Post your groups here (TR 2:35 p.m.)

Group 1.

1. Rachel Langlitz
2. Sarah Barnett
3. Lauren Newhouse
4. Nicole Cardascia

Group 1.

1. Benjamin Beatty
2. Quinn Ferguson
3. Matt Zygaj
4. Cody Swing

Group 1.

1. Josie Cyrus
2. Francesca Hoose
3. Ilana Diamant
4. Moorea Martin

Group 1.

1. Ian Masotti
2. David Dorsey
3. Cam Denmark
4. Nick

Group 1.

1. Erika Rumbold
2. Julia Williamson
3. Alex MacKerchar
4. Michela del Po

Group 1.

1. Jamie Reich
2. Jenna Malamud
3. Olivia Layne
4.

Group 1.

1.Layne Silverman
2. Maddy Cooper
3.Garrett Weinberg
4. Chris Serrano

Group 1.

1.Eddy Mostert
2.shannon Samaris
3. Andrew fabbro
4.Stephany Ibrahim

Post your groups here (TR 10:50 a.m.)

Group 1.

1. Chelsea Hartman
2. Alex Lebowitz
3. Matt Gurbarg
4. Nick Swenson

Group 2.

1. Dan Considine
2. Matt Blezow
3. Sarah Johnson
4. Eric Flasiuohyw

Group 3.

1. Erin Doran
2. Nick Byron
3. Meaghan (Megan? Meghan?)
4. Mike Villani

Group 4.

1.Corey Totten
2.John Earl
3.Jon P
4.Andrew K

Group 5.

1.Lexi Leib
2.Kylie Manderson
3.Kemery J. Colbert
4.Craig

Group 6.

1. Jack Demler
2.Julia Gaffney
3. Arham Muneer
4.

Group 7.

1.  Max Ley
2.Lenny Dieujuste
3.Jack Arpey

Group 8.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Post your groups here (TR 9:25 a.m.)

Group 1.

1. Billy James
2. Evan Kuh
3. Lauren McNamee
4. Quentin LeVant

Group 2

1. Sam Fischer
2. Evan Montgomery
3. Katie Baldwin
4.McKenzie Lozano

Group 3.

1.Rene Mantecon
2Willow Nelson.
3.Ethan Cannon
4.RyanPrunty

Group 4.

1. Maddie Jones
2. Shari Bischoping
3. Joelle Goldstein
4. Felicia Edwards

Group 5.

1.Matt Netti
2.Andrew Detwiler
3.Mike Sylvester
4.Chiara Morcario

Group 6.

1. Anthony Scott
2. Alex Sgobbo
3. Xavier Gonzalez
4.Eric Delmore

Group 7.

1.Trent Maurer
2.Mike Dunn
3.Lucas Manfredi
4. Jake Lopez

American TV Systems (Overview)

Television System Overview

There are three TV systems in the United States—

1) Commercial broadcast system;
2) Commercial cable/satellite system; and
3) Public system.

The differences between the three lie primarily with how each produces revenue. The commercial system relies solely on advertising, the cable/satellite system relies on a combination of subscription fees + advertising, and the public system relies on funding from the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting—a private corporation funded by tax dollars), donations from “viewers like you,” and contributions from foundations.

The dominant system over the past 50+ years has been the commercial broadcast system. This system has five components and they are:

1) networks
2) affiliate stations

3) television production houses
4) syndicators
5) advertisers

NETWORKS—

“A network is not much more than several office building in  New York and Los Angeles where highly paid executives package programs they do not own, sell commercial time over airwaves they do not possess to advertising executives they have not met, and provide the programs and ads to a nationwide audience through local stations they do not operate.”

NBC—now owned by Comcast-Universal(affiliated with Universal Studios)

CBS-- owned by CBS (affiliated with Paramount Pictures)

ABC -- owned by Disney (affiliated with Disney Pictures)

FOX--  owned by Newscorp (affiliated with 20^th-Century Fox Pictures)

CW—owned by CBS and Warner-Bros. (affiliated with Paramount and Warner Bros.).

Networks purchase programs from TV production houses to air on their affiliate stations.  They then sell commercial time and insert those commercials into the programs they transmit to their affiliates.  The affiliate stations receive payment in two ways from the network.  They receive cash payments and they also receive payment in the form of a couple of blank commercial slots in the network programming.  They can sell these commercial spots locally to make additional money.

AFFILIATE STATIONS

 Affiliate stations-- receive much of their programming from the network.  Other programming is provided via the purchase of syndicated programming or they make their own programming (news programs, public affairs, sports specials, etc.) Affiliated stations have signed exclusive contracts with one of the TV networks. 

They promise to broadcast a network's programming line-up-- including
prime time;
morning and evening news programs;
sports (some); and
late-night programming.

The programming from the networks comes with national commercials already inserted.  The affiliates receive direct payments from the networks (the amount is dependent on market size) along with some advertising spots to sell.

