spcom530f96

Speech Communication 530

Fall 1996

113 Thomas classroom building

Wednesday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

Tom Benson

227 Sparks Building

Office Hours: Tuesday 2-5 and by appt.

email: t3b@psu.edu

phone: 865-4201

Seminar in Political Communication and the Media

This seminar is designed to explore the rhetoric of electronically mediated political discourse, with special attention to news coverage of politics, televised political debates, televised political advertising, and political uses of the Internet--with some glances at talk radio, motion pictures, and other media. The central focus of our study will be to explore the potential of rhetorical criticism of media messages as a contribution to a larger scholarly conversation on the relations of media and politics in a democratic society.

(1) 21 August:

Introduction.

(2) 28 August:

The macro view: Are the media part of a crisis in American politics? Read: W. Lance Bennett, The Governing Crisis: Media, Money, and Marketing in American Elections.

(3) 4 September:

Do the news media serve the needs of a democratic society? Read Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order.

(4) 11 September:

Do the news media serve the needs of a democratic society? Read W. Lance Bennett, News: The Politics of Illusion; Benson, "Implicit Communication Theory in Campaign Coverage" (in reading packet).

(5) 18 September:

Depicting the political. What does it take? Read Richard Ben Cramer What It Takes. Read the first 500 pages and be prepared to conduct the class through a close reading of a selected chapter that you think is significant. View Primary in Learning Laboratory, basement of Sparks Building.

(6) 25 September:

Debunking the political. View The War Room, in Learning Laboratory, basement of Sparks Building. Conclude reading of Cramer, What It Takes.

(7) 2 October:

De-politicizing the political. Read Benson, "Thinking through Film: Hollywood Remembers the Blacklist" (in course reading packet). View Guilty By Suspicion in Learning Laboratory, basement of Sparks Building.

(8) 9 October:

Presidential Debates. Read Kathleen Hall Jamieson and David S. Birdsell, Presidential Debates. View video of presidential debates on reserve in Learning Laboratory.

(9) 16 October:

Political Advertising. Read Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Packaging the Presidency.

(10) 23 October:

Political Advertising. Conclude discussion of Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Packaging the Presidency; read Benson, "Another Shooting in Cowtown" (in reading packet).

(11) 30 October:

Political Advertising. Read Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dirty Politics.

(12) 6 November:

Discussion of the 1996 election campaign -- news coverage, ads, debates. Videotape will be placed on reserve in the Learning Center in Sparks Building.

(13) 13 November:

Does the Internet provide an alternative? Read Benson, "The First E-Mail Election"; Benson, "Desktop Demos"; and Benson, "Rhetoric, Civility, Community" (in reading packet) Surfing the political web: discussion of your week's exploration of politics on the World Wide Web.

(14) 20 November:

Presentation of reports on seminar papers. Each student will present a brief (10-12 minute) version of the paper, followed by classroom discussion.

(15) 27 November:

Presentation of reports on seminar papers. [this will be our last class meeting, as December 4 is scheduled as a make-up day for the Labor Day holiday.

Required readings:

Bennett, W. Lance. The Governing Crisis: Media, Money, and Marketing in American Elections. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Bennett, W. Lance. News: The Politics of Illusion. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1996.

Cramer, Richard Ben. What It Takes. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction, and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. Packaging the Presidency. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, and David S. Birdsell. Presidential Debates. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Patterson, Thomas E. Out of Order. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.

Reading Packet for Speech Communication 530, Fall 1996, available in the Penn State Bookstore on campus. Contains photocopies of several chapters and articles. The packet contains reprints of the following materials:

Benson, Thomas W. "Another Shooting in Cowtown." The Quarterly Journal of Speech 67 (1981): 347-406.

---. "Desktop Demos: New Communication Technologies and the Future of the Rhetorical Presidency." Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency. Ed. Martin J. Medhurst. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1996. 50-74.

---. "The First E-Mail Election." Bill Clinton on Stump, State, and Stage. Ed. Stephen A. Smith. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994. 315-340.

---. "Implicit Communication Theory in Campaign Coverage." Television Coverage of the 1980 Presidential Campaign. Ed. William C. Adams. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1983. 103-116.

---. "Rhetoric, Civility, and Community: Political Debate on Computer Bulletin Boards." Communication Quarterly forthcoming (1996).

---. "Thinking through Film: Hollywood Remembers the Blacklist." Bloomington, IN: Conference on Public Address, 1994. Forthcoming as a chapter in a book edited by Michael Hogan, University of South Carolina Press, 1996.

Supplementary Texts:

Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. 3rd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1995. [A widely used reference for various grammatical and mechanical matters, deserves a place next to your dictionary and style manuals].

Seminar Papers: You are asked to prepare a major, article-length seminar paper--a close reading, from a rhetorical perspective, of an electronic political text or message (or it could be a group or series of messages). Subject the message(s) to a close textual analysis, situated in whatever contexts (theoretical, situational, historical), if any, seem appropriate to support your interpretation. A central feature of the seminar will be the sequential preparation of the paper, followed by shared editorial consultation and thorough rewriting.

