A.Tereskinas@smf.vdu.lt

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
 

The course will critically examine the role of the media in constructing, disseminating and challenging the images of minorities in different societies in Eastern Europe. We will focus largely on Lithuanian, Latvian and Polish media but we will draw parallels to the media of other Eastern European countries. 

 

By analyzing portrayals and interpretations of minorities in Eastern European mass media, we will identify bias in the media toward ethnic and sexual minority groups and other special interest populations. The course will offer insights into the pervasiveness of stereotyping in the media and offer strategies to avoid it. In the course, we will ask the following questions: What is the role of mass media in various societies of Eastern Europe? How diverse minority groups are portrayed in mass media and how these portrayals affect our perceptions? How are the media images of minorities produced, distributed and disseminated in Eastern Europe? What is to be done about media representations through media literacy, activism and advocacy? 
 

By addressing a variety of entertainment and news content in print and electronic media, the course will introduce students to theory and research in the field of critical cultural communication and will help them to use it in criticizing a variety of media. Students will also consider the impact of mass media on the formation of civil society in Eastern Europe.
 

The format of the course will consist of lectures, small and large group discussions, guest speakers and videos. Classroom discussions are based on lectures, videos, and reading assignments.
 

 

Objectives:

 

It is expected that by the end of this course, students will be able to:

 

1.Explain the role of mass media in Eastern European societies

2.Analyze media images of minorities and assess their impact on society

3.Identify, analyze, and criticize the negative stereotypes of various minorities in mass mediated communication

4.Deconstruct the negative stereotypes of minorities in mass media

5.Compare the similarities and differences in mass media's treatment of minorities in various Eastern European countries

6.Write a 10-12-page analytical paper on ethnic or sexual minorities and mass media. 

 

GRADING:

 

Mid-term exam 30%

Class participation 20%

Final paper or project 50%

 

ATTENDANCE:

Students are expected to attend all classes.Most class sessions will be devoted to discussing the course material in some way or another; so attendance is vital.

 

COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to change):
 

 

Week One – Introduction to Course. Course Overview. Definition of Key Concepts of Media and Minority Studies. 
 

Readings:
 

Kelner Douglas, “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism and Media Culture,” in Gail Dines and Jean Humez, eds., Gender, Race and Class in Media (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995), p. 5-17.
 

Raymond Williams, “’Mass Communication’ and Minority Culture’,” in Paul Marris, Sue Thornham, Media Studies: A Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1999), p. 44-50. 
 

Cornel West, “The New Cultural Politics of Difference,” in Russell Ferguson, Martha Gever, Trinh T. Minh-ha and Cornel West, eds., Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1990), p. 19-38. 

 

Further Readings:
 

Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding,” in Paul Marris, Sue Thornham, Media Studies: A Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1999), p. 51-61.

 

Week Two – Introduction to Mass Media Research. Ideology and Discourse. The Politics of Reception and Reading. 
 

Readings: 

 

James D. Halloran, “Mass Communication Research: Asking the Right Questions,” in Anders Hansen, Simon Cottle, Ralph Negrine, Chris Newbold, eds., Mass Communication Research Methods(New York: New York UP, 1998), p. 9-34. 

 

Mimi White, “Ideological Analysis and Television,” in Robert C. Allen, Channels of Discourse: Television and Contemporary Criticism (Chapel Hill: The U of North Carolina Press), p. 134-170.

 

Norman Fairclouth, “Critical Analysis of Media Discourse,” Paul Marris, Sue Thornham, Media Studies: A Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1999), p. 308-325.

 

Teun A. van Dijk, “How They Hit the Headlines: Ethnic Minorities in the Press,” in Geneva Smitherman-Donaldson and Teun A. van Dijk, Discourse and Discrimination (Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1988), p. 221-262.

 

Further Readings:
 

Teun A. van Dijk, “New(s) Racism: A Discourse Analytical Approach,” in Simon Cottle, ed., Ethnic Minorities and the Media (Philadelphia: Open UP, 2000), p. 33-49.
 

 

Week Three - Media Power and Influence. Impact of Mass Media on Society. 

