Welcome to our class journal! Please read the following information and instructions carefully to get started.
Objectives of this journal:
1. To develop your skills at identifying and analyzing news and information about the workings of the media industries when you come across it.
2. To develop your base of knowledge about where to actively seek and find a diversity of views expressed about the workings of the media industries.
3. To further develop your understanding of the four areas of media industry structure on which this course focuses (as described on the syllabus): ownership, revenue, management, and employment.
4. To develop your critical writing skills. This journal serves to fulfill this course's designation as a writing intensive course. As such, please be reminded that journal entries will be gradedfor form as much as content.
What do you do and when do you do it?:
As you know, we have a discussion board assignment twice a month. Discussion boards are posted every second and last Thursday of February, March, and April. In the intervening weeks, you are required to make a journal entry of no fewer than 300 words.
Instructions on composing your journal entries:
- During the course of your daily intake of media content, pay close attention to any items that relate to the workings of the media industries in those aforementioned areas of greatest concern to us in this course: ownership, revenue, management, and employment. What do I mean by, “daily intake of media content”? I mean while you are visiting the news and information sites you regularly visit, while you are accessing and/or updating your various social media, while you are simply surfing the Net, or while you are also consuming media offline (reading magazines, watching movies, etc.). Also, keep in mind that your daily intake of media is also environmental, such as seeing advertisements on the street or on the train during your commute, etc., so attune yourself to that level of media intake and exposure as well. If something peaks your interest, take a picture of it for your journal.
The items you select could be in any form. It could be a conventional journalism article or report (in text, video, or audio). It could be a photograph. It could be an advertisement. It could be a listicle. It could be a meme. It could be in any genre (type): it could be structured as a conventional business news story, or as an entertainment item such as the kind of reports you see on E! It could come from any source: an established news organization such as the New York Times, a newer platform such as VICE, a blog, a viral video, a tweet that has drawn considerable attention and been heavily retweeted. In fact, as we progress through the semester, I expect to see each of you discussing a diversity of forms, sources, and genres in your journal entries. Do not restrict yourself; broaden your playing field.
- Twice a month, ideally on the first and third weeks of the month when we do not have discussion board forums due, write an entry in the journal that comments on the piece of information you found, explaining why it is significant to this course. You will need to provide a link to the source(s), or insert the text/images, so that I can access them.
- Write about how the item illuminates a concept or process described in the readings. Draw on the theoretical material found in Havens & Lotz, and other assigned readings, to analyze the item you have chosen, such as, for example, the term oligopoly, as described by Bagdikian.
How many journal entries do you have to make for the entire semester?:
SIX. You must make two entries in February, two entries in March, one entry in April, and one entry in May. You cannot wait until the end of the semester to post all your journal entries. If you do, this will result in an automatic failure.
Journal entries must be:
- A minimum of 300 words each.
- Formally written. This means NO slang, and NO texting lingo or abbreviations (for example, “ATM” for “at the moment”).
- Multimedia and engagingly presented. Blackboard is a highly competent platform for uploading and displaying content, embedding images or links, etc. Maximize the use of Blackboard’s functionality when you are composing your journal entries. Make your journal entries as vivid as an old media scrapbook journal would be – with images, links, whatever features best serve your purpose from entry to entry.
- Journaling is a highly personal pursuit, in any context and on any platform. The purpose of a journal is for the keeper to establish an ongoing dialogue in writing with him or herself about his or her impressions. People commit their deepest thoughts to journals, and establish routines and rhythms with their journals, such as, for example, maintaining a habit of writing in the journal at the end of the day as a means of processing what has taken place over the preceding 24 hours. While this journal that you will be keeping is not a personal journal to which you are expected to commit your innermost thoughts and feelings, it is a log of your ideas about the world of media you inhabit. That said, make your journal entries as reflective as possible. Each student’s journal entries are visible only to him/herself and me. Journaling is a different exercise from contributing to a discussion board. Discussion boards are visible and open to all members of the class. With the journal, your entries are private, and any discussion takes place between the student and the instructor.