Instructions attached
Course papers.
There are three analysis papers throughout the quarter. Each paper poses a number of specific questions, which will vary from paper to paper and reflect our current class focus. The prompts will be posted to the assignment website. The papers will vary slightly in length given that the prompts will differ. You will answer 4 questions per paper from 5 or 6 choices and each question takes about 400-500 words to answer. Each question includes a detailed rubric for scoring. Please read the rubric to know exactly what is being asked of your answer. Please note: Late penalty is 10% deduction per day up to 3 days after which a zero mark will apply. If you need an extension of the deadline for an unforeseen family emergency or a medical reason, you must place your request to your TA before the deadline.
You must follow APA guidelines for citing, referencing, and formatting your course papers.
Plagiarism policy.
Plagiarism is a significant violation of the Student Conduct CodeLinks to an external site.. This course uses the Turn-it-in/SimCheck Plagiarism Detection tool for all paper submissions. The tool is built-in into the Canvas submission system. When you upload any paper, you must check the similarity report in the “Submission Details”. If the system catches similarity with any previously submitted work or online content, it will be flagged by a percentage score. The only similarity acceptable is the question prompt and/or any references and the direct quotes within with properly citing them. To avoid any unintended plagiarism, you can rework and resubmit your paper as needed but only until the deadline. Be careful about sharing your ideas or drafts with others, as all parties involved in a plagiarism case will receive no credit. There will not be a second chance once a plagiarism is committed. Any plagiarized submission = 0 marks without warning, in addition to disciplinary measures. Any corrupt file or wrong file submission = no submission = 0 marks.
If you have taken this course already you cannot reuse the course papers. Resubmitting the same paper/answer is considered as self-plagiarism. To avoid this, your writing must be significantly changed. No sentence can match word for word.
Please note, device loss or internet malfunction is not an acceptable excuse for late submission or submission failure. Consider a cloud-based storage system for writing papers to save your work.
Late or missed assignments.
All assignment due dates and times are posted in this syllabus. Course Papers have no low score drop option—all papers are required. Late course papers will receive an automatic penalty of 10% score deduction for each day that it is late. Assignments will no longer be accepted 3 days after the deadline, including weekend and holidays.
Following APA 7th referencing style, here is how to cite class lectures:
General Format
In-Text Citation
(Author Surname, Year)
References:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Lecture title [Format, e.g., video lecture, PDF, Excel, Word document, or PowerPoint slides provided by your instructor]. URL of website.
If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.
Research by Berndt (1981a) revealed strong correlations. However, a parallel study (Berndt, 1981b) resulted in inconclusive findings.
Examples of citing lectures
In-Text Citation:
(Rahman, 2023a)
In-Text Citation:
(Rahman, 2023b)
References:
Rahman, A. (2023a). Lesson 7: Political economy of media and journalism [Video lecture]. University of Washington, Introduction to Communication Course Canvas: https://canvas.uw.edu/
Rahman, A. (2023b). Lesson 8: Media regulation [Video lecture]. University of Washington, Introduction to Communication Course Canvas: https://canvas.uw.edu/
Instructions. Paper 3: Weeks 7, 8, 9, 10
Please respond to any four options from six choices below. State the choice number in your paper. Please pay careful attention to the customized grading rubric outlined below each question. Your TA will use this rubric for grading your paper.
1. Find a public opinion poll published within the past few months. You can find these anywhere, but https://www.pewresearch.org/Links to an external site. is pretty good about letting to see the methodology. For the poll address the following issues.
Describe the poll’s questions and provide a link. (see how to cite electronic sources in APALinks to an external site.)
Describe the sample population (probability/nonprobability, sample size, etc.)
Explain what a margin of error is in general and identify the margin of error for this poll.
Explain what the confidence level is in general and identify the confidence level for this poll.
Identify who ran the poll
Render a judgment. Based on the above issues, is this a good poll?
The answer addresses all/most of the issues clearly and comprehensively. The assessment is clear and compelling.
The answer addresses many issues well, but some need more explanation. The assessment is good, needs more discussion.
The answer addresses some issues well, but many need more explanation and development. The assessment needs much more development and discussion.
