Communication Studies The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Search

36:085 Media Industries and Organizations

Prerequisite is any one of the following:
36:023 American Broadcasting
36:024 Media Industry Practices
36:048 Rise of Electronic Media
36:066 Media Audiences
36:074 Media & Society

Curriculum Fit:

This is a Communication Studies context course, which aims to foreground the situatedness of communication practices. In particular, this course focuses on the institutional context, and examines the processes of media production and their roles in contemporary culture/society. As an advanced level course, students have already had intermediate course experiences in Comm Studies, and with the prerequisite, have had some background in media institutional history and development.

Course objectives:

This course focuses primarily on media industries and organizations, though the roles of media texts and audiences are also considered in their role of the production processes. Typically, the first half of the semester is devoted to a theoretical and conceptual overview, then the latter half of the term typically is spent looking at a couple of specific media industries, such as music, television, film, and perhaps advertising. The goal of the course is to provide a historical and cultural understanding of the processes of media production, as well as some critical tools to use in the analysis of media and popular culture.

Course texts:

The most commonly used texts in our department have been:

Croteau, David and Hoynes, William (2000). Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences. 2nd Edition. Pine Forge Press.

DuGray, Paul (ed). (1997). Production of Culture/Cultures of Production: Sage.

Here are some texts that are listed as recommended that may be worth a look:

Alexander, Allison et.al. (eds). (1998). Media Economics: Theory and Practice. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Turow, Joseph. (1997). Media Systems in Society: Understanding Industries, Strategies, and Power. 2nd edition. Longman.

Curran, James (ed). (2000). Media Organisations in Society. London and New York, Oxford University Press.

Assignments:

Various assignments can be woven into this course. Typically, assignments have involved an individual presentation on an aspect of some media industry using some outside research in trade publications, and/or an individual presentation that involves leading class discussion. A few short reading responses (2-3 pages) or a weekly journal of media industry news/events have also been incorporated.

Workload:

In addition to the assignments above, the course has a mid-term and final exam. Reading level is relatively high, typically hovering around 75 pages per week.