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UC Center Program
Courses - Fall 2009
PCC 117. French Media: From the Newspaper to the Internet
| Professor Sarah Juliette Sasson
Office Hours
by appointment
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Lecture
TBA |
This course will explore the interaction between French media and contemporary society. The aim of the course is to give participants a detailed understanding of the various media: press, television, radio, publishing and the internet. Themes will include the genesis and growth of the French media, institutionalization of the media, media and politics, media as a tool of power, and the identity of the French media within Europe and a globalized world. We will contextualize the current state of affairs and look closely at the way the nineteenth century paved the way for modern media today. Each class will be divided in two parts: an interactive seminar followed by a workshop in which we will explore specific issues and questions in greater detail. The course will also include visits to several institutions of contemporary media as well as interventions from actors in the French media sphere. These will be noted in revisions to the syllabus as they are confirmed. [Communications, History, Sociology]; 5.0 credits
COURSE MATERIALS
- Raymond Kuhn, The Media in France, Routledge, 1994.
- Course Reader ([CR] hereafter)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
- Attendance/Participation: 30%
- Presentation: 10 %
- Midterm: 15%
- Research paper: 20%
- Final Exam: 25%
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1. September 7-11
Introduction
Workshop: Overview of the different media actors
Week 2. September 14-18
The Origins: Reading Practices in the Eighteenth Century
Salons, cabinets de lecture, book circulation.
Reading:
Workshop: The Culture of libelles. Chantal Thomas on Marie-Antoinette
Week 3. September 21- 25
Cultural Production and Politics in the Nineteenth Century
Journalism in the nineteenth century: circulation, influence, the role of feuilletons.
Reading:
- Balzac, Lost Illusions [excerpt]; Raymond Kuhn, Media in France
Workshop: Caricature and Humour in the Nineteenth Century.
Week 4. September 28-October 2
The Presse écrite between Tradition and Economic Necessity
Reading:
- Raymond Kuhn, “The Press: History and Economics”
Workshop: Paris Match
- Nicolas Hewitt. “The Birth of the Glossy Magazines: The Case of Paris Match” in B.Rigby and N.Hewitt, France and the Mass Media. (McMillan, 1991)
Week 5. October 5-9
Radio as a Tool of Power
Reading:
- Kuhn, Media in France. Hélène Eck, “Radio, Culture and Democracy in the Immediate Postwar Period, 1944-1950” in Brian Rigby and Nicholas Hewitt eds, France and the Mass Media (London: MacMillan, 1991)
- Bridget Knapper, “beur FM: Agent of Integration or Ghettoisation?”, Web Journal of French Media Studies, Vol 6:1, Dec.2003.
Workshop: Broadcasting French culture
- RFI, TV5, France 24, www.france24.com, www.tv5.org, www.rfi.fr
Week 6. October 12-16
TV: From De Gaulle to the Decline of the State Television
Reading:
Workshop. Covering the News. Main Differences between France and the US
Week 7. October 19-23
Towards a Privatized TV
Reading:
Workshop: Les Guignols
Week 7. October 19-23
Classes and Midterm
FALL BREAK
Week 8. November 2-6
The Shadow of Reality TV
Film and Discussion: “Le Prix du Danger” (Yves Boisset, 1983)
Week 9. November 9-13
Distinct Voices: French Publishers and the Cultural Landscape
Workshop: The “Exception française”. How to Run a Small Press Today.
Week 10. November 16-20
French Critics on Media.
Reading:
- Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle (London, New York, Verso, 1998)
- Pierre Bourdieu: On Television (New York: New Press, 1998)
- Olivier Razac, “Real TV: the Art of Taming” and Martin Winckler “The Screens of Contempt,” in Manières de voir [Le Monde diplomatique], December 2007-January 2008.
Workshop: The Role of the Anglophone Press in Europe
Week 11. November 23-27
New Media. The Rise of the Internet
Readings:
- Paul Virilio, Politics of the Very Worst (New York: Semiotext(e), 1999)
- Lee Siegel, Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob (New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2008)
Workshop: The French Facebook. Are France’s New Media Original?
Week 12. November 30-December 4.
Review and Presentation of Students’ Research
Week 13.
Final Exams.
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