JOUR 6301
Communication, Media and Concepts of the Public
Spring 2007
M 9:00 – 11:30
Armory 1B01
Andrew Calabrese
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Office: Armory 102D
Campus
Tel: 492-5374
Office Hours: T, Th 2:30 – 3:30, or by appointment
E-mail: andrew.calabrese@colorado.edu
Web: http://spot.colorado.edu/~calabres
This course focuses on concepts that are central to the theory and
practice of media politics, most prominent among them being the idea of the
public. This concept figures prominently in discussions of how the media
constitute “public spaces” in which social and political discourse takes place,
and in attempts to understand the institutional and technological bases upon which “public opinion” is formed and “the
public interest” is articulated. There has for many years been an ongoing
discourse based on the argument that the media are either the cause or a key
symptom in what is thought to be the decline of “the public sphere.”
The idea of the public sphere has been widely contested, but even some
of the harshest critics of the concept are drawn to it as a starting point for
attempting to understand and explain the bases of political communication and
collective action. For many writers, the idea of a public sphere rests on the
foundation of a civil society in which the means of communication are put to
the service of free public expression. Traditionally, such freedom was thought
to be most directly threatened by the overweening power of the state, but in
recent history the greater or equal menace has come to be seen as the result of
corporate control of the media, increasingly on a global scale. Needless to say, the same idealism used to
historicize and define the contested idea of the public sphere must also be
used to study the contested idea of civil society, as this course will
emphasize.
In addition to providing a historical perspective on key concepts
related to the idea of the public and of civil society, this course will
examine how the means of communication have come to represent a source of
optimism in the discourse on global
civil society. It will do so by focusing on what this discourse tends to
identify as the key constitutive elements of civil society, namely,
contemporary social movements and their institutional bases in nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs).
Beginning with a survey of historical and contemporary uses of these
concepts of the public, the course will then move on to examine how they are
now being employed in discussions of globalization. Although the
discourse of globalization is not an entirely recent one, it came into great
prominence with the accelerated efforts in the early 1990s, due in large part
to efforts spearheaded by the world’s wealthiest countries to revise and
“harmonize” the terms of global trade and investment, leading to debates about
the rise of new forms of imperialism. In opposition to the terms of global
corporate and policy harmonization, new networks of transnational – even global
– social and political activism have emerged to prominence and influence.
Sometimes, this new phenomenon of global activism is described as the basis of
an emerging global civil society. This course will examine the role of
the means of communication in the midst of these new developments.
Disability: If you qualify for accommodations because of
a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in a timely
manner so that your needs may be addressed.
Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented
disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671,
Willard 322, and www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices
Religious observance:
If you have a religious obligation that conflicts with a particular date of
classroom attendance, or with meeting an assignment deadline, please notify me
two weeks prior to the date so that we may consider possible solutions to the conflict.
Classroom behavior:
As a result of extensive discussions with and recommendations from faculty and students, the University
has a new classroom behavior policy.
Please consult the policy at: (http://www.colorado.edu/policies/index.html).
Honor code:
According to the university’s honor
code, students must neither give nor receive unauthorized assistance on the
work they do. You are responsible for knowing and adhering to this code. The
honor code is available at: (http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/).
Please pay particular attention to the definitions of various forms of academic
dishonesty so that you may be
certain that you are not in violation of the code.
Sexual harassment: The university’s policy on sexual harassment
applies to all students, staff and faculty.
Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention. It can involve intimidation, threats,
coercion, or promises or create an environment that is hostile or offensive.
Harassment may occur between members of the same or opposite gender and between
any combination of members in the campus community: students, faculty, staff,
and administrators. Harassment can occur anywhere on campus, including the
classroom, the workplace, or a residence hall.
Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been sexually
harassed should contact the Office of Sexual Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127
or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the
Jan 19 Introduction
Jan 26 Basic readings on the public sphere
The empty square
Salons
Whatever became of the public square?
Public space (Dissent)
Putnam, Bowling alone.
