JAMS 360 Syllabus
Online
Prof. Jeff Smith
Spring 2016
HISTORY OF MASS MEDIA
Introductions to the history of mass media in the United States traditionally have
focused on prominent mainstream professionals, assumed that the media have powerful
effects, and placed developments in distinct time periods. In many cases, however, the
lionized individuals are not the most innovative, the mainstream media reflect rather than
shape public opinion, and change cannot be confined to specific dates. Historians now
are more concerned with dissidents, the meaning-making process, and long-term trends.
The objectives of JAMS 360 are to study American media history in order to a)
acquire basic knowledge of some of the trends, concepts, issues, events, and people, b)
understand how the past has shaped present realities, and c) complete assignments in
locating and interpreting communication content, documents, and other historical
materials found online. The assignments are the kinds of investigations, analyses, and
writing tasks that are performed in a knowledge-based world. Assignments are short
essays that rely on course and library database material. No exams are given.
The course will consider connections between media content and the forces at
work in society. Part I, “The Ideal and the Real in the Media Industry,” uses selected
media studies concepts to analyze developments in the theory and practice of media
communication. Often today’s professional controversies are nothing new and sometimes
media perspectives and actions that are taken for granted now were not the norm in the
past. Part II, “Mass Communication and Change,” examines the attempts of activist
communicators to change the status quo. Their experiences show how ideas can be
rejected or can be fiercely resisted before being more or less accepted.
Readings: No textbook is required. The required readings are in the UWM
Library’s A-Z databases and can be found and read by clicking on the hyperlinked
bibliographic listings below. (Enter your UWM ePantherID and password and then click
on the .pdf or html icon that will appear on the left of the screen. You may also need to
click on “download .pdf” at the top left.) Recommended readings listed below are on
D2L except for the recommended textbook (available at the UWM bookstore):
Streitmatter, Rodger. Voices of Revolution: The Dissident Press in America. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2001. One copy of the Voices book is on library reserve.
The class D2L site has lectures, video clips, assignments, and assignment
dropbox. D2L sites can be found at http://d2l.uwm.edu/ Downloaded course lectures
have hyperlinks that can be clicked for additional information on the topics being
discussed.
Grading: The top ten scores taken from up to twelve of the fourteen 500- to 700word assignments will each be 10% of the course grade. In other words, students can turn
in 10, 11, or 12 assignments. Up to four assignments can be skipped. The main grading
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criteria are accuracy, adequacy of research, the soundness and sophistication of
understanding and analysis, and the organization, clarity, and correctness of the writing.
The grading scale for assignments and the course will be: 94-100 A, 91-93 A-,
88-90 B+, 85-87 B, 82-84 B-, 79-81 C+, 76-78 C, 73-75 C-, 70-72 D+, 67-69 D, 64-66
D-, 63 or below F. Semester grades are not rounded. Teaching assistants will do most of
the grading.
My office hours are by Skype or other electronic means. Contact me for details.
My e-mail is jsmith@uwm.edu. Consider me readily available for any questions or
comments you have.
SCHEDULE
Week of January 25: Introduction and Objectives. Doing Assignments.
Week of February 1: The Master Narratives of Media History.
Assignment 1: Digital Native due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
February 6. Summary: Describe and interpret the history of your media use.
Part I: The Ideal and the Real in the Media Industry
Week of February 8: Media Philosophies and Narratives.
Assignment 2: Memorial Maker due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
February 13. Summary: Write the words that would appear on a media history memorial
or monument of your choice.
Lule, Jack. “Myth and Terror on the Editorial Page: The New York Times Responds to
September 11, 2001.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 79
(Summer 2002): 275-93. Also on D2L.
Recommended: Smith, Jeffery A. “The Enticements of Change and America’s
Enlightenment Journalism.” In Media and Revolution: Comparative Perspectives,
edited by Jeremy D. Popkin. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1995.
Pages 74-89.
Week of February 15: Professionalism and Practices.
Assignment 3: Database Ace due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
February 20. Summary: Find and evaluate historical information in news story databases
that would be useful for a fictional, historical television program you propose.
Smith, Jeffery A. "Moral Guardians and the Origins of the Right to Privacy." Journalism
& Communication Monographs 10, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 64-110. Also on D2L.
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Recommended: Wells, Robert W. The Milwaukee Journal: An Informal Chronicle of Its