Major dates for paper development (all these assignments are due, typed, with a title page and a cumulative list of references, on the dates indicated):

September 4: Topic choice due, in writing. Briefly identify the message(s) you wish to analyze and the central critical problems or questions you wish to investigate. What is the message? Where is it available? What, at this point, strike you as issues, questions, or problems worth investigating? In what ways do the message and your approach seem to justify detailed study that might lead to publication? Identify the producer, country of origin, and date of the message. Indicate that you have, in fact, acquired a copy of the text you would like to study. (1-2 pages) It is suggested that you talk with me before choosing a message for analysis.

September 11: Credits and production history. A summary of the message's production history based on a library search or other research sources.

September 25: Outline of the structural units of the message. In the case of a presidential debate, for example, you might list the sequence of questions or turns with a very brief summary of each; in the case of a 30-second TV spot, you might create a list of shots in one column and a transcript in a parallel column. In any case, the point is to produce a fairly detailed outline that will permit you to conduct a systematic consideration of the message. Append a paragraph or so to this report commenting on message features evident from this stage of the analysis that seem promising for further attention in your project.

October 9: Review of the journalistic commentary and criticism and of the scholarly literature of your chosen message and message type, from journalistic and scholarly sources. Be sure to search for newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, critical books, and dissertations. Consult with a reference librarian to be sure you are making use of all available reference resources in the library. This assignment should produce a part of your bibliography. Parts of the report may be used as part of the final seminar paper.

October 16: Brief research proposal. Prepare a short proposal, as if for foundation funding or a thesis proposal, of 4-6 pages, in which you identify clearly the message you are analyzing, the critical problem you are investigating, the current state of the literature both on your message and on the general question you are addressing. Include a brief bibliography within the page limit.

October 30: Seminar paper due. Please prepare 5 copies; one for instructor, three for peer review, and one for your file. We will engage in a round of detailed peer review of the drafts at this stage. Your paper will be read by the instructor and by three class members, each of whom will provide a detailed response and suggestions for revision. You will revise the paper for final submission after this point, but the paper due on this date should be complete and ready for detailed review. It should contain title page, abstract, body of paper, endnotes if any, and list of references or works cited.

December 6: Final version of seminar paper due.

Paper Style. In preparing your papers, follow the style guidelines presented in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 4th edition, using the parenthetical citation system, or the Style Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th ed. If you use commentative notes, use endnotes rather than footnotes. The paper should contain a title page, abstract, text of the paper, endnotes (if any), and list of works cited. Please type all assignments and include a cover/title page that includes the title, your name, an indication of the course and instructor, contact information for you (preferred address for return of the paper, phone, e-mail address), and the date of this draft.

Class Bulletin Board: The primary discussions in this seminar will be conducted face-to-face, on Wednesday afternoons, and throughout the rest of the week on the computer. A special newsgroup has been established on the Penn State computer system that will allow us to post messages to each other. Although it is hoped that participation will be intense and ongoing, at least the following deadlines must be met: (1) A contribution to discussion each Monday afternoon by 5 p.m. responding to the reading that is assigned for the following Wednesday. (2) A followup contribution by Friday at 5 p.m. commenting in detail on the video clip on reserve in the Sparks media lab or on the previous Wednesday's class readings (this will be announced in class each week). These Friday reports are intended to allow us to explore, collaboratively and informally, the prospects of "close reading" of mediated political messages, and to extend class discussion of the readings. For the Monday report, when there is no assigned topic, please try to frame a proposition or question for discussion, relate it to some part of the readings, quote or paraphrase the relevant passage in the reading (including a page reference), and sketch a reasoned discussion-opener. In these conversations, your opinions are important, but we should also work beyond mere clash (or coincidence) of opinion to mutual enlightenment and a shared willingness to learn new ways of thinking. You will in some cases be asked to view a video assigned for the week's discussion before class--videotapes will be placed on reserve in the Sparks Lab. Your Monday report on the readings may, of course, also include a commentary on the video and its relation to the week's readings. To gain access to the class computer bulletin board, use the newsreader client that comes with the applications for your computer access account (for Macintosh computers, this will probably be Internews or Netscape; for IBM PC and compatible computers, it will probably be Trumpet Newsreader, Netscape, or another news reader). Point your newsreader to the newsgroup psu.class.fall96.spcom530.1. Please note that this is a public newsgroup; although I doubt that anyone but a class member will read it or post to it, it is accessible from anywhere on the Internet. If this becomes a problem, we can move our discussion to a private computer mailing list or to a private newsgroup (both of which have various advantages and disadvantages). For additional instructions on electronic mail and Netnews, pick up written handouts on these subjects at the computer or consult the HelpDesk in 12 Willard Building (863-1035). If you have problems posting to the newsgroup, you may post your assignment to the class Listserv group as e-mail; send it to SPCOM530@PSUVM.PSU.EDU.

Exploring politics on the Internet: There are many ways to follow politics and political discourse on the Internet and the World Wide Web. I will list a few in this syllabus, and you will may wish to explore on your own beyond that.