 

Readings:

 

Jack M. Mcload, Gerald M. Kosicki and Zhondong Pan, “On Understanding and Misunderstanding Media Effects,” in James Curran and Michael Gurevitch, eds., Mass Media and Society (London: Esward Arnold, 1991), p. 235-266. 

 

James D. Halloran, “On the Social Effects of Television,” in Paul Marris, Sue Thornham, Media Studies: A Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1999), p. 433-437.

 

Noemi Marin and Laura Lengel, “Impact of Media on Conflict Resolution and Education in the New Europe,” Global Media Journal, vol. 2, no. 2 (Spring 2003) at http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/SubmittedDocuments/MarinLengel.htm.

 

Further Readings:
 

Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillmann, Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994). 

 

Week Four - Mass Media and the Public Sphere. Publicity and Publicness.

 

Readings:
 

James Curran, "Rethinking the Media as a Public Sphere" in Peter Dahlgren and Colin Sparks (eds.), Communication and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere (London and New York: Routledge, 1991), p. 27-57.
 

Nicholas Garnham, “The Media and the Public Sphere,” in Craig Calhoun, Habermas and the Public Sphere (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press), p. 402-420.
 

Michael Warner, “The Mass Public and the Mass Subject,” in Craig Calhoun, Habermas and the Public Sphere (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press), p. 377-401. 
 

Charles Husband, “Media and the Public Sphere in Multi-Ethnic Societies,” in Simon Cottle, ed., Ethnic Minorities and the Media (Philadelphia: Open UP, 2000), p. 199-214. 
 

Further Readings:
 

Peter Dahlgren, “Mediating Democracy,” in Peter Dalgren, Television and the Public Sphere: Citizenship, Democracy and the Media (London: Sage, 1997), p. 1-23.
 

Monroe E. Price, Television, the Public Sphere and National Identity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).

Nancy Fraser, “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy,” in Bruce Robbins, ed., The Phantom Public Sphere (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1993), p. 1-32.
 

Ronald N. Jacobs, “Race, Media, and Multiple Publics,” in Ronald N. Jacobs, Race, Media and the Crisis of Civil Society (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000), p. 19-30.

 

Week Five - Eastern European Media in Transition.
 

Readings:

Andrew K. Milton, “News Media Reform in Eastern Europe: A Cross-National Comparison,” in Patrick O’Neil, ed., Post-Communism and the Media in Eastern Europe (London: Frank Cass, 1997), p. 7-23. 
 

Auksė Balčytienė,”Changing Roles of Media in Post-Communist Lithuania,” in P. Vihalemm, ed., Baltic Media in Transition (Tartu: Tartu UP, 2002), p. 103-134.
 

Inta Brikše, Ojārs Skudra and Rolands Tjarve, “Development of the Media in Latvia in 1990s,” in P. Vihalemm, ed., Baltic Media in Transition (Tartu: Tartu UP, 2002), p. 65-102. 
 

Press Research Centre in Poland “Media System in Poland. An Overview of Transformation,” at http://www.obp.pl/media_system_in_poland.htm .

 

Further Readings:

Miklos Sukosd, "Democratic Transformation and the Mass Media in Hungary: from Stalinism to Democratic Consolidation in Hungary" in R. Gunther and A. Moughan, eds., Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000).
 

Slavko Splichal, “From State Control to Commodification: Media Democratization in East and Central Europe,” in Farrel Corcoran and Paschal Preston, eds., Democracy and Communication in the New Europe: Change and Continuity in East and West (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1995), p. 51-65.

 

Week Six - Approaching Ethnicity in Society and Mass Media. Stereotypes in Media.
 

Readings:

B. S. Greenberg, “Minorities and the Mass Media,” in J. Bryant & D. Zillman, ed., Perspectives on Media Effects (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986), p. 165-188. 
 

Charles Husband, ”General Introduction: Ethnicity and Media Democratization Within the Nation State,” in Charles Husband, ed., A Richer Vision: The Development of Ethnic Minority Media in Western Democracies (London: UNESCO and John Libbey, 1994), p. 1-19. 
 

Simon Cottle, “Introduction: Media Research and Ethnic Minorities: Mapping the Field,” in Simon Cottle, ed., Ethnic Minorities and the Media (Philadelphia: Open UP, 2000), p. 1-30. 
 

