10712 Canonic Texts in Media Research

Credits: 4 intermediate credits in Communication

Prerequisite: Introduction to Mass Media

The course is based on two readers (in Hebrew), edited by Tamar Liebes and Oranit Klein-Shagrir

The course familiarizes students with canonic texts in the central traditions of mass media research, and provides them with expertise in critical reading of theoretical work and empirical research. The course is a continuation of, and supplement to, Introduction to Mass Media (10408) and expands students’ acquaintance with the major scholars and schools of early media theory, against the background of their times.

It is structured on three levels:

• The classical original texts, written by major scholars in the early days of media studies: Lazarsfeld and Merton, Adorno and Horkheimer, Marshall McLuhan, Harold Innis, Walter Benjamin, and others.

• Critical essays on the classical texts written by major contemporary scholars.

• Understanding the texts within the historical context of the development of the field: the development of various research approaches, the ideological conflicts among scholars, the influence of political and cultural conditions on mass media research, and others.