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This version of CMNS 423 closed. To current version
Delivery mode: Individualized study. Online-enhanced.
Credits: 3 - Humanities.
Prerequisite: None. CMNS 301 and CMNS 302 are recommended.
Centre: Centre for State and Legal Studies
CMNS 423 has a Challenge for Credit option.
Course Web site
CMNS 423 introduces students to the technology, politics, economics, philosophy, ideology, and morality of television. Students are asked to look critically behind the scenes of the television world and discern the various patterns of industry structure and thematic content. Students require access to a television. Some course components are available online as an optional delivery mode.
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the technology, aesthetics, politics, economics, philosophy, ideology, and morality of television. You will be asked to look critically behind the scenes of the television world, and discern the various patterns of industry structure and thematic content. By looking at the medium itself, its major players, its content, and the audience responses to that content, you will be able to reach your own conclusions about just who, if anyone, controls the television industry. You should develop a critical understanding of television producers, promoters, critics, and creative personnel, as well as a sense of the importance of ongoing debates in this field in which so few issues have been resolved.
Unit 1: The History of Television and the Nature of the Medium
Unit 2: The State of the Art
Unit 3: Sponsorship and Art
Unit 4: Genres and Format I
Unit 5: Genres and Formats II
Unit 6: News, Tabloid TV and the Creation of Community
Unit 7: The Power to Educate and Inform
Unit 8: The Star System
Unit 9: Stereotypes and Role Models
Unit 10: The Offensive Side of Television
Unit 11: Chasing Popularity and Quality
Unit 12: Global Television
To receive credit for CMNS 423, you must complete all of the assignments, achieve a mark of at least 50 percent on assignment number three, and obtain a course composite grade of at least "D" (50 percent). The weighting of the composite mark is as follows:
| Assignment 1 | Assignment 2 | Assignment 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | 35% | 45% | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Newcomb, Horace, ed. Television: The Critical View (6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
The course materials also include a study guide, a student manual, and a reading file.
Students registered in this course may take part in computer conferencing. Viewing of specified dramas, feature films, and Movies of the Week (MOW) on “Access, the Education Station,” is also recommended in this course.