Year 3, Semester 6

Media English

Essay Topics and Guidelines

At the end of this module you will need to submit a piece of written work between 750-1250

words on one of the following topics questions:-

1) Does the drop in sales figures of books and newspapers, in English speaking

countries, reflect a `dumbing down' of society?

2) “The internet is a marvelous tool, and clearly it is the information delivery system of our future. But thus far, it does not deliver much first-generation reporting. Instead, it leeches that reporting from mainstream news publications, whereupon aggregating websites and bloggers contribute little more than repetition, commentary and froth.”

Do you agree or disagree with David Simon's statement about the future of print news production? Justify your answer with at least two key arguments.

3) Is radio a media form that can survive into the late-21^st Century? Give at least three arguments for or against radio's continued existence in the 21^st Century.

4) What might be some of the reasons why magazine sales have remained relatively stable in English speaking countries, whilst newspaper sales have rapidly declined over the last decade?

5) 'Infantilism's the problem. The number of times I turn on the television and I think: "Gosh, children's television's gone on, that's a really good art documentary... Oh my God, it's nine o'clock in the evening. This is for grown-ups?"'

Is Stephen Fry justified in suggesting that 21^st Century television programming caters for children more than adults? Justify your answer with at least two key arguments.

6) “One of the things that I've noticed with criticisms of the Internet is that very often they're displaced criticisms of television. That there are a lot of people, Nick Carr especially is a recent addition to the canon, wringing their hands over the end of literary reading. And they're laying that at the foot of the Internet. It seems to me, in fact, from the historical record, that the idea of literary reading as a sort of broad and normal activity was done in by television, and it was done in forty years ago.”

How does Clay Shirky (as quoted above) suggest that internet media forms differ from the dominant 20^th Century media forms of Print, Television/Cinema and Radio? Give at least three excellent examples.

Guidelines

Your essay needs to be between 750-1250 words and should be on only one of the topic

questions from above. If you wish to submit an alternative topic question that you wish to

write about, then you must do so by Friday 15^th April 2011. In the event of an alternative

essay topic submission, all other students will be made aware of the topic and will have the

possibility to submit an essay upon it. The essay should be word-processed, with at least 1,5

line spacing to enable paper marking, if necessary. All essays need to be submitted by no

later than Saturday September 6^th 2011. Please ensure that all submissions via e-mail have

an attached .rtf or .doc file, for electronic correction and feedback.

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