Monday 7pm at 457 Bathurst St (at College)

Starts Jan 16, 2006

We are sorry but this course is completely FULL. There is only space for people who have previously registered.

FACILITATOR: Alan O'Connor

Radical activists always blame the media! This course looks at the history and workings of mass media, especially when reporting war. There's lots to criticize about newspapers and television news but the story is a bit more complicated than most activists say.

Thanks to a member of the class who sent this interesting link to an interview with the editors of Media Lens. Read it here: http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=558&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

This course provides an introduction to media studies, with an emphasis on war reporting. The framework is roughly historical starting with reporting on the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the emergence of radio (1920s) and television (1950s), coverage of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Central America in the 1980s, and the war in Iraq in 2003. Along the way we consider ideas about 'objective' journalism, public service radio, media technology, the Internet, and alternatives to mainstream media. We read some of the best radical writers on mass media including Robert Mc Chesney, John Downing, Daniel Hallin, Herman and Chomsky, and Raymond Williams. If you would like to do some advance reading, try George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (Penguin Books). Thanks to a class member for this link to Orwell's book online http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/

The course outline can be adjusted according to the group's interests.

The course starts the week of 16 Jan 2006. There are about 20 photocopied pages of reading each week.

1. Introductions, discussion of course outline and adjustments, video 'The Spanish Earth'

2. Reportage and the war correspondent

READING:

• George Orwell, 'Looking Back on the Spanish War' (1942). Online at

• Martha Gellhorn 'High Explosive for Everyone' (1937) in her The Face of War. There is a brief bio of Gellhorn at http://www.pbs.org/weta/reportingamericaatwar/reporters/gellhorn/
• A member of the class found these photos of the Spanish Civil War

3. The idea of 'objective journalism'

READING:

• Jean K. Chalaby, "Journalism as an Anglo-American Invention: A Comparison of the Development of French and Anglo-American Journalism, 1830s-1920s," European Journalism of Communication (1996).

4. The struggle between public service and commercial media

READING:

• Robert Mc Chesney, 'Educators and the Battle for Control of U.S. Broadcasting' in his Rich Media, Poor Democracy (1999)

5. Theories of media technology

READING:

• Raymond Williams, 'The Technology and the Society' in his Television: Technology and Cultural Form (1974)

6. Television and the Vietnam War

READING:

• Daniel Hallin, The 'Uncensored War': The Media and Vietnam (1986), Ch. 4.
• Gloria Emerson interview on website PBS REPORTING AMERICA AT WAR

7. Reporting about Central American in the 1980s

READING:

• Herman and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent (1988), Ch. 2

8. Television and the Iraq War (2003)

• Video: Control Room

9. The World Summit on the Information Society (2003-05)

READING:

• Sean O'Siochru and Bruce Girard, Global Media Governance: A Beginner's Guide (2002), Ch. 11.
• www.worldsummit2005

10. Alternative media

READING:

• John Downing, 'Independent Media Centers,' in Marc Raboy ed. Global Media Policy in the New Millennium (2002)

-- AnarchistU - 05 Dec 2005