Davis A. Foulger, Ph. D. Adjunct Associate Professor Office:  Whitehead 404s

Class Schedule and Assignments / Lecture Notes

Course Description

The broadcast media are a powerful force in society and our daily lives. This course is intended to introduce you to the business and social structures associated with radio, television, and streaming media. What we hope you will take from the course is a general knowledge of where broadcast technologies and institutions have evolved from and are evolving towards. This knowledge should be important to you as you move towards making a career for yourself in Broadcasting. We can't tell you everything you might need to know about the broadcast industries in a single course, but we can introduce you to the institutions that audiences that shape television and radio content, both in the United States and around the world.

This is not a "how" course, as many of your other courses in Television and Radio production will be. It is very much a who, what, and where course. We will explore the structure of power in broadcast industries and, in particular, the very different kinds of power associated with media institutions and audiences. We will explore the structures of the broadcast industry, including broadcast roles, institutions, and processes. We will explore the relationship of audiences and institutions on the kinds of content that are produced and broadcast for mass audiences. We will explore the effects of these structures on societies and the different ways in which different societies engage the possibilities of broadcast media. Finally, we will explore the ways in which you can engage and participate in the structures of modern mass media.

Texts

Mogel, L. 2004. This Business of Broadcasting. Watson-Guptill.

Smith, A (ed). 1995. Television: An International History. Oxford University Press.

Discussion Notes

My usual practice is to make my class discussion notes directly available to the class via the Internet. I will usually display those notes during class. You can print them out later if you desire. You may be able to print them out before class, but I don't guarantee that you will. I often change my discussion notes right up to the beginning of class (and sometimes during class. The version posted at the end of class can generally be considered to be reliable, but I will sometimes make changes a day or two after a class has been completed.

Grading:

	Weight	Description
Mid-Term Exam	15%	Classic Question and Answer testing, conducted in the middle of the semester. Covers all of the material covered in the first half of the course, including classroom discussions and readings.
Final Exam	25%	Classic Question and Answer testing, at the end of the semester. Covers all of the material covered in the course, including classroom discussions and readings. A cumulative exam, but with somewhat greater emphasis on the second half of the course
Short Paper 1	8%	A 400 Word Essay.
Short Paper 2	12%	A 600 Word Essay.
Short Paper 3	20%	A 1000 Word Essay.
Index Card Assignmetns	10%	Index card assignments entail doing a small assignment involving thought or observation, but usually with the restriction that the output of the assignment (your answer or observation) must fit on one side of a 3x5 card. I don't grade these assignments. Simply turning them in on time nets the points so long as you appear to have taken the assignment seriously. Index Card Assignments will frequently be used in the course of class discussions.
Participation	10%	You should bring two questions to class each day based on the readings. Write them on one side of an index card. Lectures will often take the form of a conversation in which you ask questions and we discuss the answers to those questions. This portion of the grade will be based on your preparation and ability to both ask good questions and participate in answering them. If I feel strongly that the class is not prepared, I may give a quiz that will count as a part of this portion of the grade.
	100%
Attendence Subtraction	open	Attendance is mandatory. The Brooklyn College Bulletin states that "Students are expected to attend all scheduled sessions of every class for which they register. Students late for class may be excluded from the room. An instructor may consider attendance and class participation in determining course grade." While I am unlikely to lock the door, I will take account of missed class time in computing grades.
Effort Bonus	Up to 10%	An optional addition, based on good and enthusiastic participation, interest in subject matter, etc. There is no guarantee I will give any of these points to anyone.

Plagiarism and Cheating:

I have caught a number of students attempting to pass off other people's work as their own. Such behavior is unacceptable in any classroom, and I won't accept it in mine. My usual practice will be to zero any assignment on which a student has been found to be cheating and consult with the department chair on what other actions may be appropriate

Examples of cheating include:

• Duplicate test answers. I cannot prevent students from studying together or comparing notes on a take home exam (should I give any). Test answers should always be in your own words (e.g. not copied out of a book or off of someone else's test paper).
• Plagiarized term paper content. I encourage you to look at content from a wide variety of sources, but the content of your term paper should be in your own words.
• Unreferenced term paper content. Where, in the course of writing a term paper, you present the ideas of others, you must indicate where they came from with a reference. This is true even when you have stated the ideas in your own words or if the ideas or their sources seem obvious.

Bottom line: Write in your own words and reference the ideas you use to the sources you read them in.

Disabling Conditions

Students who have a disabling condition which might interfere with their ability to successfully complete this course are encouraged to speak to me confidentially. I will be happy to cooperate in identifying alternate means of demonstrating such mastery where there is a demonstrable need.

Bottom line: I'm here to help.

Late Assignments:

It is your responsibility to ensure that all assignments are submitted by the due date. I will reduce the grade on an assignment by one half letter grade for every class period by which it is late.

Questions, Problems and Incompletes:

If you have a question I encourage you to ask it in class. There are no stupid questions; only answers that didn't need to be. If you don't know the answer to a question it is likely someone else is curious as well. Please ask. The worst that can happen is that I defer my answer to a meeting after class or during office hours.

If you have a problem in the class I encourage you to contact me as quickly as possible. Several means of contact are listed at the top of my Brooklyn College home page, including telephone, e-mail, and instant messenger. I also maintain regular office hours. Note, in particular, that I will not grant an incomplete for the course unless you talk to me about it in advance or I am aware of conditions which would make it impossible for you to do so.