov. 26 & 28: Canada in Global Context

Lecture Notes

Readings:
Lorimer and Gasher, Mass Communication in Canada, 293-326.
Taras, ch. 9: "Confronting the Future," 219-225 and "Update 2001: Media Conglomerates, the CBC, and Canadian Democracy," 227-240.
Nesbitt-Larking, ch. 14: "Social Responsibility and Anti-Social Irresponsibility: Ethics, Participation, Political Activism, and the Media," 371-398.

Supplementary:
F. Fletcher and R. Everett, "The Media and Canadian Politics in an era of Globalization," in M. Whittington and G. Williams, Canadian Politics in the 21st Century (5th ed., 2000), 381-402.
John A. Hannigan, "Canadian Media Ownership and Control in the Age of the Internet andGlobal Megamedia Empires," in McKie & Singer, 245-255.
M. Raboy, "Cultural Development and the Open Economy," Canadian Journal of Communication (19, 1994), 291-317.
Karim H. Karim, "Globalization, Communication, and Diaspora," in Paul Attallah & Leslie Regan Shade, Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communications (2002), 272-94.

Dec. 5 is the last day to submit term work.