CLASS SYLLABUS
11/13 NOTE: SYLLABUS HAS BEEN UPDATED. MOST RECENT VERSION IS HERE: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UBbeMaNrbimjyo7BG5nBtmlD2-KBChDd
Ethnic Media in Los Angeles — Syllabus — Dauphin — Fall 2017
TERM: Loyola Marymount University, Fall 2017
COURSE TITLE: Ethnic Media in Los Angeles
COURSE NUMBER: ENGL 4998–01
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: Monday 7:10 pm-10:10 pm at UNH 3230
CREDITS: 4.000
SYLLABUS VERSION: v3 (last updated 9/11/2017)
INSTRUCTOR AND CLASS INFORMATION
INSTRUCTOR: Gary Dauphin — Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu
OFFICE: UNH 3827
PHONE: 213–924–1118 © < — This is my cell. Text first, call only in life-or-death emergencies. I only check my LMU voicemail on Mondays, so don’t expect a quick response from there.
OFFICE HOURS: Monday 5:00 pm -7:00 pm at UNH 3827. Google Hangout and Skype are available at other times by request.
CLASS BLOG: https://medium.com/english-4998-ethnic-media-in-los-angeles-prof-gary
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND TOPICS
“I pondered all these things, and how [some] fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and [others] have to fight for what they meant under another name.” — William Morris
The ethnic media is generally defined in the US as news and entertainment media serving a specific demographic bounded by ethnicity, national origin or use of another language besides English.
This form of media in America has roots that stretch back to the Revolutionary period, primarily with the German-language press but also with newspapers serving the Irish, Yiddish-speaking, and Italian-speaking communities. With the growth of the African American press, the Spanish-language press, and newspapers serving various Asian American communities, American ethnic media has shifted from an industry catering to white immigrants to a multicultural phenomenon that serves over 57 million people in print, on television, via radio and online.
The class will engage this history across multiple facets — historical and theoretical — with a specific focus on contemporary media in Los Angeles. Classwork will focus primarily on analysis of specific media outlets and contextualizing readings. The class will look at a range of cases in Los Angeles, from traditional print ethnic media, to Spanish-language television, to Korean and Asian immigrant usage of “legacy media” such as UHF television and AM radio. It will also examine digital phenomena such as Fusion, the Mitu Network and diffuse online communities such as Black Twitter. Class time will include visits from and to area ethnic media organizations.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students who successfully complete the class will:
Understand the ethnic landscape in Los Angeles
Understand the theoretical and practical problems around crafting and consuming and ethnic and community media
Understand the broadcast, print and online community/ethnic media landscape in Los Angeles
Understand the formal and economic issues specific to print, broadcast and online media that impact the production of media for ethnic groups
Understand how Los Angeles specific demographic and historical contours have shaped specific outlets
Be able to effectively evaluate and compare coverage in both general market and ethnic media
CLASS FORMAT AND WORK LOAD
This is a hybrid class roughly divided in thirds: In-class discussion, participation and presentation; out-of-class reading and research culminating in a final paper; out-of-class media tracking. Be forewarned that the class begins requires weekly media tracking of a print, broadcast (radio or TV) or online venue.
In order to successfully complete this class, each student must do the following:
0. Participate: Active class participation is the foundation of this course. This means contributing to discussions and attacking in-class exercises with enthusiasm and vigor.
1. Complete all readings: Students must arrive in class having completed all assigned readings.
2. Blog about the reading, in-class films, or in-class visits: Students will each maintain a Medium blog in which they must post about the week’s reading or videos. Students may also blog about the previous week’s guests or off-site visits when they occur. These reading and response blogs must be a minimum of 250 words.
Reading-related posting will document the student’s personal reactions to themes and issues in the reading. Through these posts, students must demonstrate cumulative awareness of and insights into weekly class topics and readings. If a reading in Week 7 references a core concept from Week 3, the post should indicate that the student has independently recognized this connection.
Reading related postings are due Saturday at 5 p.m. Late postings will be graded downward.
3. Update and maintain a “venue log” tracking an ethnic media venue that the student has chosen. Every week, the student must post a short “log” indicating what noteworthy coverage, issues or events have occurred on their venue. The logs are to be posted to their blog and do not need to more than a few sentences. The log should contain:
· A date or time stamp indicating when the item occurred. When was it posted? When was it broadcast? Et cetera.
· A short description of the coverage, issue or event. Include bylines or correspondents
· A short explanation (1–2 sentences) for why it was shared
· A link if possible. If you are examining a print venue that does not offer accessible weblinks, take a photo with your cellphone and upload.
