CCC Media, Politics and Intervention

Columbia College Chicago

Media, Politics and Intervention, 50-2312
Spring, 2010 

June Terpstra, Ph.D.

624 S. Michigan Avenue, 10^th Floor

Office hours by appointment

Course Description

There is a belief that media attention can shame people and governments into stopping human rights abuses. Yet, when examining reality: from past genocides to current unexplained killings to ongoing systemic abuses - we know that media attention alone is not sufficient. This course will explore how intervention by individuals, domestic/international advocacy groups and governments does or does not occur. The focus will be on the successful and unsuccessful use of media to provoke and sustain tangible respect for human rights.

LAS Core Objectives:

This course bears Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) credit for Social Sciences. By taking this course you will complete three (3) of the required Culture, Values and Ethics credits needed to graduate from Columbia College.  In addition, the course will assist you in achieving the following LAS core objectives:

• Read for comprehension and pleasure
• Write as both a communicative and expressive practice
• Conduct research and as part of that process, learn to measure, evaluate and assess
• Reflect on and appreciate human endeavor across cultures and eras
• Consider and examine, historically and comparatively, human behavior, ethical issues and social institutions
• Utilize various tools of analysis to enable critical thinking
• Express themselves orally in a clear and effective manner

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, the student will:

• effectively evaluate ideological and economic agendas of corporate and alternative media concerning human rights and social justice.
• evaluate successful and unsuccessful uses of media to provoke and sustain tangible respect for human rights and social justice.
• better understand the complex network between governments and corporate media.
• identify the impact of the lobbying system in US domestic and foreign policies and media.
• evaluate alternative media ideological constructs for countering oppression and promoting intervention.
• Expand their critical thinking skills to analyze conventional propaganda about society and the world.
• better understand reflexive methods to reflect on individual biases, theoretical predispositions, and preferences concerning media.
• identify concepts of social justice processes that free humans from mechanisms of oppression and exploitation.

Course Texts

• The Mother of All Battles: The Endless US-Iraq War By Jeff Archer-bookstore
• Assigned weekly readings on web at: http://juneterpstra.com or Oasis

Attendance Policy:

Attendance at all classes and sections, including all films and guest lectures, is mandatory.  Students are expected to attend all classes and read the assignments so as to be prepared for class discussion.  Experience shows that there is a direct relation between attendance and performance in the course.  If you have more than three absences, excused or unexcused, your grade will be severely affected. An excused absence means you contact the instructor, me, prior to your absence (barring an emergency and then you contact me as soon as possible) and I confirm your absence. You can reach me via email or phone. You are responsible for any class work or homework we go over/is due during your absence. 

Conaway Center Statement

Students with disabilities are requested to present their Columbia accommodation letters to their instructor at the beginning of the semester so that accommodations can

be arranged in a timely manner by the College, the department or the faculty member, as appropriate. Students with disabilities who do not have accommodation letters should visit the office of Services for Students with Disabilities in room 520 of the Congress building (312.344.8134/V or 312.360.0767/TTY). It is incumbent upon the student to know their responsibilities in this regard.

Academic Integrity:

Columbia College Chicago prohibits the following conduct: all forms of academic dishonesty including cheating, plagiarism, knowingly furnishing false information to the college, forgery, alteration, or fraudulent use of college documents, instruments, or identification. 

Participation:

Active involvement in this course is imperative.  We will be discussing many volatile issues, and it is vital that students do the assigned readings before the class, as well as be prepared to talk intelligently about it with others.  

Course Requirements and Grading

 Grades are based upon a combination of course projects, completion of the required reading, and participation in class discussion, projects, and lectures as follows:

1. Class Participation-- Active involvement in this course is imperative.  We will be discussing many volatile issues, and it is vital that students do the assigned readings before the class, as well as be prepared to talk intelligently about it with others.  

25% OF GRADE= 250 pts

2. A mid-term research media analysis comparing claims made in the book, The Mother of All Battles: The Endless Iraq War by Jeff Archer, with corporate and alternative media.   25% OF GRADE= 250 pts

3. A final in-class research presentation will demonstrate your study of a problem or social issue as it is presented in corporate and alternative/independent media. Your analysis must include an informed critique of who benefits from various media representations.   You also may choose, after researching multiple alternative points of view, how you would tell the story.   25% of Grade =250 pts. 

4. Weekly reaction papers reflexively analyzing the assigned class readings.--25% of Grade= 250 pts

Total points =1000

Grading Scale

1000-900 =A

900-800= B

800-700 = C

700-600= D

600-0 =F

Late Work

Students will be expected to complete assignments on time! Late weekly reading responses are not accepted.  Midterm and Final projects are expected to be in on time except in instructor approved cases of illness, death, and crisis. 

Syllabus is subject to change on based on the needs of the class and the assessment of the instructor.  