Lippmann
Dewey
Habermas [encyclopedia article]
Splichal, Calabrese, Sparks
Feb 2 Readings on the public sphere, cont’d. (interpretations & critiques)
Arendt (to p.78)
Habermas (to p.140)
Marx
Calhoun
Benhabib
Feb 9
Calabrese, “Creative destruction?”
Calabrese & Burke, “American identities.”
Fraser, “From redistribution to recognition?”
*Fraser, “Rethinking the public sphere.”
*Keane, “Structural transformations of the public sphere.”
Landes, “The public and the private.”
Thompson, “The theory of the public sphere.”
Paper #1 due: Paper #1 due: “Recognition and
redistribution” (communication as need; justifications for communication
rights)
Consider the implications of contemporary polarities over “need” versus “identity,” or “redistribution” versus “recognition,” in how we might conceptualize rights intended to enhance our ability to participate effectively in the public sphere. In doing so, reflect on the implications of the “great dichotomy” of public/private in choosing to side with one position or the other (need/identity, redistribution/recognition).
Feb 16 Media as subject and object of civic education – Holly
Please read the following short pieces from
the
Bill Walsh, A
brief history of media education.
Robert Kubey, The
case for media education.
Renee Hobbs, Literacy
for the information age.
Renee Hobbs, The
seven great debates in the media literacy movement.
Chris Worsnop, Twenty
important reasons to study the media.
Len Masterman, Visions
of media education: The road from dystopia. Media Development.
Len Masterman, Media
education: Eighteen basic principles. Media Awareness Network.
Steven Manning, Students for sale. The
Nation.
Alex Molnar, The
Ninth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends: 2005-2006
The following items are available on
e-reserve:
Calabrese, A. (2001). Why localism?
Communication technology and the shifting scale of political community. In G.
Shepherd & E. Rothenbuhler (Eds.), Communication
and community (251-270).
Calabrese, A. (2001). The political
significance of media literacy. In O. Luthar, K. McLeod & M. Zagar (Eds.). Liberal democracy, citizenship and education (68-88).
Karol Edward
Soltan, Introduction: Civic competence, democracy, and the good society. In
Stephen L. Elkin and Karol Edward Soltan (Eds.). Citizen competence and
democratic institutions (1-13).
Please spend an
hour or two browsing the following broad sample of websites from organizations
that contribute to the public discourse on media literacy:
Fairness
and Accuracy in Reporting.
Feb 23 Communication and the discourse on civility – Claudia
Mark Kingwell, Justice as civility, in A Civil Tongue. ON E-RESERVE.
Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron, “Foundations of a
Theory of Symbolic Violence,” in Reproduction in Education, Society and
Culture, 2nd ed., trans Richard Nice (London: Sage, 1990). ON E-RESERVE.
Herbert
Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance,” in Robert Paull Wolff,
Claus Offe, Modern ‘Barbarity’: A micro-state
of nature? Constellations, 2(3), 1996. AVAILABLE THROUGH CHINOOK.
Etienne Balibar, Outlines of a topography of
cruelty: Citizenship and civility in the era of global violence. Constellations, 8(1), 2001. AVAILABLE
THROUGH CHINOOK.
Zizi Papacharissi, Democracy online: Civility, politeness, and the democratic potential of
online political discussion groups. New
Media and Society, 6(2), April 2004. AVAILABLE THROUGH CHINOOK.
Introduction to Aggravating
circumstances: A status report on rudeness in America. Public Agenda
Online.
Randall Kennedy, The state of the
debate: The case against ‘civility’. The American Prospect.
J.L. Lemke, Violence and
language: The signs that hurt.
Thomas J. Osborne, Civility
on trial: Welfare in the Western world. The Humanist.
Civility in the House of
Representatives, transcript from the Subcommittee on Rules &
Organization of the House, April 17, May 1, 1997.
G.P. “Bud” Peterson, Balancing
free speech and civility.
Mar 2 Communication, civil disobedience and political violence – Colleen
“Symbolic conduct,” (1968, June).
Calabrese, A. (2004). Virtual
nonviolence? Civil disobedience and political violence in the information age.
Info: The Journal of Policy, Regulation, and Strategy for
Telecommunications, Information, and Media, 6(5), 326-338.
