Catalog Course Search Details

 Department:    CMST&

 Course #:    102

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    090403

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2024

 Course Description  

A survey of the media of mass communications, including newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, motion pictures, and electronic media, with an emphasis on function, structure, content, and social and cultural effects.

 Prerequisite  

Prerequisite: ENGL 099 with a "C" or higher (or placement into ENGL& 101).

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0

Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Humanities, Elective  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

1. Understand the influence of culture on mass communication by:
   • Identifying the influence of mass communication on culture and culture on mass communication.
   • Exploring cultural stereotypes in mass communication.
2. Develop critical thinking skills in applying learning to mass media contexts, specifically:
   • Analyzing the relationship between media form and content.
   • Evaluating communication strategies and informational content of various media.
   • Developing connections between information functions of the media and current events.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of mass communications through:
   • Characterizing the process and practices of organizations that produce, store, distribute, and transform information into mass communication messages.
   • Identifying factors and forces that influence the impact and uses of the media for individuals, groups, societies, and cultures.
   • Explaining how particular technologies become a communication medium of a particular type and serve a particular function and purpose.
   • Exploring the influence of various technological imperatives on American history and the subsequent effects on culture.
   • Applying textbook and supplemental reading assignments/research to individual or group projects.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

Course Contents

1. Framework/types of mass communications
2. TV structures, functions, and programming
3. Popular culture and the media
4. First amendment and ethical issues and the media
5. Evolution of media structures
6. Media economics (advertising, PR, etc.)
7. Media and politics
8. Cultural representation/bias in the media