Special Topics in Political Science (390-0-22)

Topic

The American Press - How Ownership Consolidation a

Instructors

Lawrence L Stuelpnagel
847/491-3468
McCormick Foundation Building/4-135
Office Hours: Gladly By Appointment

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 212: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

Bad News. That is some of what Americans have experienced as a result of the corporate media mergers that took place in the closing decades of the last century and continued into the 21st Century. Today there are six major companies that control much of what people read, hear and see. Those firms are AT&T (purchased Time-Warner), Comcast (via NBC Universal), Walt Disney-ABC, Paramount, CBS (both owned by National Amusements), and News Corporation-Fox.
As the firms passed from largely family owned to publicly traded companies, the pressure for profit from Wall Street, along with intense competition from the Internet, has led to cutbacks in the size of the firm's news divisions and a change in news story values that have "softened" the types of news that people see on television. At the same time the news business, and it is a business, has also played an important role in pointing out some of the country's largest flaws and challenges facing it.

Learning Objectives

The learning objective for this class is for students to better understand the economic, political and social pressures that affect what people read, watch and hear in mass media. At the conclusion we will discuss what the future of the news should look like to better serve the American people.

Teaching Method

Lecture/seminar.