TV PRODUCTION HOUSES

They make TV shows… (Networks today produce their own news, newsmagazines, sports programming and some scripted programs)…

TV Prod Houses sell/lease their shows to the networks…

Studio Production houses---  huge businesses—they’re the film studios…  their shows today dominate the market--  Disney, 20^th-Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers… 

Most TV production houses lose money for shows that are leased by the networks. In other words, it costs more to produce each episode than they can recoup from the network. So why do they bother? Because if they are fortunate enough to get a show into off-network syndication, they get their investment back + enough additional revenue to bankroll all of their other projects.

SYNDICATORS—

“Middlemen”—an exclusive agent who represents a producer’s show to all the TV stations that are constantly shopping around for a product.

They get their money by 1)  a cut of the station license fee (the sum a station pays for the right to air the show); and 2) barter sales (the minute or two of commercial time syndicators sell directly to national advertisers)…

3  types of syndicated programs—

1)    first-run or original syndication

2)    off-network syndication

3)    old movies

The FCC made syndication companies rich by passing the Prime Time Access Rule.  The PTAR simply states that one hour of prime-time programming each evening (with Sunday being the exception) must be non-network programming.  The networks chose to give up the 7-8 p.m. hour of prime-time.  The Prime Time Access Rule has since been disbanded, but the networks have decided not to air programs between 7-8 p.m., except on Sundays.

King World story—Little Rascals; Wheel of Fortune; Jeopardy; Oprah Winfrey; etc.

ADVERTISERS--

Advertising income finances broadcast media content and supports the commercial broadcast industry…

Dayparts—in TV, dayparts determine advertising rates. The basic dayparts are as follows:

afternoon,
early fringe,
prime time,
late fringe,
late night,
overnight.

The most expensive parts of the day for advertisers are prime time and fringe. Afternoon and overnight are the cheapest.

Types of program sales for syndicators—

            1) barter—meaning that a local station agrees to air a syndicator’s program in             exchange for some commercial slots.

            2) cash—meaning that a local station agrees to pay a syndicator cash for the rights             to air a certain program.

            3) cash + barter—meaning that a local station agrees to pay some cash (less than in a cash deal) for a program + the station gets a few commercial slots. The syndicator delivers the program with national commercials already inserted

            (making sure to leave some empty slots for the local station).

            Cash + barter is the most common type of sale.

“O & O” stations—an affiliate that is owned and operated by the network. Networks are allowed, per FCC rule, to own a certain number of their own stations. WABC in NYC, for example, is both owned and operated by ABC.

HUT—“households using television”

Station line-up—a list of the TV markets and the individual TV stations in those markets

Upfronts—refer to when the networks invite advertisers (often media buyers) to preview their new shows in an effort to drum up advertising interest. If the advertisers like a show, they will commit to supporting that show (by buying ads) for a certain amount of episodes. For example, Modern Family was quite popular with advertisers and, consequently, ABC’s upfronts for the show were solid—all before the program aired.


The cable/satellite system and the public system will be addressed in future posts.

Should movies be penalized for using artistic license? (Post your thoughts as comments)

Source URL: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-should-selma-american-sniper-764607

---

Oscars: Should 'Selma' and 'American Sniper' Be Penalized for Taking Liberties With the Truth? (Opinion)

5:00 AM PST 1/22/2015 by Scott Feinberg

• THR's awards analyst argues that narrative movies have always deviated from history to some extent — and haven't always been punished at the Oscars.

[1]

Is it okay to like Ava DuVernay's Selma even though by some accounts it misrepresents the role [2] that President Lyndon Johnson played in the Civil Rights movement, portraying him as more an impediment than a facilitator of progress [3]? And is it okay to like Clint Eastwood's American Sniper even though it basically disregards overwhelming evidence [4] that Chris Kyle was not quite as upstanding as he appears in the movie [5]?

I hope so because, in both cases, I do.

There have been questions about the historical accuracy of a lot of narrative movies this season, not just Selma and Sniper (which happened to have back-to-back AFI Fest world premieres [6] on Nov. 11). The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Unbroken, Foxcatcher, Mr. Turner and Get On Up are also the 2014 films based on real people and events that have been examined closely under the microscope of the media — and, undoubtedly, their awards season competitors — for errors and omissions. Selma and Sniper, however, have attracted particular interest and scrutiny, perhaps because of their hot-button subjects and subject matters, and because many people connected to them are still alive and expect them to represent events precisely the way that they remember them happening.

But when it comes to narrative films, total fidelity to the historical record is an unreasonable standard. Just like casting couches and backstabbing, taking liberties with "true stories" has always been a part of the movie business — and always will be. Why? Because it is literally impossible to tell a story about any compelling person or event in just a couple of hours without selectively excluding, consolidating, re-ordering, re-framing or even adding some things. That being the case, should doing those things disqualify a movie from consideration for an Oscar? In other words, should voters skip over Selma and/orSniper on their best picture ballots and only consider narrative movies about people who are long dead (The Imitation Game), are still alive and have endorsed their portrayal (The Theory of Everything) or never actually existed in reality at all (Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Whiplash)?

