BROOKLYN COLLEGE
Department of Television and Radio
MEDIA CRITICISM (Television and Radio Criticism)
TV/R 30.5W Section EW6 (Course Code 1756)
Fall, 2008, Wed, 6:30 PM - 9:15PM
505 Whitehead Hall

Dr. Foulger
Office: 404S Whitehead Hall

Class Schedule and Assignments - Fall, 2008

Semester Syllabus / Discussion Notes / Compact Syllabus (the class handout) / Class Moodle

Draft. The details of the schedule are likely to change.

# Class/Date Subject Assignment (to be completed before class on the date assigned)
1 Aug 27 Introduction No Reading.
2 Sep 3 The Landscape of Media Criticism;
Exploring and Explaining Media
Read Models of the Communication Process and Introduction To Media Criticism
3 Sep 10

Doing Media Criticism
Semiotics

Read Allen, Introduction and Chapter One. Read Message Ecology (on Moodle). Bring body of content to class
4 Sep 17 Semiotics (continued)
Narrative Theory
Read Allen, Chapter 2
5 Sep 24

Narrative Theory (continuted)
Writing Media Criticism

Read Levinson, Chapters 1-6, Read An Introduction To Five Paragraph Media Criticism,
  Oct 1 & 8 No Class Read Medium as an Ecology of Genre; First Annotated Bibliography Due. Discussion will occur on the Moodle.
6 Oct 15

Genre Theory
Auteur Theory and Production-Oriented Approaches

Read Allen, Chapter 4; Levinson, Chapters 7 and 8; Short Paper 1 Due
7 Oct 22

Medium as Message
Audience-Oriented Criticism

Read Levinson, Chapters 9 and 10; Read Allen, Chapter 3
8 Oct 29

Ideological Analysis

Read Allen Chapters 5; Optionally Read Allen, Chapter 7
9 Nov 5

Cultural Studies;
Theories of Mind

Read Allen, Chapters 6 and 8; Short Paper 2 Due
10 Nov 12

The Postmodern Turn;
Deconstruction of Media Content

Read Allen, Chapter 9; Term Paper Introduction Due; Web Readings. See Online Syllabus for links.; Second Annotated Bibliography
11 Nov 19 Uses of Media; Read Levinson, Chapters 11, 12, 13; First Complete Draft of Term Paper Due.
12 Nov 26

Term Paper Presentations

No Reading
13 Dec 3 Term Paper Presentations No Reading
14 Dec 10

The Rearview Mirror;
Thinking Systematically About Media

Read Message Ecology; Read Allen, Afterword. Read Levinson, Chapters 14 and 15. Final Submission of Term Paper for Grading
15 Probably Dec 17 Final Exam Probably Formally scheduled from 6:00pm - 8:00pm on the normal class day, but will not start until 7:00pm. Term papers and, if possible, final grades will be returned at this time.