COMM 187
Ethical and Policy Issues in Institutions of Mass Communication
Description: Lecture, three hours. Intensive examination of ethical and policy issues arising from interaction of media institutions (print, film, broadcasting, and new technologies) and societal institutions (Congress, federal agencies, courts, Presidency, schools, churches, political action groups, advertisers, and audiences). P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Take. This. Class. Newton is one of the kindest professors I've ever come across. He is a super intelligent journalist who worked for the LA Times. He doesn't use any slides, but his lectures are so engaging that my attention never strayed. His style mainly focuses on a journalistic theme and then he goes through various examples of that theme. He does grade on participation and will often ask the students' thoughts and opinions on the ethical situations. He is very open about his political preference, but he is super fair minded if you have a different opinion or approach. The only drawback of this course is that the grade is made up completely of your midterm and final, and then 10% based on participation. Obviously, this means the class has a super light workload, which is nice. However, that means that it can be easy to mess up your grade based on the midterm and final alone. The format of the exams is that he will provide 9 question prompts and you choose 5 to answer with short essay responses. The questions weren't difficult and mostly graded on your ability to logically defend your position and use examples and principles discussed in class. The only part I struggled with was the time limit. You have a little bit more than class time to finish the exam and I always was rushed at the end. But take really good notes on the examples and main concepts discussed and you should be fine.
Winter 2022 - Take. This. Class. Newton is one of the kindest professors I've ever come across. He is a super intelligent journalist who worked for the LA Times. He doesn't use any slides, but his lectures are so engaging that my attention never strayed. His style mainly focuses on a journalistic theme and then he goes through various examples of that theme. He does grade on participation and will often ask the students' thoughts and opinions on the ethical situations. He is very open about his political preference, but he is super fair minded if you have a different opinion or approach. The only drawback of this course is that the grade is made up completely of your midterm and final, and then 10% based on participation. Obviously, this means the class has a super light workload, which is nice. However, that means that it can be easy to mess up your grade based on the midterm and final alone. The format of the exams is that he will provide 9 question prompts and you choose 5 to answer with short essay responses. The questions weren't difficult and mostly graded on your ability to logically defend your position and use examples and principles discussed in class. The only part I struggled with was the time limit. You have a little bit more than class time to finish the exam and I always was rushed at the end. But take really good notes on the examples and main concepts discussed and you should be fine.
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Most Helpful Review
The readings were interesting, lectures always kept my attention, the term project was FUN, and the guest lecturer (Robert Shapiro) was swift but sweet. But the tests were REDICULOUS!!! They didn't test anything valuable or worth retaining!! It was like he'd pick any random sentence in the readings and test us on it. And he didn't mind pointing out his favorites in the class. He gave the impression that he was deeply concerned with our learning the material but he insisted on testing us on worthless stuff. If grades didn't count, this class might be cool...
The readings were interesting, lectures always kept my attention, the term project was FUN, and the guest lecturer (Robert Shapiro) was swift but sweet. But the tests were REDICULOUS!!! They didn't test anything valuable or worth retaining!! It was like he'd pick any random sentence in the readings and test us on it. And he didn't mind pointing out his favorites in the class. He gave the impression that he was deeply concerned with our learning the material but he insisted on testing us on worthless stuff. If grades didn't count, this class might be cool...
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