Netnews: Among the bulletin board groups available at the Penn State news server are the following (just a sample):

alt.politics.bush

alt.politics.clinton

alt.politics.correct

alt.politics.democrats.clinton

alt.politics.democrats.governors

alt.politics.democrats.house

alt.politics.democrats.senate

alt.politics.economics

alt.politics.elections

alt.politics.libertarian

alt.politics.media

alt.politics.perot

alt.politics.reform

alt.politics.usa.newt-gingrich

alt.politics.usa.republican

alt.president.clinton

Listserv Groups: A number of electronic mailing lists are devoted to politics. You may subscribe by sending a note to the Listserv at the address following the "@" sign in the following addresses (warning--you may get lots of mail from such a request):

DEMO96@VM.MARIST.EDU

CLINTON@VM.MARIST.EDU

POLCOMM@VM.ITS.RPI.EDU

REPUB-L@VM.MARIST.EDU

REPUB96@VM.MARIST.EDU

The World Wide Web: Information about politics and government is increasingly available on the World Wide Web. If you are looking at this syllabus with a web browser, you can click on the following links, many of which will lead you to other online resources:

Vanderbilt Television News Archive http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu

The White House http://www.whitehouse.gov

Thomas (the U.S. Congress, at Library of Congress) http://thomas.loc.gov

AllPolitics (CNN and Time) http://www.allpolitics.com

Public Broadcasting Service http://www.pbs.org

American Civil Liberties Union http://www.aclu.org

The Race for the Presidency (TCI) http://www.tcinc.com/presidency/

C-SPAN http://www.c-span.org

Republican National Committee http://www.gop.org

Democratic National Committee http://www.democrats.org

Reform Party http://www.reformparty.org

Harry Browne (Libertarian) http://www.harrybrowne96.org

Pat Buchanan http://iquest.com/~buchanan/index.shtml

Bill Clinton http://www.whitehouse.gov

Bob Dole http://www.dole96.com

Alan Keyes http://www.clark.net/pub/jeffd/keyes_96.html

Library Searches: You can search the online catalog of the Penn State University Library by clicking on LIAS at the following Web site:

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/

Once in LIAS, you might want to search some specialized indexes, as well as the main catalog. For example, the Mass Media Article Index lists some 17,500 articles going back to 1984.

Many other libraries are also accessible for on-line searches.

Grades: All elements of your work in the seminar will be considered in formulating a final grade for the course--participation (in class and on-line) 20%; written work (including first and final drafts of the seminar paper, progressive development of various stages of the paper, and editorial comments on peer reviewed papers) 80%.

Academic Integrity: Submission of all written work in this course is taken to imply that the work is your own unless otherwise indicated. Please be careful to document the work of others where appropriate. Under no circumstances submit for credit in this course any work that has been submitted in other courses. In selecting a message for critical analysis for your seminar paper, do not write about a message that is part of the syllabus of other courses you have taken without special permission.

back to Tom Benson home page

(1) 21 August:	Introduction.
(2) 28 August:	The macro view: Are the media part of a crisis in American politics? Read: W. Lance Bennett, The Governing Crisis: Media, Money, and Marketing in American Elections.
(3) 4 September:	Do the news media serve the needs of a democratic society? Read Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order.
(4) 11 September:	Do the news media serve the needs of a democratic society? Read W. Lance Bennett, News: The Politics of Illusion; Benson, "Implicit Communication Theory in Campaign Coverage" (in reading packet).
(5) 18 September:	Depicting the political. What does it take? Read Richard Ben Cramer What It Takes. Read the first 500 pages and be prepared to conduct the class through a close reading of a selected chapter that you think is significant. View Primary in Learning Laboratory, basement of Sparks Building.
(6) 25 September:	Debunking the political. View The War Room, in Learning Laboratory, basement of Sparks Building. Conclude reading of Cramer, What It Takes.
(7) 2 October:	De-politicizing the political. Read Benson, "Thinking through Film: Hollywood Remembers the Blacklist" (in course reading packet). View Guilty By Suspicion in Learning Laboratory, basement of Sparks Building.
(8) 9 October:	Presidential Debates. Read Kathleen Hall Jamieson and David S. Birdsell, Presidential Debates. View video of presidential debates on reserve in Learning Laboratory.
(9) 16 October:	Political Advertising. Read Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Packaging the Presidency.
(10) 23 October:	Political Advertising. Conclude discussion of Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Packaging the Presidency; read Benson, "Another Shooting in Cowtown" (in reading packet).
(11) 30 October:	Political Advertising. Read Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dirty Politics.
(12) 6 November:	Discussion of the 1996 election campaign -- news coverage, ads, debates. Videotape will be placed on reserve in the Learning Center in Sparks Building.
(13) 13 November:	Does the Internet provide an alternative? Read Benson, "The First E-Mail Election"; Benson, "Desktop Demos"; and Benson, "Rhetoric, Civility, Community" (in reading packet) Surfing the political web: discussion of your week's exploration of politics on the World Wide Web.
(14) 20 November:	Presentation of reports on seminar papers. Each student will present a brief (10-12 minute) version of the paper, followed by classroom discussion.
(15) 27 November:	Presentation of reports on seminar papers. [this will be our last class meeting, as December 4 is scheduled as a make-up day for the Labor Day holiday.