The answer doesn’t address most issues clearly. The assessment needs significantly more development.
How to figure out margin of error and the confidence level for a poll?
A good poll report is usually clear about its polling method. In most cases professional polling organizations clearly states what is the margin of sampling error and what is the level or percentage of confidence. It may take a couple of clicks to figure this out. For example:
Step 1. I entered www.pewresearch.org
Step 2. Clicked on this poll that attracted me: Seven-in-Ten Americans Now See Russia as an Enemy, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/04/06/seven-in-ten-americans-now-see-russia-as-an-enemy/
Step 3. I quickly scanned the report searching for info on sampling or research method, couldn’t find it at first.
Step 4. Then found their method section, it says “How we did this” -> “methodology”: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/04/06/russia-nato-ukraine-march-2022-methodology/
It clearly states:
— “The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 3,581 respondents is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.”
— “The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.”
Not all polls may have this level of clarity, it may depend on their professional standard and presentation of the report. If you find one but not the other, you can also mention such “lack” in your findings. If you find none (neither margin of error nor the confidence level) you should search for other polls that may have it stated. We should be able to verify it by going into the poll report link provided in your paper.
2. Explain a major case of media and/or telecommunication ownership concentration in the political economy approach taking a parent company as identified in the lecture. Explain with examples how the parent company is vertically and horizontally integrated and whether it has implications for the public interest. Finally, do you think the FCC should regulate such concentration of ownership? Why or why not?
The answer begins with a clear understanding of media concentration in political economy approach. The answer explains vertical and horizontal integration and links to public interest in a clear and illuminating way. The answer makes a clear and compelling case for/against FCC regulation of the concentration.
The answer describes media concentration in the political economy approach but could explain the concepts more. The explanation of the horizontal and vertical integration is solid but needs more discussion and/or links to the public interest. The case for/against FCC regulation needs more discussion.
The answer needs to discuss the political economy approach more clearly and/or concisely. The discussion of the horizontal and vertical integration has some inaccuracies and needs much more discussion and/or links to the public interest. The case for/against FCC regulation needs much more development and discussion.
The answer discusses media concentration but doesn’t take a political economy approach. The discussion of the horizontal and vertical integration is inadequate or inaccurate, lacking a clear discussion of the public interest. The case for/against FCC regulation is unclear and needs significantly more development.
3. Explain the concept of net-neutrality in political economy approach. Explain whether repealing net neutrality affects public interest. Finally, do you think the FCC should uphold net neutrality policy? Why or why not?
The answer begins with a clear understanding of net-neutrality in the political economy approach. The answer explains how net neutrality links to public interest in a clear and illuminating way. The answer makes a clear and compelling case for/against upholding net neutrality policy.
The answer describes net neutrality in a political economy approach but could explain the concepts more. The explanation of how net neutrality affects public interest is solid but needs more discussion. The case for/against upholding net neutrality policy needs more discussion.
The answer needs to discuss net neutrality in a political economy approach more clearly and/or concisely. The issue of how net neutrality links to the public interest needs much more discussion and in a more accurate way. The case for/against upholding net neutrality needs much more development and discussion.
The answer discusses net neutrality but doesn’t take a political economy approach. The issue of how net neutrality links to the public interest needs much more discussion and in a more accurate way. The case for/against upholding net neutrality is unclear and needs significantly more development.
4. Define and explain the cultural imperialism argument as discussed in the lecture. Next summarize a recent (since 2018) example of co-produced Western cultural imperialism. Finally, point out a possible cultural implication of Western media presence.
The answer provides a clear and accurate understanding of the topic drawing from the lecture and describes it well. The answer summarizes an appropriate example and its possible implication.
provides a clear and accurate understanding of the topic drawing from the lecture. The description is generally clear, needing a bit more clarification and/or discussion. The answer summarizes an appropriate example and its implication but could explain it more.
The answer provides a questionable understanding of the topic. The example description needs more clarification and/or discussion. The answer EITHER summarizes an appropriate example, but needs to discuss its implication in more depth, OR the answer summarizes an inappropriate example (one that doesn’t really deal with the topic).
