CMST 1100 - Introduction to Mass Communication

1. Identify and apply mass communication theories to real-life examples.
2. Evaluate the impact of the emerging communication technologies on society.
3. Understand the history and development of mass communication.
4. Evaluate the history, purposes, strengths, and weaknesses of various media.
5. Analyze the impact of advertising on consumers.
6. Understand basic public relations history and applications.
7. Evaluate the impact of mass communication on societal and cultural values.
8. Understand the organization and structure of media industries.
9. Understand fundamental media laws and regulations.
10. Understand and analyze media ethics.
11. Understand, analyze, and evaluate the global media industry.
12. Understand and analyze contemporary media issues and trends.
13. Gather factual information and apply it to a given problem in a manner that is relevant, clear, comprehensive, and conscious of possible bias in the information selected.
14. Identify a variety of possible goals, assumptions, interpretations, or perspectives that can give alternative meaning or solutions to given situations or problems.
15. Analyze the logical connections among the facts, goals, and implicit assumptions relevant to a problem or claim; generate and evaluate implications that follow from them.
16. Understand and apply the value assumptions that underlie and affect decisions, interpretations, analyses, and evaluations made by ourselves and others.

1. A critical approach to mass media - mass media theory, mass media’s role in society, mass media and democracy
2. The internet, digital media, and media convergence - the social and political effects of our digital information and entertainment culture; the effects of digital convergence on legacy mass media
3. Mass media history including the invention of newspapers, radio, film, television, and the internet and the changes each brought to the way we receive information
4. The ethical issues surrounding journalism
5. Advertising and commercial culture
6. Public relations and framing a message for a particular audience
7. Media economics and the global marketplace
8. The mass communication research methods of media effects and cultural studies
9. Legal controls and freedom of expression
10. Media literacy