That's up to each Academy member, of course. But before they cast their votes, they might remember that films with deviations from the historical record were nominated by their predecessors in a pre-24/7-media/pre-Internet world — and sometimes won — without anyone making much of a fuss over them at all.

For instance, 1937's The Life of Emile Zola, the second of many biopics to win best picture, is largely about the Dreyfus Affair, a widely-covered miscarriage of justice that involved the scapegoating of a Jewish officer in the French Army for a treasonous crime that he did not actually commit — and yet the film features not a single use or derivative of the word "Jew."

The most celebrated moment of 1942's The Pride of the Yankees features Gary Cooper delivering Lou Gehrig's legendary farewell speech — but it isn't the actual speech that Gehrig gave. The most quoted portion of it ("Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth") was moved from the beginning of the speech to the end to make the moment more dramatic.

1959's The Diary of Anne Frank centers on Anne Frank and her diary — and yet the way that the diary is introduced in the film is completely inaccurate. The diary was, in fact, given to Anne on her thirteenth birthday, which took place before the family went into hiding, not after it, as is depicted in the film for dramatic effect.

The T.E. Lawrence portrayed in 1962's Lawrence of Arabia may have physically resembled the man himself, but his character and actions were so changed for dramatic purposes that Lawrence's sole surviving sibling declared, "I should not have recognized my own brother."
And, it turns out, the most famous line from 1976's All the President's Men — "Follow the money" — was never actually spoken by Deep Throat or anyone at all.


Most people take no great issue with those deviations from the historical record because they accept that those deviations were made to make it easier for viewers to follow and appreciate the core of the stories their filmmakers are trying to tell. (The exception is the Zola case, an example of pure pre-World War II cowardice.)

Passionate debates about these sorts of films — which some refer to as docudramas — became more common post-Vietnam and post-Watergate as Americans' faith in their government and other institutions of power that they had long trusted began to wane. (The driving fear, for many, is always that the film version will become the authoritative version — the historical memory — especially among moviegoers who do not remember the actual events.) And as studios increasingly began to realize that films about serious subject matter would be more likely to generate awards attention if released late in the year, shortly before ballots go out to Academy members, these debates increasingly began to take place during the Oscar season.

An early example is Mike Nichols' 1983 film Silkwood, for which Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen wrote the screenplay. Karen Silkwood, played by Meryl Streep, worked at a factory that turned plutonium into fuel rods for nuclear reactors; she began to raise concerns about the safety of the facility; and then died in a car accident while en route to meet a New York Times reporter.

Ironically, few took greater issue with the film than the Times itself, which ran an op-ed entitled "The Chicanery of Silkwood [9]" right in the thick of that year's Oscar race. The Times argued: "By using real names, the film purports to be a documentary account. But it makes only gestures toward presenting all facets of the case... The documentary is a real medium of journalism; the docudrama usurps its authenticity, just as would an advertisement written to be indistinguishable from a news column... Real names, people and places are not common property that can be taken and remolded at will by thesis-builders. They should be reported with respect for the evidence in its own right."

Just a few weeks later, Silkwood landed five noms, including best director — but not best picture.

That controversy paled in comparison with another that came less than a decade later, in 1991, over Oliver Stone's JFK. Already a divisive figure because of his films about the Vietnam War and his outspoken political views, Stone, inspired by distrust in his government and Jim Garrison's 1988 autobiographyOn the Trail of the Assassins, made a film questioning the Warren Commission's official story about the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy. It centered around Garrison, a Louisiana D.A. who was the only man who ever attempted to prosecute someone for Kennedy's murder — but who had also,according to the The New York Times [10], "threatened and bribed witnesses, who then lied in court... and concealed the results of a polygraph test that showed one witness... to be lying," leading a jury to rule against him in less than an hour.

Even before filming was done, Stone told the Dallas Morning News [11] that JFK would be "a history lesson," causing many people to panic. The outcry only grew louder as the film's release approached and then finally arrived, whereupon Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan complained [12] that "certain characters are composites, situations are fudged, conflicting testimony ignored and Garrison's summation... lengthened to contain information not uncovered until years later." Tom Wicker of The New York Times added [10], in another story penned during the thick of the Oscar race, that the film "treat[s] matters that are wholly speculative as fact and truth, in effect rewriting history," and worried that "is all too likely to be taken as the final, unquestioned explanation" by many people too young to remember Nov. 22, 1963.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, in his four-star review of the film, offered [13] a counter-argument. "These points are no doubt well-taken," he granted, but, he added, "I believe they are irrelevant to the film, which is not a documentary, not a historical study and not a courtroom presentation, but a movie... People go to the movies to be told a story... There are many facts, factoids, fictions and distortions in JFK, all used in the service of the story. To dissect the movie like a documentary is pointless."

