Public Opinion and the Media

Assignment 3 (summative): Critical reading of a scholarly text of your choice.
In this assignment we want you to try and demonstrate criteria 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 by discussing a reading of your choice. We have selected a couple of texts which we think you might find interesting and which are relevant to this module:

Arnold, M. [1869] (2006) Culture and Anarchy In J. Storey (ed.) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, 3rd ed. (6-11). Harlow: Pearson.
Andrejevic, M. (2008) ‘Watching Television Without Pity: The Productivity of Online Fans’, Television & New Media, 9(1): 24–46.
Downey, J. and Fenton, N. (2003) New Media, Counter Publicity and the Public Sphere. New Media & Society, 5(2):185–202.
Herman, E. (2000) ‘The Propaganda Model: A Retrospective’, Journalism Studies, 1(1): 101–12.
Lippmann, W. (1922) Public opinion, New York: Harcourt, Brace.
(We have selected chapter 24, but you might prefer to write about another chapter in this book. Feel free to browse!)

Marx, K & Engels [1976] (2009) The ruling class and ruling ideas. In Durham, M and D. Kellner (eds) Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks (9-12). Oxford: Blackwell.
Webster, F. (2006) ‘The information society revisited’, in L. A. Lievrouw and S. Livingstone(eds) The handbook of new media: updated student edition (443–57). London: Sage.

As part of your research and reading for this module you might have come across a text which you prefer to the texts above and on which you want to focus for this assignment. If you want to select your own text, please note that your seminar leader or Sanna as module organiser must agree that you can use this text. So please contact him/her before you start writing your assignment. If you want to select your own text, please keep in mind that this text must be scholarly and relevant to this module. We recommend that it is no longer than a book chapter or a journal article.
When you write your assignment, remind yourself of the feedback you received on both formative assignments and try to apply what you have learnt. If you want to discuss your ideas with us, you are more than welcome to contact us. However, please note that we will not read drafts of your essay. We will read and discuss with you your essay plans, your choice of reading and referencing.
The upper word limit for this assignment is 2000 words. Please familiarise yourself with the university’s word count policy in the University Student Handbook:
https://www.uea.ac.uk/learningandteaching/handbooks
You must submit this assignment by 3pm, December 17th 2012. Penalties for late submission apply. Please consult the University Student Handbook to find out more about this university policy (see link above).