INSTRUCTOR: Jack Lule PH: (610)758-4177 EMAIL: JL0D@lehigh.edu (where 0 is zero)

On this page are the assignments for Monday and Thursday of Week Five.

DEADLINES: A reminder -- each week I will post reading and writing assignments by Monday, 7 p.m. and Thursday, 7 p.m.

You should have the Monday assignments completed by Thursday, 7 p.m. You should have the Thursday assignments completed by Monday, 7 p.m.

WEEK FIVE, MONDAY:

Censorship and oppression were the first contexts in which we considered international communication.

We now look at international communication from another perspective: conglomerations and mergers.

If you're like me, global economics is not the most . . . exciting topic. But global communications can actually be very intriguing.

A handful of media moguls -- "Lords of the Global Village" -- own and control a huge percentage of the world's media. The percentage rises regularly.

We are heading toward a future where a dozen people will own the media of the world.

It's one of the most important and disturbing aspects of international communication. Yet very people know much about it. Where would they get the information? From the media owned and controlled by these very moguls? Not likely.

This week we'll think about the implications of the growing global media monopoly.

ASSIGNMENT

1) Our first reading is a classic. You'll remember Ben Bagdikian as the Washington Post reporter who worked with the Pentagon Papers. Bagdikian eventually left journalism for the university life. He has done important research in media economics. His book, Media Monopoly, is regularly revised and reprinted.

In June 1989, Bagdikian published a long cover story for the progressive weekly The Nation. The story, "The Lords of the Global Village," was a detailed report of media conglomeration on a global scale. Though its details are dated, the article will give us a great introduction to the issues.

[A note: Though The Nation has an interesting Web site, its archives do not go back to 1989. You may want to visit The Nation site but the article link is to my files.]

As I noted, the Bagdikian article was written in 1989. It predicts the trends well but we will need to update the information.

An interesting organization called the Center for Educational Priorities keeps a simple chronological list of media mergers. [In case the link does not work, you can find the list at my site.]

The list is deceptive. Many of its lines contain explosive news from the past of international communication.

• General Electric, the huge defense contractor, buys NBC;
• Westinghouse, another defense contractor, buys CBS;
• Disney, the huge entertainment compnay, buys ABC;
• Time-Warner merges with Turner Broadcasting to become the largest media corporation in the world.

Look over the list carefully so you can be up-to-date on the major mergers that will be affecting our world.

Thus, for the first part of your assignment, I would like you to read the Bagdikian piece and the media merger list. Then send me a brief email message, JL0D@lehigh.edu, summarizing what you've learned.

A caution: The Bagdikian piece is long -- more than 10,000 words -- and is followed by his profiles of four media moguls. Give yourself enough time to read and think about his work.

2) For our conference, however, I want to take a step back. Not everyone thinks the trend in mergers and monopolies is a bad thing.

I would also like you to read a short Point/Counterpoint discussion on media mergers, taken from the Media Studies Journal, published by the Freedom Forum.

The first reading,"Not So Fast," by Todd Gitlin sees great harm from the media mergers.

The Counterpoint, "A Golden Age of Competition," by Steven Rattner, offers a more rosy capitalist view of the trends.

A procedural note: The links above will bring you to the entire issue the Media Studies Journal. You should use them, in case you want to read further in the site. In the event those links do not work, you can also find copies of the Gitlin and Rattner readings at my site.

After you finish the readings, think about what you have read and then let's talk about it: What do you think of Gitlin's and Rattner's argument? Who makes sense?

How do you feel about global media conglomeration? Is it good? Bad? Inevitable?

Remember, to attain the best grade for conference discussions: You should post once early, before midnight Wednesday, responding to the assignment and perhaps making reference to the readings. Then before Thursday, 7 p.m. you should post again, to the same conference, commenting on one or more of your classmates' postings.

WEEK FIVE, THURSDAY: To complete our section on global conglomeration, it's time for us to become more acquainted with some of "The Lords of the Global Village."

Some of the names, such as Rupert Murdoch of Fox and Michael Eisner of Disney, might be quite familiar to you. Others, such as Reinhard Mohn of Bertelsmann and Gerald Levin of Time-Warner, might not be as familiar.

Known or unknown, the names on the following list share one thing: They own a large and ever-growing percentage of the world's media. We are rapidly seeing Bagdikian's forecast come true. A handful of men -- and they all are men -- are in control of much of the world's media.

We don't have the time, energy or resources for each of you to study all of the world's media moguls. But we can do it as a group.

ASSIGNMENT

For your third research essay, I would like each of you to do a profile of a media mogul -- one of the lords of the global village -- whom I will assign to you below.

These essays are somewhat different from our previous assignments.

You should try to give a bit of personal biography of your subject or perhaps some company history. You should provide a fairly comprehensive rundown (it can be a list) of media and non-media holdings of the company. You should quote criticism or praise of your subject. You should give a sense of future plans.

The length should be about 1,000 words. You should include a bibliography and cite your references.

You should find plenty of information. Nexis and the old reliable Reader's Guide to Periodicals should be useful. The Web will have much to offer.

When searching the Web, select the "options" alternative (sometimes you have to scroll down) on whatever search engine you are using. Choose "exact phrase" or "the person" to help narrow your search. Learning how to do good, focused searches is a valuable skill you can take from the course.

You may also try to find and search the archives of various publications such as Mother Jones, BusinessWeek, The Nation, Forbes and others.

There are nine moguls on the list. By the way, if you're wondering why Robert Maxwell, whom Bagdikian profiled, is not on the list: Maxwell died in a somewhat mysterious yachting accident a few years ago.

Two students are assigned to each name. Each student should send in his or her own research essay. But you are free to share resources and Web sites with the person who also has your subject. For your convenience, I'll provide email numbers.

As usual the essays will be due by 7 p.m. Monday. We won't have any email or conference assignments for this class. So you can devote all your energies to your media mogul. Let me know if you have questions. I think you'll have an interesting time learning about these "lords of the global village."