Comparative Media Systems: Production of Culture
Spring 2013
MCC-GE 2184.001 / SOC-GA 2072.001 (FAS/Sociology)
Mon 7:15 – 9:25 PM
Location: TBD
Prof. Rodney Benson
Room 304 East Building (239 Greene Street)
Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU
New York, NY 10003
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 212/992-9490
Office Hours: TBD
(drop by or schedule by email with Gina Young, [email protected])
Course Description
How does the production of culture differ around the world? And to the extent that it
does, why? Beyond the personal idiosyncrasies of individual media owners and creative
workers, which factors play the greatest role in shaping cultural production: professional
values and traditions, forms of ownership and funding, government regulations,
organizational dynamics, and/ or the social properties of media owners, workers, and
audiences? Too much of our media criticism proceeds from hunches and assumptions,
rather than real evidence, for the simple reason that it limits itself to a single national
context (and often a single time period). Adequately sorting out the factors that shape our
media environment can best be accomplished via comparative research drawing on both
qualitative and quantitative methodologies. This course offers a conceptual roadmap to
such a project as well as a close empirical look at media systems (fields, networks,
ecosystems) in a variety of sub-national, national and transnational contexts.
Teaching / Course Objectives
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to provide students with an understanding of similarities and differences in
cultural production as they vary by genre, audience, and world region
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to provide students with knowledge of the major evaluative and explanatory
theories for the production of culture (journalism, music, art, popular
entertainment, science, etc.)
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to equip students with the research methods needed for comparative media
production research, including analysis of official political and economic data,
ethnography, in-depth interviewing, and content analysis
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Texts
Required Books (Available at NYU Bookstore)
C. W. Anderson. 2013. Rebuilding the News. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Howard Becker. 2008 (25th anniversary edition). Art Worlds. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
Marion Fourcade. 2010. Economists and Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini, eds. 2012. Comparing Media Systems: Beyond the
Western World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Thomas Medvetz. 2012. Think Tanks in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bruce Williams and Michael X. Delli Carpini. 2011. After Broadcast News. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Recommended book (Available at NYU Bookstore)
Neil Fligstein and Doug McAdam. 2012. A Theory of Fields. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Pdf texts: Available on Blackboard under “Course Documents” (indicated in schedule
with asterisk).
Course Assignments and Evaluation
Evaluation of your performance in this course will center around four elements:
(1) Active and Informed in-class participation (15 percent of grade): Attendance is
required, and any absences must be cleared in advance with me. You are expected to
complete all readings before class and you will be evaluated on the quality of your inclass participation.
(2) Critical Reading Essay (25 percent): Each student will summarize/critique one week’s
assigned readings with a 4-page (1000 word) essay. Pick 1-2 (depending on length)
closely related readings from a week’s readings (to be approved by me) and address the
following issues: a) who is the author addressing, and for what purpose? b) what is the
primary argument, c) what evidence is provided in support of the argument, e) what are
the actual or potential arguments against it, and f) how does this work contribute to the
field of comparative media systems / sociology of news research, noting any significant
connections to other authors. Do not consult or cite any outside sources. The paper should
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be emailed to your classmates and me by Sunday 9 p.m., prior to class. Be prepared to
quickly summarize and discuss the paper in class.
(4) Final paper (60 percent of final grade): In this 16-20 page paper (4000 - 5000 words)
paper, you can either: 1) Compare and contrast various methodological approaches, with
detailed references to empirical case studies, including at least three from assigned
readings or 2) Design a plan to research some aspect or type of news media (medium,
genre, targeted audience, nation-state, etc.), drawing on the theories and methodologies
presented in the course, and conduct preliminary research.