Further Readings:
 

Thomas K. Fitzgerald, “Media, Ethnicity and Identity,” in Paddy Scannell, Philip Schlesinger and Colin Sparks, Culture and Power: A Media, Culture & Society Reader (London: Sage Publications, 1992), p. 112-133.

 

Week Seven - Ethnic Stereotyping in Eastern Mass Media. Case Studies from Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
 

Readings: 

 

Arturas Tereskinas, “Towards a New Politics of Citizenship: Representations of Ethnic and Sexual Minorities in the Lithuanian Mass Media (2000-01),” in Miklos Sukosd and Peter Bajomi Lazar, eds., Reinventing Media: Media Policy in East Central Europe (Budapest, 2003).

 

Beata Klimkiewicz, “Ethnic Minorities and Media in Poland: Democracy Without Advocacy?”http://www.idsnet.org/Papers/Communications/BEATA_KLIMKIEWICZ.HTM

 

Project on Ethnic Relations: The Media of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Reporting on Interethnic Relations (Prague, March 3-6, 1994), p. 14-20. 

 

Vida Beresnevičiūtė, “The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Ethnic and Religious Tolerance in Lithuania,” in Julianna Matrai, ed., The Role Of Civil Society in Promoting Ethnic and Religious Tolerance in Central, South Eastern and Eastern Europe (Stiftung Fur Liberale Politic: Harald P. Klein, 1999), p. 38-41.

 

Gennady Kotov, “On the Situation with National Minorities in Latvia,” at http://www.minelres.lv/count/latvia/Minor_99.htm

 

Further Readings:
 

Robert Gadek, “Civil Initiatives as Tools of Promoting Tolerance - The Example of the Centre for Jewish Culture in Cracow, Poland,” in Julianna Matrai, ed., The Role Of Civil Society in Promoting Ethnic and Religious Tolerance in Central, South Eastern and Eastern Europe (Stiftung Fur Liberale Politic: Harald P. Klein, 1999), p. 46-49.

 

Week Eight – Sexuality and Gender in Society and in Mass Media. Theoretical Perspectives.

Readings:
 

Michelle A. Wolf, Alfred P. Kielwasser, “Introduction: The Body Electric – Human Sexuality and Mass Media,” in Michelle A. Wolf, Alfred P. Kielwasser, ed., Gay People, Sex and the Media (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1991), p. 7-18.
 

Larry Gross, “Sexual Minorities and the Media,” in Larry Gross, Up From Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America (New York: Columbia UP, 2001), p. 12-20.
 

Joshua Gamson, “Publicity Traps: Television Talk Shows and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Visibility,” in Christine L. Williams and Arlene Stein, ed., Sexuality and Gender (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), p. 311-331.

 

Further Readings:

 

Larry Gross, “Out of the Mainstream: Sexual Minorities and the Mass Media,” Michelle A. Wolf, Alfred P. Kielwasser, ed., Gay People, Sex and the Media (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1991), p. 19-46.

 

Week Nine - Gays and Lesbians in Eastern European Mass Media. Sexual Identity and Media.

 

Readings:

Arturas Tereskinas, “On the Margins: Representations of Sexual Minorities in the Lithuanian Press (2000-01),” in Sociologija: Mintis ir Veiksmas, no. 1 (2002): 34-40.
 

Excerpts from Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (Vilnius: Lithuanian Gay League, 2002).
 

Lambda Warszawa Association, Excerpts from Report on Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and in Poland, 2002.

 

Further Readings:

Moss, Kevin. "The Underground Closet: Political and Sexual Dissidence in Eastern Europe," in Ellen E. Berry, ed., Genders 22: Postcommunism and the Body Politic (1995): 229-251.
 

Andrew Stroehlein, “A Queer Taboo,” Central Europe Review, vol 1, no. 7, 9 August 1999, athttp://www.ce-review.org/99/7/theissue7.html.

 

Week Ten – Media Stereotypes of Roma Minority in Eastern European Media.

Readings:
 

Christina Rougheri, “Aliens of Gypsy Descent: Romani Images in the Greek Press,” in Roma Rights. Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Center no. 4 (1999): 28-34 or see at http://errc.org .
 