5. Give an in-class presentation: Near the end of the semester (beginning November 13), students will do a short, in-class presentation on the community where their venue is located. The presentation will include:
· A moodboard with images from the community — These can be taken from the web or be the student’s own photography
· A demographic snapshot of the community — Who, what, where, how many, industries, et cetera
· An issue snapshot of the community — What are the pressing issues and concerns facing the community
· A user profile of a typical media consumer in the community
The in-class presentation should take 10–15 minutes. Student should walk the class through their moodboard, demographic and issue snapshots and their user profile with an eye towards highlighting points of convergence and divergence with class themes. How does your community fit or diverge from what we have discussed so far.
6. A final paper. The student’s semester long-tracking will culminate in the production a 3000-word researched report on their selected media outlet and community.
The presentations and final papers will be developed in stages, with rolling deadlines:
• Select a community and venue, due September 18.
• A reporting plan, October 9. This should be a one-page, detailed schedule outlining the work you will need to do to report on your venue and by when it should be completed. What kind of background research do you need to do? What interviews will you be conducting? What other data will you be collecting and how will you analyze it?
• Moodboards, due beginning November 13
• Final papers — DUE DECEMBER 15 by 5:00 pm
7. Exams and Quizzes: There are no scheduled exams or quizzes. If students don’t seem to be doing the reading, there will be pop quizzes to check their completion of weekly reading requirements.
8. LMU defines a credit hour as “requiring a minimum of two hours of student work outside of class.” Given that this is a four credit class, students should expect to spend 8 hours a week working on this course outside of class. Please consider this rough, suggested breakdown of your weekly work:
· Reading: 1.5 hours
· Reading-related blog post: 1 hour
· Weekly logging: 4 hours — Assume you will put in 30–45 minutes a day checking in on your venue
· Assignment prep: 1.5 — You have multiple assignments due over the course of the class — moodboards, issue snapshots and so on — as well as a final paper. Start putting time into research immediately.
tl;dr — Do the reading. Surf, read, watch. Update your blog. Find a venue you like and visit it regularly; be prepared to discuss and write about said venue. Think about your community. Work together with with your other classmates. Submit something awesome in December.
GRADING
Participation is key to this class. You are expected to show up every week and contribute to classroom discussions. All work also must be handed in on time: in journalism, deadlines are deadly serious. Blogs posted between 5:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Saturday will automatically be graded down one letter grade. Blogs posted between 12:00 a.m. Sunday and 7:00 p.m. Sunday will be graded down two letter grades. No blogs will be accepted after 7:00 p.m on Sunday.
Course grades will be calculated as follows:
1. Class participation / attendance — discussion and exercises: 20 percent of grade. Missing more than two classes without permission or prior discussion will lower your participation grade a full letter. Missing more than five will result in automatic failure.
2. Moodboard presentation: 20 percent of grade
3. Blogging and logging: 30 percent of grade. — Each blog post and log counts towards this grade
4. Final project: 30 percent of grade.
Students can earn extra credit by doing three extra blog posts with professor’s prior approval. These extra credit posts must be on a topic covered in class.
Grading rubric:
· A’s are reserved for excellent work:
o Work that is original in its ideas
o Shows mastery of the reading
o Shows mastery of new media skills
o Shows thorough reporting and investigation e. Is clear
o Has a strong and distinct voice.
· B’s are for work that shows awareness of the reading, competence in its new media skills, adequate reporting and investigation, and is clear.
· C’s are for work that does not reflect knowledge of the reading, is weak in its use of new media, reflects little reporting, and lacks clarity.
· D’s are for work that does not meet the assignment requirements or is late.
· F’s are for work that is late, plagiarized, not of college-level quality, or is missing.
COMMUNICATIONS
We will primarily use the class blog to communicate: https://medium.com/english-4998-ethnic-media-in-los-angeles-prof-gary. All news, readings, announcements, and syllabus changes will be posted there. Every student must follow to this blog. In addition, the instructor will occasionally email you using your LMU Lion email account and post readings in Google drive.
Grades will be posted in MYLMU Connect.
ELECTRONICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN CLASS
Laptop use will be an unavoidable part of the class most weeks. That said, students are strongly encouraged to take notes by hand. Most research suggests that student who take handwritten notes have better recall of lecture and discussion material: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/to-remember-a-lecture-better-take-notes-by-hand/361478/
Students are encouraged to live-tweet the class using the hashtag #4998EthnicMedia. That said, Twitter is not to be used for personal or social reasons. Feel free to follow the instructor at https://twitter.com/ebogjonson.
