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CMNS 301: Communication Theory and Analysis (Rev. C7) Report a Broken Link

CMNS 301: Communication Theory and Analysis is a three-credit course that is intended to provide you with a grounding in the field of communication studies, a relatively new interdisciplinary field that draws many of its theoretical ideas about human communication from psychology, sociology, cultural studies, linguistics, philosophy, and literary studies.

Unit 2

Rapp, Christof. “Aristotle's Rhetoric." In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edn.). Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.

Unit 3

Giddens, Anthony. "Jürgen Habermas." In The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Sciences. Edited by Quentin Skinner. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Poster, Mark. "Critical Theory and TechnoCulture: Habermas and Baudrillard." In The Second Media Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
McKinney, Mitchell S. "The Rhetoric of Indoctrination: A Critical Analysis of New Employee Orientation." In Public Relations Inquiry as Rhetorical Criticism: Case Studies of Corporate Discourse and Social Influence. Edited by William N. Elwood. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1995.
Reuters. “The Hillary Factor” (YouTube video). Reuters. 3:28 min.

Unit 4

Cohen, Esther. “The Propaganda of Saints in the Middle Ages.” The Journal of Communication 31, no. 4 (1981): 16–26.
Lewis, Charles, and John Neville. “Images of Rosie: A Content Analysis of Women Workers in American Magazine Advertising, 1940–46.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 72, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 216–227.
Wander, Philip. “The Aesthetics of Fascism.” The Journal of Communication 33, no. 2 (Spring 1983): 70–78.
Jowett, Garth S., and Victoria O'Donnell. "What Is Propaganda and How Does It Differ from Persuasion?" In Propaganda and Persuasion. 2nd ed. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1992.

Unit 5

The Killing Screens: Media and the Culture of Violence, produced by George Gerbner and directed by Sut Jhally. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation, 1994.
Hall, Stuart. “Chapter 10: Encoding/Decoding.” In Culture, Media, Language. Edited by Stuart Hall et al. London: Hutchinson, 1980.

Note: You can find this chapter in Part Three.
Crisell, Andrew. “Chapter 3: Radio Signs and Codes.” In Understanding Radio. London: Routledge, 1994.

Note: You can find this chapter in Part I.
Fiske, John. “The Codes of Television” (selection from Chapter 1). In Television Culture. London: Routledge, 1987.

Note: You can find this reading in Chapter 1, on pages 2 to 4.
Miller, Daniel. “Chapter 10: The Young and the Restless in Trinidad: A Case of the Local and the Global in Mass Consumption.” In Consuming Technologies. Edited by R. Silverstone and E. Hirsch. London: Routledge, 1992.

Note: You can find this chapter in Part III.
Leiss, William, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally. "Two Approaches to the Study of Advertisements." In Social Communication in Advertising: Person, Products and Images of Well-Being. 2nd ed. Rev. Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Canada, 1990.
Williamson, Judith. "Woman Is an Island: Femininity and Colonization." In Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass Culture. Edited by Tania Modleski. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.
Sternler, Steve. “An Overview of Content Analysis.” Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation 7, no. 17 (2001).
Unit 5: Journal Assignment Reading
Dominick, J., and G. Rauch. “The Image of Women in Network TV Commercials.” Journal of Broadcasting 16 (1972): 259–265.

Unit 6

Carey, James W. "Harold Adams Innis and Marshall McLuhan." In McLuhan: Pro and Con. Edited by Raymond Rosenthal. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1969. Originally published in Antioch Review, 1968: 5-39.
Barber, Benjamin R. "Who Owns McWorld? The Media Merger Frenzy." In Jihad vs. McWorld. Toronto: Random House, 1995.
Federman, Mark. (2004, July 23). “What is the Meaning of The Medium is the Message?” (web page). Toronto: McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto.
Postman, Neil. "Chapter 1: The Medium Is the Metaphor." In Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1985.

Note: You can find this chapter in Part I.
McLuhan, Marshall. “Chapter 10: Is It Natural that One Medium Should Appropriate and Exploit Another?” In Essential McLuhan. Edited by Eric McLuhan and Frank Zingrone. Toronto: Anansi, 1995.