Despite this storm of controversy, which continued through the nomination voting period, JFK wound up with eight noms, including best picture.

Over the years, other contentious debates have arisen about depictions of history in the movies. Sometimes these quarrels didn't seem to hurt a film's Oscar prospects. In 1995, Mel Gibson's Braveheart was picked apart by historians [14] like vultures pick apart a carcass, "starting with the fact that Isabella, Princess of Wales (played by Sophie Marceau), did not come from France until two or three years after Wallace's execution and therefore could not have had an affair with [William Wallace]." But this didn't stop the film from landing ten noms and winning five, including best picture.

Other times, the quarrels proved quite damaging: Norman Jewison's 1999 film The Hurricane, the story of a boxing champion, played by Denzel Washington, who was convicted and imprisoned for a triple homicide he did not commit, was a frontrunner for best picture before it was attacked for inventing a racist police detective character. Washington told the Los Angeles Times [15] at the time, "We all know how things work. I've been in three films about real people — Cry Freedom, Malcolm X and this one — and in all the films there was a controversy. Any time you base things on a true story it offends someone." The film ended up with just a single nom, for best actor.

Another famous case, in 1999, involved Michael Mann's The Insider, a film about the story behind an episode of CBS's 60 Minutes. A reporter/segment producer for the venerated TV newsmagazine secured an interview for famed correspondent Mike Wallace with Jeffrey Wigand, a former research-and-development head of a major tobacco company who was willing, at great risk to himself, to blow the whistle on his ex-employers for having knowingly lied when they testified before congress that they did not believe cigarettes were addictive. But then CBS — which was angling to be sold at the time and didn't want to jeopardize the deal — spiked the piece, airing only a "watered-down" segment in which Wigand didn't even appear. Wallace and 60 Minutescreator/producer Don Hewitt apparently assented to the situation without great protest. The full segment eventually aired — but only after Wigand's claims had already become public through a lawsuit.
According to The New York Times [16], Wallace, after learning that The Insider was being made, persuaded Mann to send him an early draft of the script, whereupon the newsman became outraged by the portrait of himself as, in his view, a "soulless and cowardly laggard who lost his moral compass until Lowell set me back on the straight path." He demanded changes — some of which he got — and then mounted "an aggressive public effort to dispel any notion that he ever acquiesced to management's decision to kill the interview." He asked the Times reporter, as only a living subject of a docudrama could, "If this is entertainment, why does he use my name and have words come out of my mouth that I never would have said?" Hewitt was also angry, but he took the controversy more in stride, saying, "I told Mike, 'It's a movie, OK?... Real life has a lot of shades of gray, and movies have black and white, even when they're in color."

Mann responded to the Los Angeles Daily News [17], "[Screenwriter] Eric Roth and I decided we wanted to do a drama and not just a docudrama. I didn't want it to be objective, I wanted to take you on a ride... This is the picture I chose to make." And he told another interviewer, "In the realm of drama, you change everything. You change everything to have it mean exactly the same thing it meant before. You do all the typical things. You collapse time, you combine characters, you overlay dramatic events."
In the end, the film received seven noms — including best picture — but it won none.

Another landmark controversy centered around Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind in 2001. It was already the best picture Oscar front-runner when it started to face incoming fire about omitting some potentially unflattering details about its subject, the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, played by Russell Crowe. Among other things: documented examples of Nash behaving in adulterous, homosexual and anti-Semitic ways.

Sylvia Nasar, who wrote the book that inspired the film, granted that Nash did once write an anti-Semitic letter, but insisted that it was during an intense period of paranoid schizophrenia. The filmmakers, meanwhile, acknowledged taking liberties with the historical record to The New York Times, but insisted that they had done so with the approval of Nash and his wife.

That was a poor excuse in the view of Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Maxwell King, who wrote [18], during the period of Oscar voting, "They seem to think that's just fine because they did so with the approval of both the subject and the author of the book. What this reveals is a lack of standards and ethics in the film industry that, if replicated in the fields of history or journalism, would have produced a scandal of the first order." He continued, "Evidently, because it's 'just a movie,' members of the filmmaking industry and the public seem to think that this is all right. Granted, filmmaking is generally considered to be entertainment, and so viewers tend to give it very great leeway where truth and believability are concerned. But when films purport to tell true stories — especially the life stories of living people — they should be held to a higher standard." He urged Academy members, "Award the Oscar for best picture to some candidate other than A Beautiful Mind."
But despite all of the back-and-forth, the film garnered eight noms and won four — including, yes, best picture.