Facebook is not to be used in class, EVER. Students using who repeatedly se social media for non-class purposes during class will have their class participation grade reduced by one letter grade.
Cell phones are not to be used in class. Please turn off and put out of sight all electronic devices (other than those and when allowed) during class-time. The interruptions and/or distractions they cause disrupt class and interfere with the learning process.
The instructor will not accept Facebook or LinkedIn requests from students while they are students in his class.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Academic dishonesty will be treated as an extremely serious matter with severe consequences that can range from receiving no credit for assignments/tests, failing the class, to expulsion. It is never permissible to turn in any work that has not been authored by the student, such as work that has been copied from another student or copied from a source (including Internet) without properly acknowledging the source. It is your responsibility to make sure that your work meets the standard set forth in the “Academic Honesty Policy” (see http://academics.lmu.edu/honesty.)
In journalism, plagiarism will end your career.
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT — SPECIAL ACCOMODATIONS
Students with special needs who require reasonable modifications, special assistance, or accommodations in this course should promptly direct their request to the Disability Support Services (DSS) Office. Any student who currently has a documented disability (ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Learning, Physical, or Psychiatric) needing academic accommodations should contact the DSS Office (Daum Hall 2nd floor, 310–338–4216) as early in the semester as possible. All discussions will remain confidential. Please visit http://www.lmu.edu/dss for additional information.
TENTATIVE NATURE OF THE SYLLABUS
If necessary, this syllabus and its contents are subject to revision; students are responsible for any changes or modifications announced or distributed in class or posted on the class blog at https://medium.com/english-4998-ethnic-media-in-los-angeles-prof-gary. Students will notified of any syllabus revisions in class, via the blog and via email.
COMMUNITY STANDARDS
As an LMU Lion, by the Lion’s code, you are pledged to join the discourse of the academy with honesty of voice and integrity of scholarship and to show respect for staff, professors, and other students.
SCHEDULE
Note: This schedule is provisional and may be re-arranged to accommodate guest speakers.
Week 1 — August 28 — INTRODUCTIONS
· Assignment Due This Week: None, you just got here!
· Reading Due This Week: None, you just got here!
· Discussion
o Introductions
o Syllabus Review
o About the Class
o Create a Medium blog — HOW TO: “How to Use Medium: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing, Publishing & Promoting on the Platform” — https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-use-medium
SEPTEMBER 4 — NO CLASS
Week 2 — September 11 — RESET AND HOUSEKEEPING
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Syllabus review
o Medium
§ Follow class blog
o Discuss selected neighborhoods and venues
o How to create a tracking / log post
o Introduction to moodboards (HOW TO: “How to use mood boards as visual communication tools” — https://conceptboard.com/blog/moodboards-visual-communication-tools/)
o Introduction to audience profiles (HOW TO: “Personas” — https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html
Week 3 — September 18 — LOS ANGELES AND ETHNICITY
· Assignment Due This Week: Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, September 16 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]:
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Write a post indicating your selected neighborhood and a venue. Here is a list of newspapers: http://ceo.lacounty.gov/Forms/Media/Ethnic.pdf
· Reading Due This Week:
o Waldinger, Bozorgmehr, “The Making of a Multicultural Metropolis,” Ethnic Los Angeles, pgs 3–37 (PDF)
o Waldinger, “Ethnicity and Opportunity in the Plural City,” Ethnic Los Angeles, pgs 445–470 (PDF)
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Issues with blog posts / medium?
o Introduction to demographic report
o Introduction to issue report
Week 4 — September 25 — FANTASIES OF LOS ANGELES
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, September 23 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking log post
o Freebie: 2nd chance to post last week’s posts (reading, neighborhood, venue)
· Reading Due This Week:
o watch: Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (1972) — https://vimeo.com/22488225
o watch: Episodes 1–2 of K-Town Season 1 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rhDjxDLyjk
o Reft, “From Better Luck Tomorrow to K-Town: Asian Americans and Los Angeles in 21st Century Media,” KCET.org. May 2, 2013 — https://www.kcet.org/history-society/from-better-luck-tomorrow-to-k-town-asian-americans-and-los-angeles-in-21st-century
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Review reporting plan format
Week 5 — October 2 — WHAT IS ETHNIC MEDIA?
