COMM 457Media Audiences and Contexts

3 credits · Communications · Penn State

Survey of the ways media attempt to influence audience reception and how audiences hold sway over media content. COMM 457 Media Audiences and Contexts (3) The course begins with an examination of how the mass audience is conceived as a statistical entity by analyzing quantitative methods such as the Nielsen ratings. Much of the course is then spent interrogating how this statistical information is used and by whom. If the audience is created as a commodity and is sold to advertisers, what ethical guidelines are in place? How do audience profiles influence the programs we see and consume? As media become more and more fragmented, how does the problem of audience as a commodity get resolved? Students utilize a case-study approach to explore a variety of audience problems and present their findings in papers, demonstrations, and exhibitions.