Similar brouhahas have engulfed just about every film about serious subject matter from Oliver Stone (1986's Platoon, 1989's Born on the Fourth of July,JFK, 1995's Nixon), Spike Lee (1989's Do the Right Thing, 1992's Malcolm X) and Steven Spielberg (1993's Schindler's List, 1997's Amistad, 2005'sMunich, 2012's Lincoln) — and, more recently, 2010's The King's Speech (accused of overlooking information that suggests King George VI was, like his brother, an anti-Semite), 2012's Argo (accused of fabricating the actual drama of the great escape) and 2012's Lincoln (which inaccurately shows two members of the U.S. House from Connecticut opposing the passage of Thirteenth Amendment), 2012's Zero Dark Thirty (accused of condoning torture).
What all of this has made clear is that someone will always find something to object to in narrative films about real people and events.

One way around this is to do what Lee Daniels' The Butler did in 2013. While the film was inspired by a real person, the writer and director gave the main character a different name, which freed them up to take liberties with its story. The problem, of course, is that it's often the very association with a real person and event that is at the core of such a film's appeal — which might explain, in part, why The Butler ended up with not a single nom.

The bottom line is that narrative films about real people and events that use actual names aren't going away anytime soon. And that leads to the question at the heart of all of this: Where is the line between an acceptable and an unacceptable level of deviation from the historical record?

In my opinion, the answer can be found by asking yourself an obviously subjective question: Were the deviations made to make the overall story more accessible and understandable or were they made to deliberately distort and mislead people about what really happened? If the answer is the latter, then I'm not sure that a film is worthy of support. But if the answer is the former, then I'm comfortable allying myself with such a film.
I don't believe that Selma screenwriter Paul Webb or DuVernay set out to make Johnson a villain, nor do I believe that they did so. I think that they set out to emphasize the extent of the obstacles that King faced in his dealings with white people, even those who theoretically supported his agenda. While there is no reason to believe that Johnson ordered the FBI wiretaps on King be sent to his wife, it is true that Johnson wasn't always as supportive of King's push for voting rights as he ultimately came to be. So the movie's portrayal of Johnson during the relatively brief period it dramatizes may not be all that wrong. His attitude, like many Americans' at the time, was evolving.

Similarly, I don't think that American Sniper screenwriter Jason Hall or Eastwood set out to make Kyle a saint, nor do I believe that they did so. It's hard enough to tell one story in two hours and 14 minutes, let alone many, and the one that they chose to focus on was Kyle's time in Iraq and how it impacted his family back home. It's not like the film spends tons of time with him after the war, when some of his less impressive behavior took place; in fact, the movie's post-war scenes amount to just a few minutes of screen time. And Kyle wasn't the first — nor the last — war hero to make mistakes after his service. But does anyone truly believe that that's what he will or should be remembered for?
In short, I feel that it's fair and reasonable to expect filmmakers to strive to get to the essence of the "truth" in their narrative films, but not to expect them to present everything exactly as it happened.

The Selma and Sniper teams might have bolstered their case for deviating from the historical record, to the extent that they did, if they'd stepped forward to explain their decisions in more polished ways than they did — DuVernay over Twitter [19] and an off-the-cuff at a Q&A [20], the Sniper folks not at all. But, as far as the Oscars go, Academy members are not asked to judge how closely a film hews to the letter of the historical record; they are asked to evaluate how effectively a film tells the story that it is trying to tell. I would submit that, at that, both of these films succeeded beyond measure.

Twitter: @ScottFeinberg [22]

---

Links:
[1] http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-should-selma-american-sniper-764607&media=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/thumbnail_570x321/2014/11/selma_american_sniper_a_l.jpg&description=Oscars: Should 'Selma' and 'American Sniper' Be Penalized for Taking Liberties With the Truth? (Opinion)
[2] http://billmoyers.com/2015/01/15/bill-moyers-selma-lbj/
[3] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ny-times-maureen-dowd-slams-764548
[4] http://mpmacting.com/blog/2014/7/19/truth-justice-and-the-curious-case-of-chris-kyle
[5] http://www.salon.com/2013/02/07/death_of_an_american_sniper/
[6] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/afi-fest-oscar-race-gets-748466
[7] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/making-american-sniper-how-an-760963
[8] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-how-selma-filmmakers-made-755242
[9] http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/25/opinion/the-chicanery-of-silkwood.html
[10] http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/15/movies/film-does-jfk-conspire-against-reason.html
[11] https://books.google.com/books?id=7jrKTKDhvfkC&pg=PA1358&lpg=PA1358&dq=%22a+history+lesson%22+DALLAS+MORNING+NEWS+STONE+JFK&source=bl&ots=WmnIhCL3ot&sig=PQT8osHVMFlGxOelGmsaE2QWXLc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XIPAVNO1LsexogStgoGQDA&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22a%20history%20lesson%22%20DALLAS%20MORNING%20NEWS%20STONE%20JFK&f=false
[12] http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-20/entertainment/ca-400_1_oliver-stone/2
[13] http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jfk-1991
[14] http://articles.latimes.com/1995-09-24/entertainment/ca-49331_1_scottish-independence
[15] http://articles.latimes.com/2000/feb/16/entertainment/ca-64713
[16] http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/071399sixty-minutes-tobacco-film.html
[17] http://www.maximumcrowe.net/maxcrowe_insiderpress.html
[18] http://articles.philly.com/2002-03-20/news/25342853_1_sylvia-nasar-nash-story-true-stories
[19] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/selma-director-responds-criticisms-lyndon-760480
[20] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/selma-director-lyndon-b-johnson-761406
[21] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscar-nominations-2015-complete-list-academy-award-nominees-763162
[22] http://twitter.com/scottfeinberg

Syllabus and Course Schedule

Ithaca College

Introduction to Media Industries

TVR 124000

Spring 2015

Instructor: Dr. Jack Powers

Office: Park #368

E-mail: jpowers@ithaca.edu

Office Hours:

Mondays: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.;  and 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Wednesdays: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.; and 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Additional hours available by appointment.