Cortright, D. (2002, February 18). The power of nonviolence.
The Nation.
Habermas, J. (1985). Civil disobedience:
Litmus test for the democratic constitutional state.
Katz, B. J. (1985, April). Civil disobedience
and the First Amendment. UCLA Law Review, vol. 32, pp. 904-919. AVAILABLE ON LEXIS-NEXIS (via Chinook,
under “Find Articles”). SEARCH UNDER “LAW REVIEWS” (let me know if you need
further instruction)
Sartre, J.-P. (1963). Preface to F. Fanon, The
Wretched of the Earth.
Sunstein, C. (1995, June 22). Is violent speech a
right? The American Prospect.
Wolff, R.P.
(1969, October). On violence. The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 66, no.
19, pp. 601-616. AVAILABLE ON JSTOR (via
Chinook)
Mar 16 Media, justice, and the global moral economy – Sophia
Paper
#2 due: Reflections on Hayek, communication and global justice
Friedrich A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom [in
cartoons]. Based on the book by the same title, published in 1944.
Friedrich A. Hayek, “Equality, value, and
merit,” in Michael J. Sandel (ed.), Liberalism
and Its Critics (NY: NYU Press, 1984).
E-RESERVE
Steven Lukes, Social justice: The Hayekian
challenge. Critical Review, 11(1),
Winter 1997. E-RESERVE
Donatella
della Porta, The
global justice movement: An introduction. In Donatella della Porta, ed. The
Global Justice Movement: Cross-national and Transnational Perspectives (
Amartya
Sen, Justice across borders, in Pablo De Grieff and Ciaran Cronin (eds.), Global Justice and Transnational Politics:
Essays on the Moral and Political Challenges of Globalization (MIT Press,
2002). E-RESERVE
Andrew Calabrese (1999). Communication and the end of sovereignty? Info, 1(4), 313-326.
Andrew Calabrese (2004). The
promise of civil society: A global movement for communication rights. Continuum:
Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 18(3), 317-329.
Andrew
Calabrese (2005). Communication,
global justice and the moral economy. Global
Media and Communication, 1(3), 301-315.
Mar 23 Imperialism – Alex
Harold A. Innis, Empire and Communication [ALL
ON E-RESERVE]:
David Harvey, The New Imperialism:
Afterword to book
Mar 30 SPRING BREAK (no class)
Apr 6 Imperialism – Doug
Excerpts from Hardt & Negri, Empire:
Preface
Constitution of Empire
Alternatives Within Empire
Intermezzo
Slavoj Žižek, Ideology of Empire, in Empire’s New Clothes.
John Tomlinson, The Discourse of Cultural Imperialism,
in his Cultural Imperialism.
Herbert Schiller, Communication Theorists of
Empire, in his Living in the Number One
Country.
Andrew Calabrese (2005). Casus belli: U.S. media
and the justification of the Iraq war. Television and New Media, 6(2), 153-175.
Apr 13 Critiques of the idea of global civil society – Elena
John Keane, Global Civil Society?
Unfamiliar Words
Cosmocracy
Ethics Beyond Borders
Andrew Calabrese (2005). [Review
of Global Activism, Global Media].
European Journal of Communication,
20(4), 555-559.
The following are on e-reserve:
Iris
Marion Young, “Civil Society and Its Limits,” in Inclusion and Democracy
(
Anne
Phillips, “Who Needs Civil Society?” Dissent (Winter 1999), 56-61.
Krishnan Kumar, “Civil Society: An Inquiry Into the
Usefulness of an Historical Term,” British Journal of Sociology 44
(September 1993), 375-395.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Questioned on Translation:
Adrift,” Public Culture 13 (2001).
Ellen Meiksins Wood, “The uses and abuses of civil society,” in R.
Miliband and L. Panitch (eds.), Socialist
Register, 1990: The Retreat of the Intellectuals (London: Merlin Press,
1990).
Apr 20 Individual consultations
Apr 27 Paper presentations & discussions
May 4 Paper presentations & discussions
May 9 Final papers due (no class meeting)
Design for a study (lit review, RQ/argument, method)