Late Assignments:
As a general rule, late assignments will
NOT
be accepted. Exceptions may be made in
extraordinary circumstances and when there is an excused absence. (See
Syllabus.) Assignments submitted in a timely manner via email will be
accepted if a hard-copy is also subsequently submitted.
Written Assignments:
All written out-of-class assignments are to be done
in 12 point font, double spaced, and with one inch margins. Length
requirements (which are not sacrosanct) are for the
primary text itself. Use
footnotes or endnotes to cite the sources of materials used
or quoted when applicable.
Miscellaneous Assignments:
In addition to various graded assignments that will
be announced in class or via email, students are responsible for the following
which will each comprise 5% of the final course grade:
I. Watch one of the listed movies or an approved alternative. Write a 2 page paper briefly describing the movie and state what the movie - implicitly and/or explicitly - tells us about media. Be prepared to make an oral presentation to the class regarding this. The paper is due by November 19th (the Wednesday prior to Fall Recess).
II. Engage in two campus or community activities which would realize the University-Wide Learning Outcome of Practicing Citizenship. (See Course Objectives.) Submit a 1 page paper for each activity which describes the fundamental facts (who, what, when, where) of the activity and clearly states how it realized the University-Wide Learning Outcome goal of Practicing Citizenship, i.e., how it applied one of the listed principles and a service-oriented commitment to advance or sustain local or global communities.
Papers must be submitted within 1 week of the underlying activity. At least one of the papers must be submitted by October 17th (the last day for midterm exams). The final paper is due by December 5th (the Friday preceding the commencement of Dead Week).
III. Participation in surveys distributed by the Core.
Paper
Assignment:
In the months preceding the
U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, polls fairly consistently showed that
between 55 to 75% of adult, U.S. citizens believed that Iraq was
directly involved with the terrorist attacks on the U.S.
of September 11, 2001.
No direct evidence of such involvement
had ever been disclosed.
This belief persisted well after the "major hostilities" against Iraq had ceased. A poll published by the Washington Post on September 6, 2003 said that 69% of Americans believed there was a connection between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th. Still, no evidence to support this supposed connection had surfaced. In fact, on September 17, 2003, President Bush plainly stated: "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in September the 11th." However, in the year preceding this pronouncement, the Bush administration continually inferred the connection and up to the present day it continues to link the war in Iraq with the so-called "war on terror".
Using materials developed and/or assigned in this class, explain how and why the U.S. media may have contributed to shaping the unfounded opinion of the majority of U.S. citizens that there was either direct or indirect Iraqi involvement in the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
NB: The paper is not to argue that the media did in fact contribute to shaping the unfounded opinions nor is it to be evaluative. It is simply to argue how and why the media may have contributed to the unfounded opinions. The paper, in other words, is to be purely speculative and theoretical. Note also that sources other than those used in class are not to be used.