COMM 150: Study questions for Monday's midterm

COMM 150: Introduction to Mass Communications
Benedictine University Springfield

[Television] is not a tool by which the networks conspire to dumb us down. TV is a tool by which the networks give us exactly what we want. That's a far more depressing thought. -- "The Vent," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 19, 1999.

Midterm · Spring Semester 2010

Below are three essay questions – one worth fifty (50) points out of a hundred, and two shorter essays worth 25 points each. Please write at least two pages double-spaced (500 words) on the 50-point essay and at least one page (250 words) on each of the 25-point short essays. Use plenty of detail from your reading in the textbook, the internet and handouts I have given you, as well as class discussion, to back up the points you make. Your grade will depend both on your analysis of the broad trends I ask about, and on the specific detail you cite in support of the points you make. I am primarily interested in the specific factual arguments you make to support your points. So be specific. Remember: An unsupported generalization is sudden death in college-level writing.

1. Main essay (50 points). One of the trends mentioned by John Vivian, author of our textbook “Media of Mass Communication,” is what he calls the “demassification” of media. How, specifically, does Vivian define demassification? How is the internet contributing to the demassification of books, newspapers and magazines, sound recordings, film, radio and television? Do these trends help us or hurt us as consumers, creators of content and/or people who hope for careers in the communications media?

2A. Short essay (25 points). Which of the mass media we have studied (i.e. books, newspapers, magazines, records, film, radio, television and the internet) pay their expenses and make their profits primarily by selling advertising? How, specifically, does the need to sell ads influence content in radio and the magazine industry?

2B. Self-reflective essay (25 points). What have you learned about mass communications in this class so far that you didn’t know before? Consider what you knew at the beginning of the course and what you know now. What point or points stand out most clearly to you? What points are still confusing? In answering this question, please feel free to look at the “Tip Sheet on Writing a Reflective Essay” linked to my faculty webpage. In grading the essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course; the detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the connections you make.