Class website: http://ICmediaindustriesSpring2015.blogspot.com

Course description: Intro to Media Industries is a course designed to introduce the communication student to the vast and ever-so-pervasive world of the entertainment mass media. Through lectures, class discussions, debates, videos, presentations, and assignments, and projects we shall examine the impact the entertainment media industries have had on American society. We’ll begin with a brief history of the entertainment media industry followed by a more in-depth look at each industry and how it has impacted society including how we spend our time, our expectations, society’s emphasis on showbiz and celebrity, influence of entertainment media as it pertains to socialization and politics, legal and economic aspects of the industry, etc.

Course Objectives/Goals: By the end of the term, students enrolled in Intro to Media Industries should be able to:

• Recognize the elements of the communication process in different settings and understand how these processes play a role in entertainment media;
• Explain the implications of “disintermediation” of the entertainment media;
• Understand and explain the concept of convergence and critically analyze its impact on the entertainment industry;
• Identify a variety of career options in entertainment media;
• Know about and recognize the impact of media regulation;
• Describe and recognize the major events/developments of the entertainment media industry;
• Understand and explain important ethical principles of entertainment media;
• Discuss the societal impact of media in terms of social effects and how these effects are measured.

Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate the meeting of these objectives/goals by performing well on exams, participating in intellectual class discussions, completing assignment, and completing a final project.

Required texts:

Dominick, J. (2013).  Dynamics of Mass Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill. 

Mass Media Group ProjectThe entertainment media represent one of the few industries where those outside the profession consistently believe they can do a better job than those working inside the profession. The media are constantly under attack by different groups—including college students. This group project offers you an opportunity to create original entertainment media contact. The project typically offers students an insight into the difficulty into creating original, entertaining media that appeals to a wide audience.

Here is a list of projects your group may or may not want to consider:

• produce an entertainment magazine or newspaper that appeals to college students

• create an appropriate entertainment media web site

• produce a radio documentary (based on the industry)

• produce a radio/television webcast

• produce a syndicated radio program

• write and produce a 10-minute TV sit-com

• create an advertising campaign (complete with radio/print/TV commercials)

• create a new game show

• produce a new talk show

• produce an investigative report concerning a campus issue (security, drugs, sex, date-rape, STDs, HIV, fraternities, sororities, faculty, administration, athletic programs, cheating in the classroom, etc.)

• create a Public Relations Campaign for a local organization

• choose any other relevant topic (with approval)

Each group will make a formal (graded) presentation and the overall project (material + presentation) is worth 100 points to each student. Group members will be graded individually.

The projects will be evaluated as follows:

Project Content (media):                                   60 points
Presentation (physical/verbal)                           20 points
Production fluency (video, audio, design, etc.) 10 points
Creativity                                                           10 points                                                            Total:                                                                 100 points

Additional information regarding the group project will be provided in class. Group assignments will be made known in the second week of class.

Entertainment Media Team Project: Building an App

Students, working in teams, will be assigned to complete a working interactive media application for the Android and/or iPhone market(s). Additional material regarding the project will be provided during the first few weeks of class. Each project requires an accompanying written report. 

Each team will make a formal 10-minute project presentation.

The overall project is worth 50 points to each student. 

Team members will be graded individually.

The App Projects will be evaluated as follows:

Overall app quality:	25 points
Written report:	15 points
Presentation:	5 points
Creativity:	5 points

Total:                                                  50 points

All team members must present. Any team member that does not present (or fails to show up to present) will receive an overall two-letter penalty on the App Project. For example, if the App would have otherwise earned a grade of “B,” a person who doesn’t show up to present the app would receive a grade of “D.”  

Again, more specific information regarding the App project will be provided in class. Group assignments will be made known by the third week of class.

Evaluation and grading:

Students will be evaluated on the following—

Exam 1:	100 points
Exam 2:	100 points
App Project:	50 points
Mass Media Project:	100 points
Final Exam:	150 points
Total:	500 points

There is no curve.

