Topic: Global Communication Systems Instructor: Jack
Lule On this page are the assignments for Monday, June 21. DEADLINES: You should have Monday's assignments completed by Thursday, June 24 at 7 p.m., the final day of Lehigh first summer sessions.
As I wrote earlier, it doesn't seem that long ago that we were beginning Week One and introducing ourselves online. It's hard to believe that we have reached our final week of classes. Our final project takes us around the world one more time: Your assignment is an examination of one nation's media system. Most of us are familiar with the media system of our home country. We know a little history of the media. We know the relationship between the media and the government. We know the role of advertising. We have some idea of literacy and the availability of broadcast media. We know some of the important media. A wonderful way to learn, however, is to step outside our own familiar territory. Unfortunately, there is no good way to survey how the media operate "around the world." The task is too daunting. But being exposed to one other nation is a wonderful learning experience. People who have lived in other countries soon realize that the media are different from place to place. Governments might be much more restrictive. Advertising might be tightly controlled. Religion may play a large role. Literacy rates might be very low so that newspapers are scarce. People might be too poor to afford televisions. Radio might be the dominant medium. An examination of one nation's media system will thus broaden immeasurably our knowledge of international communication. ASSIGNMENT Your assignment thus is to research and write a final project on the media system of another nation. The minimum word-length for a passing grade is 1,000 words. Let your writing and research guide you. In an email message, I'll assign the countries to help you get started — many students get overwhelmed and stuck when faced with the prospect of choosing any one nation from around the world. Also, from experience, I know that some nations' media systems have more information available about them. The essays can be organized and presented in many different ways. Each essay, however, should cover first some basic introductory material about the country, such as:
This preliminary part can be brief. For example, an essay about U.S. media might introduce the country with one paragraph that states:
The larger part of the paper should present basic information about the media system. You can organize it in many ways. But you should cover:
You should find numerous sources of information online and in libraries. Encyclopedias, World Almanacs, national web sites, national news media — all will have helpful information. Much of your grade will derive from the extensiveness of your research. Don't just find a list of bibliographic sources, however. Use them in your paper. The CIA, of all places, has an excellent World FactBook online. At the FactBook, click on the "Country Listing." For your assigned country, you will find information on the people, government, economy, communication system and many other topics. Lehigh's Information Resources has an excellent reference page, with encyclopedias and country information. The Index on Censorship has good information on international media and links to other sites. Under the interesting title "Index Index" you will find a country-by-country listing of media abuses. The Committee to Protect Journalists also has good information. Nation by nation searches on the various search engines will yield interesting results. For example, a search turned up www.about-australia.com. You could also do a search on "Australia" AND "press freedom." As you may recall, you will find comprehensive listings of international newspapers at the Crayon page and American Journalism Review's NewsLink. You may want to explore these sites. A reminder: Lehigh summer session classes end Thursday. That conforms nicely to our comfortable, steady online schedule. You can send in your essay anytime before Thursday, 7 p.m. — and your online summer session will be complete. For some of you, this will be your last Lehigh class. Congratulations! And thanks for sharing it with us. We won't have any email or conference assignments for this week so you can devote all your energies to your research. I'm sure I'll send you an email message soon but let me say now what a pleasure our class has been for me. Thanks for all your enthusiasm, work and kind words. Your spirit helped this class succeed so well. If you have questions: jack.lule@lehigh.edu.
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