COMM 621, History of the Mass Media (on line)
Instructor: Ross F. Collins, North Dakota State University, Fargo.
Course Overview/Syllabus
Instructor: Ross Collins, associate professor of communication, Department of Communication, Box 5075 North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105 USA. Tel (701) 231-7925, email ross.collins@ndsu.edu.
The on-line course is designed to offer a graduate-level general survey of the development and impact of the mass media in the United States. The course is divided into eight sections. The instructor covers newspapers and magazines, television, radio, advertising, public relations and photography using an unusual “archeological model,” beginning with the Gulf War of 1991, and working back to colonial press. Students have the opportunity to complete several short written assignments, and one longer term paper.
Required text: William David Sloan, The Media in America. A History. Sixth Edition. Northport, Alabama: Vision Press, 2005.
About the instructor
Associate professor Ross F. Collins holds a Ph.D. in journalism history (University of Cambridge, 1992). He combines academic background in history with a decade of media experience, work in media writing, photojournalism, design and public relations. He is also department director of graduate studies. His research interests include French journalism history and United States frontier journalism history. He is treasurer of American Journalism Historians Association. For a complete vita and other student resources, visit his web site: www.ndsu.edu/communication/collins.
The on-line version of this course is divided into eight sections, beginning with contemporary mass media history, and ending with colonial and European journalism history. Students complete readings, activities, and writing assignments as indicated for each section. The course's capstone requirement is a historical term paper. Course grade will be based on the term paper and other assignments; no examinations are required of web-based students. The sections are outlined below.
Grading
Term paper: 300 pts.
Activities and assignments, 115 pts.
Reflective essays, 200 pts.
Total possible points: 615.
Grading will be on a standard percentage: 90-100 percent=A; 80-89=B, etc.
Section One: Introduction; the media today; war and propaganda
1. Introduction: history as archeology.
2. Where we are today.
3. Wars, protest and propaganda.
Section Two: Television; the media and contemporary political history
1. Television and the presidency
2. Watergate.
Section Three: Radio and jazz journalism; development of “celebrity.”
1. Development and power of radio.
2. Changing philosophies.
3. Growth of entertainment industries and mass media.
4. Introduction: how to write a research paper.
Section Four: Advertising and Public Relations
1. Development of public relations.
2. Origins and growth of advertising.
Section Five: An eruption of change: the Civil War, new journalism, yellow journalism, and technology.
1. Journalism and control in the U.S. Civil War.
1. New journalism, 1870-1900.
2. Yellow journalism and New York City.
3. Technological revolution.
Section Six: Photography and photojournalism.
1. Development of photojournalism, 1925-present.
2. Beginnings of photography, 1839-1900.
Section Seven: From polemical to penny press: beginnings of a new nation.
1. Development of the Penny Press and the “common man.”
2. Antebellum press.
3. Importance of political/polemical press in early United States evolution.
Section Eight: Origins of colonial journalism: respect to revolt.
1. Influence of journalism in the American Revolution.
2. Origin of the press in colonial America.