First 100 Years. Milwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee Journal, 1981. Pages 1-11.
Week of February 22: Public Opinion and Stereotypes.
Assignment 4: Virtual Museum Curator due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday, February 27. Summary: Specify and justify what media content you would
include in a virtual museum Web site you would design to accompany a History Channel
program on a particular stereotype.
Sobieraj, Sarah, and Jeffrey M. Berry. "From Incivility to Outrage: Political Discourse in
Blogs, Talk Radio, and Cable News." Political Communication 28, no. 1 (January
2011): 19-41.
Recommended: Coward, John M. “The Making of an Indian Villain: Sitting Bull in War
and Peace.” Chap. 6 in The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity in the
Press, 1820-90. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Pages
159-95.
Week of February 29: Public Relations and Propaganda.
Assignment 5: Crisis Communicator due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday, March 5. Summary: Travel back in American history to a crisis that a person or
organization experienced in order to give advice on how to communicate through the
media about the problem.
Hallahan, Kirk. "Ivy Lee and the Rockefellers' Response to the 1913-1914 Colorado Coal
Strike." Journal Of Public Relations Research 14, no. 4 (October 2002): 265-315.
Recommended: Bayley, Edwin R. Joe McCarthy and the Press. Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1981; New York: Pantheon, 1982. Pages 125-39.
Recommended: Jackall, Robert J. and Janice Hirota. “Advertising the Great War.”
Chap. 1 in Image Makers: Advertising, Public Relations, and the Ethos of
Advocacy. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Pages 1135.
Week of March 7: The Marketplace of Ideas and Self-Censorship.
Assignment 6: Standard Setter due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
March 12. Summary: Using historical information, discuss what appears to be faulty in a
media organization’s current stated policy (e.g., ethics code or user rights) created in the
past. What needs to be eliminated, revised, or added? Make and justify a specific
proposal for change with some references to developments over time.
Prigge, Matthew J. "Dangers in the Dark: Motion Picture Reform in Progressive-Era
Milwaukee." Film History 24, no. 1 (March 2012): 74-81.
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Smith, Jeffery A. "Hollywood Theology: The Commodification of Religion in TwentiethCentury Films." Religion & American Culture 11, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 191-231.
Also on D2L.
Recommended: Murray, Matthew. “‘The Tendency to Deprave and Corrupt Morals’:
Regulation and Irregular Sexuality in Golden Age Radio Comedy.” In Radio
Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio, edited by Michele Hilmes and
Jason Loviglio. New York: Routledge, 2002. Pages 135-56.
Recommended: Sova, Dawn B. Forbidden Films: Censorship Histories of 125 Motion
Pictures. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. Pages x-xiii, 46-50, 135-37, 14547.
Spring Break: March 13-20.
Week of March 21: Emotional Intelligence and Sensationalism.
Assignment 7: Media Career Coach due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday, March 26. Summary: Choose a fading media-industry celebrity (someone who
has been employed in news, entertainment, or persuasion) and advise him or her on how
to regain popularity and/or adjust to changed circumstances by making references to
successful career climbs, comebacks, or transitions by other media figures in the past.
Reel, Guy. "A Dirty Dozen: Twelve of the ‘Best’ Tabloids of all Time." American
Journalism 27, no. 2 (Spring 2010): 138-146.
Recommended: Bly, Nellie. “Ten Days in a Mad-House.” New York World, October 16,
1887. In Muckraking! The Journalism that Changed America. New York: New
Press, 2002. Pages 142-46.
Recommended: Stark, Steven D. “The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Talk-Show Furor.”
Chap. 56 in Glued to the Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events That Made Us
Who We Are Today. New York: The Free Press, 1997. Pages 276-82.
Week of March 28: News and Media Scandal.
Assignment 8: History Detective due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
April 2. Summary: Find material published online to document past wrongdoing or
questionable behavior and assess how worthwhile the information could be if exposed
now in the media.
Summers, John H. “What Happened to Sex Scandals? Politics and Peccadilloes,
Jefferson to Kennedy.” Journal of American History 87 (December 2000): 82554. Also on D2L.
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Recommended: Lull, James and Stephen Hinerman. “The Search for Scandal.” Chap. 1
in Media Scandals: Morality and Desire in the Popular Culture Marketplace,
edited by James Lull and Stephen Hinerman. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1997. Pages 1-33.
Recommended: Walls, Jeannette. “The War Against Confidential.” Chap. 2 in Dish:
How Gossip Became the News and the News Became Just Another Show. New
York: Avon, 2000; New York: Perennial, 2001. Pages 11-28.
Part II: Mass Communication and Change
Week of April 4: Freedom and Responsibility.