Tentative Syllabus/Course Overview

 WEEK 1 THE POWER OF MEDIA

Read and respond:

1.  America's Soul Sickness & Permanent War: Obama's Rude Awakening By Roberto Rodriguez at
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21688.htm

2. The Difficulty of Being an Informed American by Paul Craig Roberts http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21690.htm

3. Propaganda by Edward Bernays

 http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/bernprop.html

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Propaganda/Propaganda_Bernays.html

4.  Fairy tales from an Evil Empire http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/686.html

WEEK 2 MEDIA, PROPGANDA AND PALESTINE

Read, watch and respond: 

1. Managing Consent --The Art of War, Democracy and Public Relations

by Ramzy Baroud

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18221.htm

2. We Stand with Palestine http://juneterpstra.com/whats_new_6.html

WEEK 3 MEDIA AND IMPERIALISM

Read, watch and respond:

1.  Waging the Media Battle by Robert W. McChesney

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/McChesney/Waging_Media_Battle.html

2.  The Unseen Lies: Journalism as Propaganda

by John Pilger

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Pilger_John/Journalism_As_Propaganda.html

3. Fighting Capitalism One Essay at a Time By Angie Tibbs

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15000.htm

4. Censored 2007

The Top 25 Censored Stories

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Project%20Censored/CensoredNews_2007.html

WEEK 4 MEDIA: RACE AND GENDER

Read and respond:

1. Racism, Lynching, Slavery - Pillars of the American Dream By Yamin Zakaria

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9184.htm

2. A ‘Ho' By Any Other Color: The History and Economics of Black Female Sexual Exploitation

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=195&Itemid=33

3.  Roots of Oppression by Jacob Holdt at http://www.american-pictures.com/roots/index.htm

WEEK 5 Media and Globalization

Read and respond:

1.  The Corporate Control Of Society and Human Life By Stephen Lendman http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12842.htm

2.  "Rebuilding America's Defenses" - A Summary
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3249.htm

3.  Venezuela's Alternative to Neo-Liberalism By  Gregory Wilpert    http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1230121233034&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs/MAELayout

4. US-Latin American Relations: Measuring The Rise or Fall of US Power By James Petras http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15464.htm

Weeks 6 Media and the War on Islam

Read and Respond

1.      Making Islam Synonomous with Terrorism at http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m61671&hd=&size=1&l=e

2.      Islam and the Western Media http://www.islamfortoday.com/media.htm

3.      Western hostility to Islam is stoked by double standards and distortion http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/20/islam-west-muslims-media-prejudice

4.      US Mass Media and Muslim World: Portrayal of Muslimby “News Week” and “Time” (1991-2001 http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_21_4_01Shahzad.pdf

WEEK 7 Mid-term

The Mother of All Battles: The Endless US-Iraq War

By Jeff Archer

The ISBN number is 978-0-9763366-1-7
 Alternative Publishing
8130 La Mesa Blvd., PMB 436
La Mesa, CA 91941

Week 8 Media and Violence Against Women

Read and Respond

 Read and Respond

1.  Violence Against Women in the USA http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html

2.  Facts & Figures on Violence Against Women

http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/vaw/facts_figures.php

3.  Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in War

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:Y0WBRPUadHsJ:www.unfpa.org/emergencies/symposium06/docs/finalbrusselsbriefingpaper.pdf+Crimes+against+women&hl=en&gl=us

WEEK 9 Vampires and Serial Killers

READ AND RESPOND:

1.  http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is1/picart.html

2.  http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is1/picart.html

Week 10 Socialism and Communism

1.      World Can't Be Changed Without Fighting Western Propaganda By Andre Vltchek  http://uruknet.info/?p=m57097&hd=&size=1&l=e

2.      Reform, resistance and revolution http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2023.shtml

3.      Media and The CIA Predict The Next American Revolution, Rebellion and Resistance by 2014  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF9PvRY1vZk

4.      HUGO CHAVEZ by Greg Palast. Part 1 of 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhs0u1IIc3o&feature=related

Week 11 Resistance and Revolution

WEEKS 12-14 FINAL PRESENTATIONS

__________________________________________________________________________________

RESEARCH OUTLINE FORM

Title: Be specific. Tell what, when, where, etc. In one main title and a subtitle, give a clear idea of what theory and group the you will research.

Abstract: A paragraph summarizing your topic of research and why it is of interest to you and your audience.

Introduction: Explain the topic, thesis and aims of the research. 

1. Analysis of coverage of your topic by 3 corporate and alternatice media venues.  
2.  Identifies the ideological foundations of views presented.  
   
3. Analysis of who benefits and who sponsors from the spin, view and interpretations of the subject. 

Summary and Conclusions: This section condenses the previous sections, succinctly presents the results concerning the group implementing the theory; who benefits from the theory and groups work and who has funded and sponsored the group.