1
“The Culture Industries”
MCC-UE 1005
Course Syllabus
This course examines how the work that people do throughout the culture
industries—i.e., newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the movies, music and
book publishing—has been affected by a range of factors such as media
concentration, hyper-commercialism, digital technology, and the likelihood (or fact)
of interference, or retaliation, by government or corporate powers.
Requirements
Our study of the subject will be based on an extensive bibliography (and
filmography), as well as weekly presentations by guest lecturers with pertinent
experience in the industries concerned.
Your requirements, therefore, include (a) regular attendance, (b) timely reading
and/or viewing of all the works assigned each week, and (c) close and courteous
attention to our speakers’ lectures, and your full participation in the Q&A.
In order to ensure that all of us are really present during class,
the use of laptops is forbidden unless medically necessary. You must
therefore take notes by hand, on paper, using pen or pencil.
You will also be expected to complete a take-home midterm and final paper,
as well as several quizzes on the reading. Your grade will be determined on this
basis: 40% for your final paper (due May 11), 25% for your midterm (due
March 23), and 15% for your overall class participation, including quizzes.
Your written work must be your own, with full documentation of whatever
ideas, writing and/or information you derive from other sources. Plagiarism will
result in failure of this course.
A note on the reading
Beyond each week’s assignments, you must read The New York
Times on a daily basis. The point of this requirement is twofold. First, of all, the
Times provides extensive coverage of developments within the culture industries—
especially in its Arts and Business sections. It will therefore help to keep you up-todate on what is happening within those industries. And, second, the Times is also of
great interest as a major medium itself. In reading it, therefore, pay close attention
not just to its coverage of the culture industries per se, but also to its coverage of the
news in general, as some of our guest lecturers, and certain of our readings, will
concern the history of the Times’s journalistic practice.
To read that paper (or any other) critically, one must get some sense of what’s
not there—i.e., those stories that the Times has deemed not “fit to print”—and, no
less, one must see that there are other ways of understanding what the Times does
cover. In order to create that larger context for yourself, you must subscribe to
2
Consortiumnews, AlterNet and Truthout, and scan their daily stories.
(You may also follow them on Twitter.)
You will be quizzed, from time to time, on your reading of the
New York Times and those Websites.
My availability
I am always reachable, either by phone or email I am also available to meet
at any time convenient for us both. To make an appointment, simply contact me by
phone or email, or talk to me before or after class.
Course Schedule (in progress)
Jan. 29: Introduction
Feb. 4:
Journalism under fire
GUEST: Victor Pickard, Assistant Professor, Annenberg School of Communication,
University of Pennsylvania
READING: Robert W. McChesney, The Problem of the Media, Chapter 2; Victor
Pickard, “Reopening the Post-War Settlement for U.S. Media: The Origins and
Implications of the Social Contract between the Media, the State, and the Polity,”
Communication, Culture and Critique, 3 (2010), 170-89; Victor Pickard, “A Fighter for
the Public Interest at the FCC,” Huffington Post, 4/17/13; Victor Pickard, “Finding
Journalism’s Future,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/4/12; “Take the Profit Motive Out of
News,” The Guardian, 7/23/09.
Feb. 11:
Print journalism
GUESTS: Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper’s, 1976-81, 1983-2006, now editor of
Lapham’s Quarterly; Tom Robbins, former columnist at the Village Voice, now
Investigative Journalist in Residence at CUNY School of Journalism.
READING: “Comedy,” Lapham’s Quarterly, winter, 2014; Tom Robbins, “The
Newspaper Racket,” Village Voice, 3/6/01; Maureen Dowd, “Still Mad as Hell,” Sunday
New York Times (2/8/14)
Feb. 18:
Broadcast news
3
GUESTS: Kristina Borjesson, free-lance journalist, former producer for “CBS Reports,”
CNN, PBS; Danny Schechter, former producer at ABC, CNN, co-founder of
GlobalVision, executive editor of the Media Channel; Glenn Silber, former producer at
ABC News
READING: Jane Akre, “The Fox, the Hounds, and the Sacred Cows”; Kristina
Borjesson, “Into the Buzzsaw”; David E. Hendrix, “Coal Mine Canaries,” all in
Borjesson, Into the Buzzsaw.
VIEWING: TWA Flight 800, dir. Kristina Borjesson (2013); WMD: Weapons of Mass
Deception, dir. Danny Schechter (2004); Frontline: “A Death in St. Augustine,”
produced by Glenn Silber (2013); 60 Minutes: “U.S. vs. Drake,” produced by Glenn
Silber (2011)
Feb. 25:
Photojournalism
GUESTS: Marc Asnin, photographer, 2010; Kathleen Klech, former photo editor at
Condé Nast Traveler; Marcel Saba, President, W. Eugene Smith Foundation
READING: TBA
March 4:
Review
March 11:
Documentary film
GUESTS: Mike Bonanno of the Yes Men; John Kirby and Libby Handros, the Press
and the Public Project, Inc.; Jean-Philippe Tremblay, DocFactory
VIEWING: The Yes Men Fix the World (2009), co-dir. Mike Bonanno; The American
Ruling Class, dir. John Kirby (2013); Shadows of Liberty, dir. Jean-Philippe Tremblay
(2014)
READING: TBA
March 25:
Radio
GUESTS: Darren DeVivo, WFUV-FM; Rebecca Myles, radio journalist (BBC, WBAI);
Omoyele Sowore, founder of Sahara Reporters
READING: Mark Lloyd, “From Roosevelt to Roosevelt: Wireless and Radio (19001934),” in Prologue to a Farce: Communication and Democracy (University of Illinois
Press, 2006); (more TBA)
4
April 1:
The movie business
GUESTS: Kenneth Lonergan (and others TBA)
VIEWING: You Can Count on Me, dir. Kenneth Lonergan (2000);
Margaret (2011)
READING: TBA
April 8:
Acting
GUESTS: Kathleen Chalfant, Cynthia Nixon, Mimi Kennedy
READING/VIEWING: TBA
April 15:
TV drama/comedy
GUEST: Beau Willimon, creator of House of Cards
VIEWING: House of Cards (Netflix)
READING: TBA
April 22:
The book business
GUESTS: E.L. Doctorow, author; Jane Friedman, publisher, Open Road Media;
Emma Parry, literary agent, Janklow and Nesbit Associates; Sarah McNally,
founder/owner, McNally/Jackson Bookstore
READING: E.L. Doctorow, Andrew’s Brain (Random House, 2014); André Schiffrin,
The Business of Books (Verso, 2001)
April 29:
Music
GUESTS: Jean Cook, Director of Programs, Future of Music Coalition (others TBA)
READING: Fred Goodman, The Mansion on the Hill (Vintage, 1998)
May 6: Summary discussion
PAPER DUE ON MAY 10