Assignment 9: Post-mortem Publicist due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday, April 9. Summary: Write a letter offering your services as a post-mortem
publicist to the “Father of the Constitution,” James Madison, to explain how the ideas of
the founding generation could be used in a campaign for freedom of expression today.
Smith, Jeffery A. "Public Opinion and the Press Clause." Journalism History 14, no. 1
(Spring 1987): 8-17. Also available on D2L as reprinted in: Smith, Jeffery A.
“Public Opinion and the Press.” In Media Voices: An Historical Perspective,
edited by Jean Folkerts, 105-120. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
Week of April 11: The Rights of Workers, Slaves, and Women.
Assignment 10: Professor for a Day due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday, April 16. Summary: Prepare a mini-lecture on a specific media topic of your
choice in the history of workers, slaves, or women.
Helwig, Timothy. "Black and White in Print: Cross-Racial Strategies of Class Solidarity
in Mechanics’ Free Press and Freedom’s Journal." American Periodicals 19, no.
2 (September 2009): 117-135.
Recommended Voices text: Chapters 1-3.
Week of April 18: The Battles over Sex, Lynching, and Radicalism.
Assignment 11: Moral Panic Pundit due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday, April 23. Summary: Placing yourself in 1898 when racial hatreds flared and
violence erupted in Wilmington, North Carolina (see the lecture for a summary and
video), write a letter to the editor of any newspaper you select to comment on the press
coverage and/or published opinions related to the conflict.
Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. "Victoria Woodhull, Anthony Comstock, and Conflict over
Sex in the United States in the 1870s." Journal Of American History 87, no. 2
(September 2000): 403-434.
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Recommended Voices text: Chapters 4-7.
Week of April 25: The Great Migration and Birth Control.
Assignment 12: Ad Campaigner due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
April 30. Summary: Go back in time to the Great Migration (mainly ca. 1916-1930) and
prepare the basic contextual groundwork and some ad copy for a public service
advertising campaign concerning African Americans who were moving from the South to
cities such as Chicago and Milwaukee.
Ross, Felicia G. Jones and Joseph P. McKerns. "Depression in ‘The Promised Land’: The
Chicago Defender Discourages Migration, 1929-1940." American Journalism 21,
no. 1 (Winter 2004): 55-73.
Recommended Voices text: Chapters 8-9.
Week of May 2: Sixties Issues.
Assignment 13: Agent of Change due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on Saturday,
May 7. Summary: Discuss what newspaper or magazine you might have wanted to start
in the 1960s to promote a specific kind of change if you were alive and interested in
media opportunities then. Explain the reasons for your choice with references to the
historical context and the media of the time.
DeBrosse, Jim. "Four Dead in Ohio." Journalism History 39, no. 1 (Spring 2013): 40-49.
Recommended Voices text: Chapters 10-15.
Week of May 9: Entrepreneurs: Looking Back and Ahead. Final exams
begin on Thursday, May 12.
Assignment 14: Spirited Entrepreneur due in the D2L dropbox by 10 p.m. on
Saturday May 14. Summary: Write a biographical sketch of a media entrepreneur or
innovator that includes personal background, his or her thoughts about the industry, and
accounts of the person’s past successes and failures in a media-related field.
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Tweaker." New Yorker 87, no. 36 (November 14, 2011): 32-35.
COURSE POLICIES

Work turned in late will receive a 10-point penalty plus one point for each hour
unless an exception is made by the instructor, in advance if possible, for
circumstances beyond a student’s control.

Incidents of academic misconduct, such as cheating, handing in work to more than
one course without permission, and plagiarism (directly quoting the words of
others without using quotation marks or indented format to identify them, using
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sources of information without identifying them, or paraphrasing materials or
ideas of others without identifying the sources) will be handled with UWM
procedures and can result in penalties such as a grade of F for the course. For
explanations of UWM policies and procedures, go to:
http://www4.uwm.edu/acad_aff/policy/academicmisconduct.cfm .

For information on academic misconduct that could be considered plagiarism, go
to: http://guides.library.uwm.edu/c.php?g=56454&p=363101

For information on campus policies on disabilities, religious observances, military
duty, incompletes, discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment), academic
misconduct, complaints, grade appeals, and final examinations, go to:
http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf

In the event of disruption of normal academic activities, the format for this course
may be modified to enable completion of the course. In that event, you will be
provided an addendum to this syllabus that will supersede this version.

Estimates of how your time will be spent: Reading and viewing online material:
62 hours. Completing 10, 11, or 12 assignments: 82 hours.