Note: You can find this chapter in Part II.

Unit 7

Parents Television and Media Council (website)

This group describes itself as "a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment."
Lowery, Shearon, and Melvin DeFleur. "Seduction of the Innocent: The Great Comic Book Scare." In Milestones in Mass Communication Research. New York: Longman, 1988.
Chaplin, Charlie. Modern Times. Beverly Hills: FoxVideo, Inc., 1989.

Note: You may also order this film in DVD format from Athabasca University Library.
Pooley, Jefferson. “Fifteen Pages that Shook the Field: Personal Influence, Edward Shils, and the Remembered History of Mass Communication Research.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 608, no. 130 (2006): 130–156.
Ruggiero, Thomas. “Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century.” Mass Communication & Society 3, no. 1 (2000): 3–37.

McLaughlin, Thomas. "Chapter 5: The Cunning of the Hand, the Weakness of the Heart: Theoretical Work in the Advertising Profession." In Street Smarts and Critical Theory: Listening to the Vernacular. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.
Denham, Bryan. “Toward an Explication of Media Enjoyment: The Synergy of Social Norms, Viewing Situations, and Program Content.” Communication Theory 14, no. 4 (2004): 370–387.
Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth. “The Effect of Media on Media Effects Research.” The Journal of Communication 33, no. 3 (1983): 157–165.
Steele, Jeanne R., and Jane D. Brown. “Adolescent Room Culture: Studying Media in the Context of Everyday Life.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 24, no. 5 (1995): 551–576.

Unit 8

Adorno, Theodor (with the assistance of George Simpson). “On Popular Music.” Originally published in Studies in Philosophy and Social Science 9, no. 1 (1941): 17–48.
Gendron, Bernard. "Theodor Adorno Meets the Cadillacs." In Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass Culture. Edited by Tania Modleski. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1986.
Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Translated by Harry Zohn. Los Angeles, California: UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television, 2005.
Featherstone, Mike. "Chapter 2: Theories of Consumer Culture." In Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. London: Sage, 1991.
Szuchewycz, Bohdan. “Re-Pressing Racism: The Denial of Racism in the Canadian Press.” Canadian Journal of Communication 25, no. 4 (2000): 497.

Unit 9

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, directed and produced by Peter Wintonick and Mark Achbar, a Necessary Illusions–National Film Board of Canada co-production. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1994. Parts 1 and 2.

Note: You may also order this film in DVD format (in two parts) from Athabasca University Library.
Lancaster, Kurt. “News Media Coverage of the Iraq War in Basra, Fall 2007: A Case Study in ‘Spinning’ News for the State.” International Journal of Communication 2 (2008): 976–992.
McCombs, Maxwell E., and Donald L. Shaw. “The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Research: Twenty Five Years in the Marketplace of Ideas.” Journal of Communication 43, no. 2 (1993): 58–67.
Steward, Gillian. "The Decline of the Daily Newspaper." In Seeing Ourselves: Media Power and Policy in Canada. 2nd ed. Edited by Helen Holmes and David Taras. Toronto: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996.
McGregor, Judy. “Restating News Values: Contemporary Criteria for Selecting the News.” Proceedings of the ANZCA 2002 Conference: “Communication: Reconstructed for the 21st Century,” Gold Coast, Queensland, July 10–12, 2002.
Fahmy, Shahira. “Emerging Alternatives or Traditional News Gates: Which News Sources Were Used to Picture the 9/11 Attack and the Afghan War?” Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies 67, no. 5 (2005): 381–398.
Pintak, Lawrence. “The Role of the Media as Watch-Dogs, Agenda-Setters, and Gatekeepers in Arab States.” Paper presented at the Harvard–World Bank Workshop, Cambridge, MA, May 16, 2008.
Bruns, Axel. “Gatewatching, Not Gatekeeping: Collaborative Online News.” Media International Australia 107 (May 2003).

Reading for Final Essay Question 1

Smith, Greg M., and Pamela Wilson. “Country Cookin’ and Cross-Dressin’: Television, Southern White Masculinities, and Hierarchies of Cultural Taste.” Television & New Media 5, no. 3 (2004): 175–195.