Overall grades will be based on the following percentages:

93 – 100                 A               (465 – 500)

90 – 92                    A-              (450 – 464)

87 – 89                    B+            (435 – 449)

83 – 86                    B               (415 – 434)

80 – 82                    B-              (400 – 414)

77 – 79                    C+            (385 – 399)

73 – 76                    C               (365 – 384)

70 – 72                    C-              (350 – 364)

67 – 69                    D+            (335 – 349)

63 – 66                    D               (315 – 334)

60 – 62                    D-             (300 – 314)

00 – 59                    F                (000 – 299)

Standards of Academic Conduct:

A.	Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (e.g., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable.
B.	It is the responsibility of instructors to inform students clearly in writing specific rules, procedures, and/or expectations pertinent to their particular course that differ from those identified in paragraph A of this section. In those courses where limited consultation among students is permitted in the preparation of assignments, it is extremely important for instructors to clarify the guidelines for appropriate conduct.
C.	In situations where a student may have difficulty in distinguishing between acceptable behavior and   academic misconduct, it is the responsibility of the student to confer with the instructor. This is particularly important for avoiding plagiarism when written sources are used in the preparation of papers or take home examinations.
	Because Ithaca College is an academic community, ignorance of the accepted standards of academic   honesty in no way affects the responsibility of students who violate standards of conduct in courses and other academic activities.
D.	All members of the academic community are expected to assist in maintaining the integrity of Ithaca College, which includes reporting incidents of academic misconduct. Such instances may be reported to a faculty member, the dean of the school involved, or the director of judicial affairs.

Plagiarism:

Whether intended or not, plagiarism is a serious offense against academic honesty. Under any circumstances, it is deceitful to represent as one's own work, writing or ideas that belong to another person. Students should be aware of how this offense is defined. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's published or unpublished ideas, whether this use consists of directly quoted material or paraphrased ideas.

Although various disciplines follow styles of documentation that differ in some details, all forms of documentation make the following demands:

• That each quotation or paraphrase be acknowledged with a footnote or in-text citation;
• That direct quotations be enclosed in quotation marks and be absolutely faithful to the wording of the source;
• That paraphrased ideas be stated in language entirely different from the language of the source;
• That a sequence of ideas identical to that of a source be attributed to that source;
• That sources of reprinted charts or graphs be cited in the text;
• That all the sources the writer has drawn from in paraphrase or direct quotation or a combination of paraphrase and quotation be listed at the end of the paper under "Bibliography," "References," or "Works Cited," whichever heading the particular style of documentation requires.

A student is guilty of plagiarism if the student fails, intentionally or not, to follow any of these standard requirements of documentation.

In a collaborative project, all students in a group may be held responsible for academic misconduct if they engage in plagiarism or are aware of plagiarism by others in their group and fail to report it. Students who participate in a collaborative project in which plagiarism has occurred will not be held accountable if they were not knowledgeable of the plagiarism.

What, then, do students not have to document? They need not cite their own ideas, or references to their own experiences, or information that falls in the category of uncontroversial common knowledge (what a person reasonably well-informed about a subject might be expected to know). They should acknowledge anything else.

Other Forms of Academic Dishonesty

Other violations of academic honesty include, but are not limited to, the following behaviors:

• Handing in to a class a paper written by someone else;
• Handing in as an original work for a class a paper one has already submitted to another course;
• Handing in the same paper simultaneously to two courses without the full knowledge and explicit consent of all the faculty members involved;
• Having someone else rewrite or clean up a rough draft and submitting those revisions as one's own work.

These offenses violate the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect necessary the process of learning.

Note: Students who would like help in learning how to paraphrase or document sources properly should feel free to come to the Writing Center in Smiddy 107 for assistance.

Attendance:

Students at Ithaca College are expected to attend all classes, and they are responsible for work missed during any absence from class. At the beginning of each semester, instructors must provide the students in their courses with written guidelines regarding possible grading penalties for failure to attend class. Students should notify their instructors as soon as possible of any anticipated absences. Written documentation that indicates the reason for being absent may be required. These guidelines may vary from course to course but are subject to the following restrictions:

• In accordance with New York State law, students who miss class due to their religious beliefs shall be excused from class or examinations on that day. The faculty member is responsible for providing the student with an equivalent opportunity to make up any examination, study or work requirement which the student may have missed. It is suggested that students notify their course instructors at least one week before any anticipated absence so that proper arrangements may be made to make up any missed work or examination. Any such work is to be completed within a reasonable timeframe, as determined by the faculty member.

• Any student, who misses class due to a verifiable family or individual health emergency, or to a required appearance in a court of law, shall be excused. The student or a family member/legal guardian may report the absence to the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life, which will notify the student’s dean’s office, as well as residential life if the student lives on campus. The dean’s office will disseminate the information to the appropriate faculty. Follow-up by the student with his or her professors is imperative. Students may need to consider a leave of absence, medical leave of absence, selected course withdrawals, etc., if they have missed a significant portion of class work.

A student may be excused for participation in College-authorized cocurricular and extracurricular activities if, in the instructor’s judgment, this does not impair the specific student’s or the other students’ ability to succeed in the course.