Istvan Fenyvesi, “’Citizens! Watch Out! There are Gypsies in the Passenger Section,’: Roma in the Ukrainian Media,” in Roma Rights. Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Center no. 4 (1999): 43-47. 
 

Gabor Bernath and Vera Messing, “Seen from Afar: Roma in the Hungarian Media,” in Roma Rights. Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Center no. 4 (1999), see at http://errc.org .

 

Further Readings:

Arturas Tereskinas, “Representations of Roma Minority in the Lithuanian Mass Media: Between Negative and Positive Stereotypes,” unpublished manuscript, Reader. 

 

Week Eleven – Hate Speech. What is Political Correctness?

 

Readings:

David Theo Goldberg, “Afterword: Hate or Power,” in Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden, ed., Hate Speech (London: Sage Publications, 1995), p. 267-275.
 

Helen Darbishire, “Hate Speech: New European Perspectives,” in Roma Rights. Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Center no. 4 (1999) at http://errc.org.

 

Further Readings:

Smolla, Rodney A. Free Speech in an Open Society (New York: Vintage Books, 1993).

 

Week Twelve – Mass Media and Issues of Access, Ownership, Censorship and Advocacy.

Readings:

 

Josef Trappel, Werner A. Meier, Chapter 13: “Media Concentration: Options for Policy,” in Denis McQuail, Karen Siune, ed., Media Policy: Convergence, Concentration and Commerce (London: Sage Publications, 1998).
 

Mario Hirsch, Vibeke G. Petersen, Chapter 14: “European Policy Initiatives,” inDenis McQuail, Karen Siune, ed., Media Policy: Convergence, Concentration and Commerce (London: Sage Publications, 1998).
 

Herman, Edward and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York: Pantheon, 1988), p. 1-37. 

 

Further Readings:

David Croteau and William Hoynes, The Business of Media: Corporate Media and the Public Interest (Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2001).

 

Week Thirteen - Minority Media andMinority Voices. Minority Media Policy.

 

Readings:

Stephen Harold Riggins, Ethnic Minority Media: An International Perspective (London: Sage, 1992), p. 1-20.
 

Helen Darbshire, “Minorities and Media Freedom Under International Law,” in Roma Rights. Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Center no. 4 (1999) (Special Issue on Romani Media/Mainstream Media), p. 60-68 or see at http://errc.org
 

Mike Cormack, “Minority Language Media in Western Europe: Preliminary Considerations,” in European Journal of Communication, vol. 13 (1): 33-52. 

 

Further Readings:
 

Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez, eds., Gender, Race and Class in Media (New York: Arnold, 1998).

 

Week Fourteen – Changing Representations/Challenging Hegemony.

 

Readings:

Stuart Hall, “Reversing the Stereotypes,” “Positive and Negative Images,” and “Through the Eye of Representation,” in Stuart Hall, ed., Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1997), p. 270-279.

 

Marketing J. Moritz, ‘The Gay Agenda: Marketing Hate Speech to Mainstream Media,” in Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden, ed., Hate Speech (London: Sage Publications, 1995), p. 55-79.

 

Further Readings: 

Iris Marion Young, “The Scaling of Bodies and the Politics of Identity,” in her Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1999), p. 122-191.

 

David Morley, Television, Audiences and Cultural Studies (London: Routledge, 1992).
 

Week Fifteen – Globalization of Mass Media and New Information Order.
 

Readings:

Steffan Verhulst & David Goldberg, “European Media Policy: Complexity and Comprehensiveness,” in Leen d’Haenens & Frieda Saeys, Media Dynamics & Regulatory Concerns in the Digital Age (Berlin: Quintessenz Verlags GmbH, 1997), p. 17-49. 
 

David Bennett, “Introduction,” in David Bennett, ed., Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity (New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 1-28.
 

Tapio Varis, “Global Communication in the Age of Cyberspace,” in The Global Network: Communication and Society in Eastern Europe, no. 4-5 (1996): 5-31.
 

Further Readings:

John Gabriel, “Globalization, Ethnic Identities and the Media,” in Whitewash: Racialized Politics and the Media (New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 11-38.

 

Week Sixteen – Students’ Presentations.

Back to My Home Page