SPRING 2018 - COMM 289 MEDIA, PUBLIC RELATIONS & PROPAGANDA Instructor: Sut Jhally E-mail: [email protected] This is a course about politics. Not electoral Politics of Democrats and Republicans, but the politics of how powerful interests can shape the world to reflect their priorities. We will be looking at how media, public relations and propaganda are used to limit the way that we are encouraged to think about the social arrangements we operate within. This is also a course about history, about how we have arrived at the present through a very particular path. Part One: ADVERTISING’S COLONIZATION OF MEDIA Part One looks at the role of commercial interests in shaping media systems. We will focus on the relationship between advertising expenditures and the structure of our present media system. We will examine why there is no such thing as a "free lunch" in terms of the media system and how advertising is coming to be the major influence upon all forms of media. Part Two: CORPORATIONS & PUBLIC RELATIONS Part Two looks at the way that corporations have used public relations to manufacture consent for their interests. If advertising is the visible voice of commercial culture, then public relations is its secretive twin. We will examine the rise of the public relations industry in the early decades of the 20th century and evaluate the role it plays in the way we think about the contemporary world. There will be a special focus on the rise of the corporation as an institution, and how corporations have used PR techniques to further their goals. We will examine the case study of how PR techniques have been used to by corporations to create doubt about the existence of fundamental societal problems (such as climate change). Part Three: WAR, MILITARISM & PROPAGANDA Part Three focuses on how both corporations and governments use propaganda to further their goals. There will be a particular focus on corporate media, the rise of the “military-industrial complex” and the way in which government propaganda techniques have been used to prepare Americans for a series of endless wars (with Iraq and Afghanistan being the latest examples). There will a specific focus on how the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is represented to the American public.2 FORMAT: • Forty 50 minute lectures • There will also be at least 12 required films available through MOODLE • All readings for the course are on e-reserves. There is a link in MOODLE to take you to the page. • All students must also regularly check their UMASS email for important information. GRADING & ASSIGNMENTS: Your final grade will be based on three in-class multiple-choice exams and a number of online quizzes on the readings and the film. • Exam 1: A multiple-choice exam on Part One lectures (25% of course grade) • Exam 2: A multiple-choice exam on Part Two lectures (25% of course grade) • Exam 3: A multiple-choice exam on Part Three lectures (25% of course grade) In addition, there will be a number of online quizzes on MOODLE that will examine the readings and the required movies. (25% of grade)3 LECTURES: Part One: Advertising’s Colonization of Media 1. Media and Money 2. History of Radio 3. Television 1 4. Television 2 5. The Factory in the Living Room 1 6. The Factory in the Living Room 2 7. The Factory in the Living Room 3 8. The Factory in the Living Room 4 9. The Factory in the Living Room 5 10. The Factory in the Living Room 6 11. The Factory in the Living Room 7 12. The Factory in the Living Room 8 Part Two: The Creation & Growth of the Public Relations Industry 13. Intellectual & Historical Roots of PR 1 14. Intellectual & Historical Roots of PR 2 15. World War 1 and the Birth of PR 16. Edward Bernays and the Manufacturing of Consent 17. The New Deal & the Struggle for Democracy 18. Business Responds to the New Deal 19. The Corporation 1 20. The Corporation 2 21. The Corporate Backlash to the 60s 1 22. The Corporate Backlash to the 60s 2 23. The Corporate Backlash to the 60s 3 24. The Corporate Backlash to the 60s 4 25. The Rise of Neoliberalism 26. Neoliberalism & Its Discontents Part Three: Journalism, War & Propaganda 27. Donald Trump & the 2016 Election 1 28. Donald Trump & the 2016 Election 2 29. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 1 30. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 2 31. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 3 32. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 4 33. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 5 34. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 6 35. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 7 36. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 8 37. The Selling of the Military/Industrial Complex 9 38. The Occupation of the American Mind 1 39. The Occupation of the American Mind 2 40. The Occupation of the American Mind