The primary theme of this course is the mass media play a critical role in the functioning of democratic political systems. Focusing on the United States, we will examine in detail the interplay between the media (particularly the news media) and the American public. Our discussions will include the history of the media in the United States, how and why it transmits the information that it does (and does not), and how the media impact what we know and how we think about the world around us. We will also discuss how government uses the media to influence the public and how the public affects the government when it responds to the media. Importantly, this is a political science class, which means that our focus is going to be on politics and explaining political behavior; this course is NOT about how to become the next White House Communications Director! 

This course is designed for advanced undergraduates and master’s students. As a result, the work load is heavy. Examine the syllabus carefully to be sure that you are prepared to meet the requirements. It is your responsibility to have your questions about the course answered early in the semester and to commit to the expectations of the course.

Required Reading

Arnold, R. Douglas. 2004. Congress, the Press, and Political Accountability. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.)

Cook, Timothy E. 2005. Governing With the News: The News Media as a Political Institution. 2nd ed. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

Just, Marion R., Ann N. Crigler, Dean E. Alger, Timothy E. Cook, Montague Kern, and Darrell M. West. 1996. Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates, and the Media in a Presidential Campaign. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

Slotnick, Elliot E. and Jennifer A. Segal. 1998. Television News and the Supreme Court: All the News That’s Fit to Hear?” (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press).

West, Darrell M. 2001. The Rise and Fall of the Media Establishment. (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s).

There are other reading assignments listed in the Course Outline below. They are marked by asterisks (*). They may be court cases, news articles, web sites, and scholarly and popular articles. You will be able to access these readings at Bender on hard copy reserve, e-reserves, by hyperlink from the syllabus, LexisNexis (LN) and JSTOR (on the Bender site), or at the FindLaw site (particularly for Supreme Court cases) (http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html). Additional on-line and reserve reading may be added at my discretion as the semester progresses.

Blackboard

All students must have access to and know how to use Blackboard. Assignments and announcements will be made on Blackboard so you should check it before each class period. If you do not know how to use Blackboard, contact AU Technology for assistance. They offer tutorials for various technology related needs. Their website is http://www.american.edu/technology/sites/helpdesk/section.dfm?ID=1. 

Course Requirements

1. Attendance. I do not take attendance, BUT I strongly encourage you to attend every class section and expect you to take personal responsibility for material covered in classes that you miss. I will not provide lecture notes nor will I give makeup lectures in office hours for missed class periods. 
   

2. Weekly Reading Assignments and Class Discussion. All the reading assigned in this syllabus is required. This means that you should read all of the material and be prepared to be examined on it EVEN IF we do not discuss it in class. You should read the appropriate material prior to the class for which it is assigned, be prepared to discuss and ask questions about it, and to be examined on it. 
   

3. Weekly Syntheses and Questions/Issues. I will divide the class into two groups of 10 students. Each student in each group will be responsible for synthesizing the week’s readings for each of several weeks during the semester (according to a schedule to be announced Week 2). For the weeks that you do not write a synthesis, you will be responsible for answering several questions or research issues to facilitate class discussion. I will provide more substantive information about the syntheses in class; structurally, the syntheses should be no more than one page, single spaced with 1” margins. I will provide questions and research issues in class or on Blackboard; you will choose a subset to answer in writing. Both assignments must be typed. Both will be graded on a 10 point scale for clarity, analysis, thoughtfulness, research skills and effort, and attention to instructions. Together, this set of assignments will be 30% of your final course grade.
   

4. Analytical Writing Assignments. There will be 2 analytical papers. One will focus on the role of the media in another country and will be worth 25% of your final course grade. The other will focus on media coverage of a policy issue and will be worth 45% of your final course grade. Details about these assignments will be forthcoming in class and on Blackboard. They will include short oral reports on each paper.