For all absences except those due to religious beliefs, the course instructor has the right to determine if the number of absences has been excessive in view of the nature of the class that was missed and the stated attendance policy. Depending on the individual situation, this can result in the student’s being removed from or failing the course.

It is expected that students will regularly attend class, take notes, pay attention, and participate in discussion/activities.

Students who miss class (unexcused) will not be able to make up in-class assignments.

Students with disabilities:

In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the College before any academic adjustment will be provided.

Dealing with Stress while at College:

Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance. The source of symptoms might be strictly related to your course work; if so, please speak with me. However, problems with relationships, family worries, loss, or a personal struggle or crisis can also contribute to decreased academic performance.

Ithaca College provides a Counseling Center to support the academic success of students. The Counseling Center provides cost-free services to help you manage personal challenges that threaten your well-being.

In the event I suspect you need additional support, I will express my concerns and the reasons for them, and remind you of resources (e.g., Counseling Center, Health Center, chaplains, etc.) that might be helpful to you. It is not my intention to know the details of what might be bothering you, but simply to let you know I am concerned and that help, if needed, is available.

Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for your loved ones.

Title IX:

Title IX is a federal act mandating that educational institutions must provide sex and gender equity. All students thus have the right to a campus atmosphere free of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and gender discrimination. For questions about sexual misconduct, see the Ithaca SHARE website (Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Education):  http://www.ithaca.edu/sacl/share/). To report or discuss sexual assault or harassment, or general issues, please contact Tiffani Ziemann, Title IX Coordinator; tziemann@ithaca.edu 607-274-3300.

Student safety:

You must respond to and report conditions and actions that may jeopardize your safety, or that of other people and/or equipment. Report to the responsible College employee. During class sessions that person would be your instructor or lab assistant. Outside of class the person might be your instructor, lab supervisor, co-curricular manager, equipment and facilities manager, or one of the engineering support staff. You must be aware that misuse of equipment or use of damaged equipment can create the risk of serious injury, infectious contamination, and expensive damage. You may be liable for damage or injury resulting from such use. Unsupervised use of facilities puts you at risk. Failure to be alert to safety problems, or to report them, may have serious consequences for you or others.

Course material: 

Assigned readings should be completed prior to class. Lectures and assignments are intended to enhance and/or supplement the readings. Some of the material will come from sources other than the assigned readings. You are responsible for this material as well as for the material in the readings—even if it is not specifically covered in class. If you have any difficulty understanding the material, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification. Often, I will ask if anyone has any questions.

Make-up policy: 

As a general rule, make-up assignments are not allowed except in cases of emergency. It is your responsibility to complete the assignments. If an emergency does arise, it is imperative for you to contact me PRIOR to the scheduled due date. Do not expect to make-up a missed assignment without clearing it with me ahead of time. Incompletes are rarely given. In fact, an incomplete is only given if you are unable to complete the coursework because of a serious illness, accident, emergency, or other crisis. A formal request must be made prior to the end of the term. An incomplete can only be granted with permission from the Dean.

Late Assignments: 

As a general rule, late assignments are not accepted. In specific circumstances, late assignments may be accepted, but with a substantial penalty. 

Course Schedule:
JANUARY 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
28	29	30	31	1	2	3
				New Year's Day
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
	Martin Luther King Day No Classes	First day of classes; Course Overview; Syllabus; Introductions		Entertainment Media Overview- Television Systems
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
		Television Systems, continued		Television Systems, continued

FEBRUARY

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
		Perspectives of Mass Communication		Perspectives of Mass Communication, continued
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
		Historical and Cultural Context		Historical and Cultural Context, continued
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
	Presidents' Day	Online class assignment		Exam #1
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
		Entertainment Movie Industry		Entertainment Movie Industry, continued
1	2	3	4	5	6	7

MARCH

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
		Sound Recording and Radio		Sound Recording and Radio, continued
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
	Spring Break- No classes	Spring Break- No classes	Spring Break- No classes	Spring Break- No classes	Spring Break- No classes
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
		Internet Overview		Video Game Industry
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
		Importance of Storytelling		Importance of Storytelling, continued
29	30	31	1	2	3	4
		Intro to Media Law Libel + Obscenity

APRIL

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
29	30	31	1	2	3	4
				Exam #2	Good Friday Passover begins at Sundown
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
		Intro to Media Law, continued (possibly online)		Intro to Media Law, continued (possibly online)
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
		Social Effects of Mass Media		Social Effects of Mass Media, continued
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
		Social Effects of Mass Media, continued		Social Effects of Mass Media, continued
26	27	28	29	30	1	2
		Miscellaneous Catch-up Day		App Presentations

MAY

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
26	27	28	29	30	1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Last Day of Classes	Final Exam for those enrolled TR 2:35 p.m. 10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. TR 10:50 a.m. 1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.		Final Exam for those enrolled TR 9:25 a.m. 10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
	Memorial Day
31	1	2	3	4	5	6