Grading Policies
It should go without saying that plagiarism is strictly prohibited. This policy will be
strictly enforced. “Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in
university life, whether intended or not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars,
whose members are teaching, learning and discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be
tolerated. Plagiarism is failure to properly assign authorship to a paper, a document, an
oral presentation, a musical score and/or other materials, which are not your original
work. You plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following:
Copy verbatim from a book, an article or other media; Download documents from the
Internet; Purchase documents; Report from other’s oral work; Paraphrase or restate
someone else’s facts, analysis and/or conclusions; Copy directly from a classmate or
allow a classmate to copy from you.” (NYU Steinhardt School of Education Statement on
Academic Integrity)
Assignments:
1) must be turned in on-time: late assignments will be down-graded (one half grade if not
turned in by the appointed hour; one full grade after one week, and one full grade per
week thereafter);
2) must be stapled, if more than one page;
3) must have your name at the top of the page;
4) must have all pages numbered.
Any assignments not formatted as indicated in 2) through 4) may be downgraded an
additional 1-3 points.
Grading Standards:
A = excellent. Outstanding work in all respects. Your papers and essays are thoroughly
researched, appropriately documented, logically organized and rhetorically convincing.
Your analysis is not only comprehensive and sound, but creative and original. In short,
you not only get it, but begin to see through it!
B = good. Your understanding of course materials is complete and thorough, and there is
at least some evidence of your own critical intelligence at work. You demonstrate basic
competence in research, writing and oral presentation.
C = adequate. Your writing is vague and incoherent or riddled with grammatical or
spelling errors. You do not make proper use of source materials, and there is little depth
or concreteness to your research or analysis. Your understanding of concepts and ideas is
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incomplete and often misguided, but there is at least some evidence that you “got”
something from this course.
D = unsatisfactory. Work exhibits virtually no understanding or even awareness of basic
concepts and themes of course. Your participation has been inadequate or superficial.
Either you have not been paying attention or you have not been making any effort.
F= failed. Work was not submitted or completed according to the basic parameters
outlined in the course syllabus and any additional information provided about
assignments (basic requirements for page length, topical focus, types and number of
primary and secondary sources, deadlines).
Grades are calculated according to the following scale: 94-100 A; 90-93 A-; 87-89 B+;
83-86 B; 80-82 B-; 77-79 C+; 73-76 C; 70-72 C-; 67-69 D+; 63-66 D; 60-62 D-; 0-59 F
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Schedule (subject to revision):
*course readings available through NYU Home
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Jan. 28
Overview / What’s at Stake
*David Hesmondhalgh and Sarah Baker. 2011. “A model of good and bad work,”
in Creative Labour. London: Routledge
*Rodney Benson. 2009. “Normative Theories of Journalism.” In International
Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.
*Bruce Williams and Michael X. Delli Carpini. 2011. After Broadcast News
(selections). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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Feb. 4
Explanatory Models
*Hesmondhalgh and Baker. 2011. “The specificity of creative labour,” in
Creative Labour
*Richard A. Peterson and N. Anand. “The production of culture perspective.”
Annual Review of Sociology 30: 311-334.
*Pierre Bourdieu. 1993. The Field of Cultural Production (selections). New York:
Columbia University Press.
Fligstein and McAdam, A Theory of Fields (selections)
Recommended additional reading:
*Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell. 1983. “The iron cage revisited:
institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields.”
American Sociological Review 45, 2: 147-160.
*Michael Schudson. 2005. “Four Approaches to the Sociology of News.” Pp.
172-97 in J. Curran and M. Gurevitch, Eds., Mass Media and Society, 4th edition.
London: Arnold.
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Feb. 11
Cross-National Comparative Research: Justifications, Models, and Methods
*Frank Esser and Thomas Hanitzsch, eds. 2012. The Handbook of Comparative
Communication Research (introduction and chapters by Hallin and Mancini;
Picard and Russi; and Livingstone). London: Routledge.
*Werner Wirth and Steffen Kolb. 2004. “Designs and Methods of Comparative
Political Communication Research.” In F. Esser and B. Pfetsch, eds., Comparing
Political Communication: Theories, Cases, and Challenges, pp. 87-111.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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Recommended additional reading:
*Rasmus Kleis-Nielsen. 2012. Ten Years that Shook the Media World: Big
Questions and Big Trends in International Media Developments. Oxford: Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism.
*Silvio Waisbord and Nancy Morris. 2001. “Rethinking Media Globalization and
State Power.” In N. Morris and S. Waisbord, eds., Media and Globalization: Why
the State Matters. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. vii – xvi.
