Media Criticism

Second Paper Assignment on Media and Culture Industries

For this second essay, you will compare the one of the essay we covered in the “second third” of the class with the political-economy argument posed by Herbert Schiller.

Assignment

Writing in the 1980s, Herbert Schiller observes the increasing control of culture by a decreasing number of corporations that prioritize profit over the artistic or cultural value of a work. Does this argument update and reinforce the “mass culture” argument made by Adorno and Horkheimer nearly fifty years earlier?

Discuss how the author of the one of the following essays extends Schiller’s argument about media and culture industries at the turn of the twenty-first century?

  1. Michael Curtin, “On Edge: Culture Industries in the Neo-Network Era.”
  2. Tom McCourt and Patrick Burkart, “When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of Online Music Distribution.”
  3. Tizania Terranova, “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy.”
  4. Mark Andrejevic, “The Work of Being Watched: Interactive Media and the Exploitation of Self-Disclosure.”
  5. Lawrence Grossberg, “The Affective Sensibility of Fandom.”

Sample Outline

  1. Introduction, based on your own ideas. Write this last.
  2. Summarize Schiller’s argument, including relevant quotes.
  3. Answer the question: *Does this reinforce, update, and extend the “culture industry” argument”?
  4. Analyze one of the other authors listed above: The work of _____________________________ extends this argument by…
    1. _____________________________
    2. _____________________________
    3. _____________________________
  5. Conclusion, not a summary.

Digital Job Search — The Center for Communication

The Center for Communication, a New York–based organization dedicated to connecting today’s media industry professionals with the leaders of tomorrow, is hosting a workshop on jobs in the technology sector.

DIGITAL JOB SEARCH 101

Wednesday, March 11, 6:30 to 8:00 pm
The New School
Theresa Lang Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor

The technology sector is booming! Exciting opportunities (with incredible perks) exist in this highly competitive field. Silicon Alley recruiters share insights on the various openings and the skills you need to land a job.

RSVP

Trying to Enroll in MEDST201W Media Criticism?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve received several emails about enrolling students in MEDST 201W Media Criticism for Spring 2015 at CUNY Queens College.

The class has an enrollment limit of twenty-two (22), which is significantly higher than in previous years when the limit was at 18. Due to the higher-than-usual enrollment for this course, I will not “over tally” this course. Enrollment will remain capped at twenty-two students.

If you need this course to graduate, please come to the first class session on Wednesday, January 28, at 1:40 PM. In almost every course, students drop and add in the days and weeks leading up to this semester, and there are a fair number of no-show students as well that I could drop from the course. With twenty-two spots in the course, I don’t see why this would be any different.

In the meantime, keep checking to see if anyone has dropped the course and left an open spot. If you really need this course, your persistence will be key to securing a spot for this course.

If you have any questions, please email me at juan.monroy@qc.cuny.edu.

Thank you and good luck.