The answer provides a very questionable understanding of the topic. The example description isn’t clear. The answer insufficiently summarizes its implication (one that doesn’t really deal with the topic).
5. Define and explain the global counter flow argument as discussed in the lecture. Next summarize a recent (since 2018) example of global counter flow. Finally, point out a limitation of global counter flow argument in relation to the discussion of global media ownership.
The answer provides a clear and accurate understanding of the topic drawing from the lecture and describes it well. The answer summarizes an appropriate example and a possible limitation of this line of argument.
provides a clear and accurate understanding of the topic drawing from the lecture. The description is generally clear, needing a bit more clarification and/or discussion. The answer summarizes an appropriate example and a possible limitation of this line of argument but could explain it more.
The answer provides a questionable understanding of the topic. The example description needs more clarification and/or discussion. The answer EITHER summarizes an appropriate example but needs to discuss possible limitation of this line of argument in more depth, OR the answer summarizes an inappropriate example (one that doesn’t really deal with the topic).
The answer provides a very questionable understanding of the topic. The example description isn’t clear. The answer insufficiently summarizes its implication (one that doesn’t really deal with the topic).
6. From the range of lecture topics discussed in this course between Weeks 1-10, pick any one specific lecture topic and elaborate in detail what makes this topic as one of the most significant ones for your interest in Communication studies. Then explain how this topic may have changed or challenged your previous view about communication and why so. In order to avoid any risk of self-plagiarism, if you have already written about this topic in this paper or in any previous paper, please try to answer this question without repeating line by line from your previous work.
The answer discusses the chosen topic accurately and summarizes it well. The justification of the topics is clear, compelling, and provides sufficient explanation of how the view has changed. Very little or no repetition from previous answers.
The answer provides a good and accurate discussion of the chosen topic. The justification of the topic is clear, compelling, but the explanation of how the view has changed needs more support and/or clarification. Very little repetition from previous answers.
The answer provides a questionable understanding of the topic. The justification of choice and explanation of how the view has changed both points need more support and/or clarification. Some repetition from previous answers.
The answer EITHER provides a very questionable understanding of the topic, OR the answer does not appear to stem from the course lectures. The justification of choice and explanation of how the view has changed both points are inadequate, lacking almost any support and/or clarification. Most texts are repeated from previous answers.
https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=f2161c40-0518-4f87-99be-af7e014e58bc
https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=96302e77-6890-4c81-9d8d-af7e014e5aa3
https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6321f8ba-03ba-4a9d-93ba-af7e014e5e79
https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=d8f21d1f-703b-4ee1-86be-af7e014e5c6c
It must be related to the class, and then the class is cited.
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What is the role of communication in the political economy approach? Give an example of how media ownership concentration may affect the public interest.
The political economy approach sees communication as an integral part of the economic and political system, where the ownership and control of communication industries can have significant implications for society. It assumes that media is not neutral but is shaped by the political and economic power relationships. Communication is seen as a form of power, and the media are seen as instruments of the dominant class, often promoting their interests.
An example of how media ownership concentration can affect the public interest is the case of Comcast, one of the largest media and telecommunications companies in the world. Comcast is vertically integrated as it owns not only its own cable network but also the content that is distributed through its cable network, including NBCUniversal. Comcast is also horizontally integrated as it owns a range of other media and telecommunications companies, such as Sky, Xfinity, and DreamWorks Animation.
This concentration of ownership has implications for the public interest as it could result in reduced competition, limited diversity of viewpoints, and increased control over the media by the dominant class. For example, Comcast could use its control over the content it distributes to favor its own content over that of its competitors, or it could use its control over the distribution network to limit access to other content providers. This could limit the diversity of voices and information available to the public, potentially harming the democratic process.
Therefore, it is essential that the FCC regulates such concentration of ownership to ensure that the public interest is protected. The FCC should monitor such mergers and acquisitions, review the impact on the diversity of media ownership, and ensure that the public interest is being served. The FCC should also establish rules to prevent the abuse of market power by large media corporations, such as by requiring them to provide fair and non-discriminatory access to their networks.
Examples don’t need much, but be specific