Grading Policy

According to University policy (see http://www.american.edu/american/registrar/statem.htm#grade), final course grades earned in this class will be the following: A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, C+=2.3, C=2.0, C-=1.7, D=1.0, F=0. Individual assignments in this course will be graded on a standard 100 point scale (or its equivalent) such that an A=95%, A-=92, B+=88, B=85, B-=82, etc. You should understand that only excellent work will earn an A. If the work is good, it will earn a B, and satisfactory work will earn a C. You will earn Ds and Fs if your work is less than satisfactory or of extremely poor quality. If you fail to complete the work, you will earn a 0 for the assignment. 

Grading Written Assignments

Even though this is a political science class, you are responsible for well written papers and other assignments. As a result, all of your assignments will be graded for substance as well as for English and writing skills (which includes, but is not limited to, appropriate grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence/paragraph structure), although there will be more room for error on in-class exams. [See http://www.american.edu/american/registrar/ugreg.htm for more information on the University’s emphasis on the development of writing skills.] If you need help with your writing skills, please feel free to see me during office hours and/or visit the Academic Support Center ( http://www.american.edu/ocl/asc/).

Missed Assignments

All students are expected to be in class to turn in assignments and take exams, unless otherwise indicated on the syllabus. Assignments may NOT be submitted via email or on a floppy disc or CD. Make-ups and extensions will be allowed only for excused absences. These include the death of an immediate family member (parent, sibling, or grandparent), personal illness, a scheduled University event (for athletes or those involved in clubs that take them off campus), or a major religious holiday that is not formally recognized by the University’s calendar (see http://www.american.edu/academic.depts/provost for the Provost’s announcement of these holidays). You MUST provide written documentation for these absences. Additionally, for University events and religious holidays, you must submit your excuse two weeks in advance of the absence to be excused. If you meet these conditions, you will be able to make up assignments (the makeup assignment will be different than the original assignment) or turn in a paper as close to the original due date as possible (which may be before the due date). If there is some other reason for you to miss an assignment (e.g. a previously scheduled family engagement), you must inform me within the first week of classes to be considered eligible to make up the assignment; this is not a guarantee that you will be allowed to make up the assignment. If you do not meet these conditions, you will receive a zero for the assignment. IMPORTANT: You should discuss make up assignments with me as soon as you are aware of them in office hours or by email; I will not discuss these arrangements in class. 

Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the time and date at which they are due, and that are NOT accompanied by an acceptable excuse (as described above) will be addressed as follows. For every 24 hour period after the date and time that the assignment is due, the grade received for the assignment will be decreased by two (2) parts of a grade. The 24 hour periods include weekends. For example, if you turn in an A quality assignment on Friday before 11:20a, after it was due on Wednesday at 11:20a, then the assignment will be 2 days late and you will earn a B- on that assignment. If you turn in a B quality paper at that same time, you will earn a C-. 

You may submit a late assignment in only one of two ways: (1) directly into my hands, or (2) at the Department of Government office, where it must be time and date stamped (be aware of the office’s hours). 

Cheating and Plagiarism

The University has detailed rules about cheating and plagiarism. I encourage you to read these policies in the Academic Integrity Code at http://www.american.edu/american/registrar/aic.htm. Neither cheating nor plagiarism will be tolerated in this course. The fullest penalty allowed by the University will be sought if any student is found to be in violation of these rules on assignments for this course.

Manners

In consideration of your classmates and me, you should observe the following rules: (1) DO set your cell phones and pagers to silent and answer them only in an emergency (e.g. child care or medical for you or an immediate family member). If you leave class to answer a call, you may not return to class until we break. (2) Do NOT arrive after the first 5 minutes of class unless you have advanced approval. (3) Do NOT do homework for other classes or read material not related to this class. (4) Do NOT use a laptop computer or audio taping equipment unless you have approval from me. (5) Do NOT pass notes or chat in class. For any of these infractions, you will be warned only once; after the warning, you will be excused from class and docked 2 percentage points of your total course grade for each infraction at the end of the semester.