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, September 30 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week:
o Matsaganis, Katz, Ball-Rokeach, “What are Ethnic Media?” Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, Societies, pgs 3–23 (PDF)
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
Week 6 — October 9 — REPORTING PLANS
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, October 7 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week: NONE, work on your reporting plans
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Review reporting plans
Week 7 — October 16 — ETHNIC MEDIA AS LOCAL MEDIA
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, October 14 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week:
o Matsaganis, Katz, Ball-Rokeach, “Ethnic Media as Local Media” Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, Societies, pgs 207–225 (PDF)
o Wilkinson and Lee, “Ethnic Media Serve as Lifeline Amid the Chaos,” The Los Angeles Times May 03, 1992 — http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-03/news/mn-1939_1_ethnic-media
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Tell your neighborhood story (exercise)
Week 8 — October 23 — THE SPANISH LANGUAGE PRESS
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, October 21 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week:
o Matsaganis, Katz, Ball-Rokeach, “Immigrants and Their Media” Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, Societies, pgs 51–68 (PDF)
o “Priests, Mobs and Know-Nothings: The Early Spanish Language Press,” News For All The People: The Epic Story of Race and The American Media, pgs 69–92 (PDF)
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
Week 9 — October 30 — THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESS
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, October 28 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week:
o Matsaganis, Katz, Ball-Rokeach, “Ethnic Minorities and Their Media” Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, Societies, pgs 69–90 (PDF)
o WATCH: “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords” (1999) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb5UMezZvKk
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
Week 10 — November 6 — LOS ANGELES ARCHIVES, PART 1
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, November 4 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week:
o Pick a minimum of two (2) pages from two (2) archives:
§ El Clamor Publico Collection, 1855–1859 — USC Digital Library [NOTE: THIS IS ENTIRELY IN SPANISH] — http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15799coll70
§ Los Angeles Star Collection, 1851–1864 — USC Digital Library — http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15799coll68
§ The California Eagle — Archive.org — https://archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Acaleagle&sort=-publicdate
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Business plan exercise
o Class visitor (TBD)
Week 11 — November 13 — LOS ANGELES ARCHIVES, PART 2
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, November 11 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
· Reading Due This Week:
o Ruben Salazar Project — http://rubensalazarproject.com/ — Please Look at the ENTIRE site. Pages are short.
o WATCH: Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SJeUYiNU_M
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Ethics exercise
o Presentations
o Class visitor (TBD)
Week 12 — November 20 — BROADCAST, part 1 — TELEVISION
· NOTE: THIS IS THANKSGIVING WEEK AND WE ARE MEETING
· Assignment Due This Week: [Email links to posts to Professor by 5pm on Saturday, November 18 at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu]
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
o Presentations — If you are presenting this week you don’t need to file reading / watch posts
· Reading Due This Week:
o Mora, “Broadcasting Panethnicity: Univision and the Rise of Hispanic Television,” Making Hispanics, pgs 119–154 (PDF)
o Do, “It’s the end of an era: Channel 18 cancels international format that served generations of L.A. immigrants” — http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-channel-18-closure-20170701-story.html
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Presentations
Week 13 — November 27 — BROADCAST, part 2 — RADIO
· Assignment Due This Week: NOTE: DUE TO THE HOLIDAY THE PREVIOUS WEEK, POSTS ARE DUE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27 BY 5:00 PM. Email links to posts to Professor at Gary.Dauphin@lmu.edu
o Reading / watch blog posts
o Tracking / log post
o Presentations — If you are presenting this week you don’t need to file reading / watch posts
· Reading Due This Week:
o Catania, “Making Radio Waves: The new voice of immigrant rights,” Mother Jones, July/August 2006, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/07/making-radio-waves/
o Steve Harvey Trades Chicago For L.A. But Trends For An Entirely Different Reason,” Forbes.com, MAY 11, 2017 — https://www.forbes.com/sites/adriennegibbs/2017/05/11/steve-harvey-trades-chicago-for-l-a-but-trends-for-an-entirely-different-reason/
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review reading / watch blog posts
o Review tracking / log post
o Presentations
o Class visitor (TBD)
Week 14 — PAPER PREP / WORKSHOPS
· Assignment Due This Week: NONE, Work on your papers
o Extra credit posts due if you are doing them
· Reading Due This Week: NONE, Work on your papers
· Discussion / In-Class Work
o Review tracking / log post
o Paper prep / workshop / issues
FINAL PAPERS DUE DECEMBER 15 by 5:00 pm
