By the end of the quarter, you should have acquired a critical awareness of how the U.S. mass media operate and a critical awareness of media content. You should be able to see how this broader environment shapes media content. Media content is shaped in part by external societal forces.
Media content is shaped in part by the media's own production processes.
Key issues, problems and challenges in contemporary U.S. mass media. Media as businesses, the nature of inter-media competition. Entertainment and news. Required Texts W. Lance Bennett. The Politics of Illusion .