Feb. 18
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NYU HOLIDAY: NO CLASS
Feb. 25
Case Study of a National Sub-Field of Cultural Production
Medvetz, Think Tanks in America
Recommended additional reading:
* Rodney Benson. 2006. “News Media as a ‘Journalistic Field’: What Bourdieu
adds to New Institutionalism, and Vice Versa.” Political Communication 23(2):
187-202.
*John Thompson. 2012. Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the
Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
*Christopher A. Bail. 2012. “The Fringe Effect: Civil Society Organizations and
the Evolution of Media Discourse about Islam since the September 11th Attacks.”
American Sociological Review 77, 6: 855-879.
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March 4
Studying Transnational Media and Cultural Flows
Marwan M. Kraidy, “The Rise of Transnational Media Systems: Implications of
Pan-Arab Media for Comparative Research,” in Beyond the Western World, pp.
177-200.
*Frank Esser and Thomas Hanitzsch, eds. 2012. The Handbook of Comparative
Communication Research (chapters by Couldry and Hepp; Norris).
*James Painter. 2011. Counter-Hegemonic News: A Case Study of Al Jazeera and
Telesur. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Recommended for additional reading:
*Helga Tawil-Souri. 2008. “Arab Television in Academic Scholarship.”
Sociology Compass.
*Giselinde Kuipers. 2011. “Cultural Globalization as the Emergence of a
Transnational Cultural Field: Transnational Television and National Media
Landscape in Four European Countries.” American Behavioral Scientist (March).
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March 11
Methods Workshop: Comparative Discourse and Image Analysis
*Frank Esser and Thomas Hanitzsch, eds. 2012. The Handbook of Comparative
Communication Research (chapters by Rossi; Muller and Griffin).
*Rodney Benson. 2013. Shaping Immigration News: A French-American
Comparison (selected proof chapters). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
March 18-22 NYU Spring Break
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March 25
NO CLASS
MAKEUP CLASS (Time and Location TBD)
Ethnography and The New Media Ecosystem
Anderson, Rebuilding the News
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April 1
Toward a More Expansive Comparative Research Program
*Hallin and Mancini, Beyond the Western World, introduction and conclusion,
and selected case study and theoretical chapters
*Elizabeth Bird, ed. 2010. The Anthropology of News and Journalism: Global
Perspectives (selected chapters). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
*R. Shome and Radha Hegde. 2002. “Postcolonial Approaches to
Communication.” Communication Theory 12(3): 249-270.
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April 8
Art and other ‘Worlds’ of Cultural Production
Becker, Art Worlds
*Roger Dickinson. 2008. “Studying the Sociology of Journalists: The Journalistic
Field and the News World.” Sociology Compass.
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April 15
The Networked Public Sphere and the Internet Economy
Williams and Delli Carpini, After Broadcast News (selections)
*Yochai Benkler. 2007. The Wealth of Networks (selections). New Haven, CN:
Yale University Press.
*Gina Neff. 2012. Venture Labor: Work and the Burden of Risk in Innovative
Industries (selections). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
*Chris Hedges. 2011. “Huffington’s Plunder.” Truthdig.com, posted February 21.
Additional recommended reading:
*C.W. Anderson, Emily Bell, and Clay Shirkey. 2012. Post-industrial journalism.
New York: Columbia University School of Journalism
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April 22
Methods workshop: In-Depth Interviews
*Pierre Bourdieu. “Understanding” in The Weight of the World. Stanford:
Stanford University Press.
*Other readings TBA
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April 29
Production of Scientific Expertise
Fourcade, Economists and Societies
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May 6
Forms of Ownership and Management / Student Presentations
*Mark Deuze, ed. 2010. Managing Media Work (selections). London: Sage.
*Rodney Benson, Julie Sedel, and Mattias Hesserus. 2013. How Media
Ownership Matters (chapter drafts). Oxford University Press, under contract.
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May 13
Student Presentations
*Final Paper due Monday, May 20, 6 p.m.