Course Outline and Reading Assignments (dates are approximate)

Th, 9/1 Introduction to Course


M, 9/5 Labor Day


Th, 9/8 Introduction: Mass Media and American Democracy
Cook: Chapters 1, 2, 3 
West: All

Th, 9/15 Introduction: Mass Media and American Democracy (cont’d)

Opportunities and Constraints, Problems and Possibilities
Cook: Chapters 4 and 5 
*New York Times v. Sullivan 376 US 254 (1964) (majority opinion only) (on www.findlaw.com)
*New York Times Co. v. U.S. 403 US 713 (1971) (on www.findlaw.com) 


Th, 9/22 The Media and Political Attitudes and Behavior
Crosstalk: All 
*Schaffner, Brian F. and Michael W. Wagner. “Buy One, Get One Free? The Impact of Advertising on Senate Campaign Coverage.” Prepared for delivery at the Midwest Political Science Association Meetings, April 2005. (http://nw08.american.edu/%7Eschaffne/schaffner_wagner_spsa.pdf)


Th, 9/29 The Media and Political Attitudes and Behavior (cont’d)
*Iyengar, Shanto. “Framing Responsibility for Political Issues: The Case of Poverty.” Political Behavior, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990. (at JSTOR)
*Ansolabehere, Stephen, et al. “Does Attack Advertising Demobilize the Electorate?” American Political Science Review, Vol. 88, No. 4, 1994. (at JSTOR)
*Ghareeb, Edmund; Peter Jennings; Ronald Koven; James McCartney; Lee Eggerstrom; Marilyn Robinson. “The American Media and the Palestine Problem.” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1/2. (Autumn, 1975 - Winter, 1976). (at JSTOR)
*Conway, M. Margaret; Mikel L. Wyckoff; Eleanor Feldbaum; David Ahern. “The News Media in Children’s Political Socialization.” The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 2. (Summer, 1981), pp. 164-178. (at JSTOR)


Th, 10/6 The Media in Comparative Perspective
Comparative Papers and Reports Due


10/10-10/11 Fall Break 


Th, 10/13 Media Day


Th, 10/20 The Media and the Executive
Cook: Chapter 6 and 7 (pp. 141-149)
*West, Darrell M. “Telelvision and Presidential Popularity in America.” 
British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 21, No. 2. (Apr., 1991) (at JSTOR)
*Baum, Matthew A. and Samuel Kernell. “Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Presidential Television?” American Political Science Review, Vol. 93, No. 1. (Mar., 1999). (at JSTOR)
*On-line NewsHour: Covering the Candidates, February 17, 2000. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june00/coverage_2-17.html


Th, 10/27 The Media and the Executive (cont’d)

The Media and Congress
Cook: Chapter 7 (pp.149-156)
Arnold: All


Th, 11/3 The Media and Congress (cont’d)


Th, 11/10 No Class


Th, 11/17 The Media and the Judiciary
Cook: Chapter 7 (pp.156-163)
Slotnick and Segal: All
*Greenhouse, Linda. “Telling the Court's Story: Justice and Journalism at the Supreme Court.” 105 Yale L.J. 1537, April, 1996. (at LexisNexis)


W-Th 11/24 Thanksgiving – NO CLASS


Th, 12/1 The Media and the Judiciary (cont’d)
Readings to be Announced

Added 11/18: 
Please read the following for class on December 1:

1. Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333 (1966) (available on Findlaw.com)
   

2. Roberts, Julian V. and Anthony N. Dobb. "News Media Influences on Public Views of Sentencing." Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 14, No. 5 (October 1990), pp. 451-468. (at JSTOR)
   

3. Greene, Edith. "Media Effects on Jurors." Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 14, No. 5 (October 1990), pp. 439-450. (at JSTOR)
   

4. Thomas, Debra. "Media and the Law: The Judges' Perspective." 67 Texas Bar Journal 766 (October 2004).
   

5. Delmore, Bill. "Media and the Law: Cameras in the Courtroom: Limited Access Only." 67 Texas Bar Journal 782 (October 2004).
   

6. Parnham, George. "Media and the Law: Cameras in the Courtroom: Whenever Possible." 67 Texas Bar Journal 783 (October 2004)
   
   
   
   Th, 12/8 The Media and Public Policy
   Media and Policy Papers and Reports Due 
   
   Conclusions
   Cook, Chapter 8
   
   
   Th, 12/15 Final Exam Period (11:20-1:50): Class Discussion and Something Fun