Much of course is organised around analyses of texts drawn from the world's print and online media. These analyses will explore the key stylistic and communicative properties of some typical news reports and commentaries and will thereby provide you with a framework for conducting your own analyses.
In the sections below I introduce a sample of these texts (you will be returning to at least some of these in later units) in order to illustrate some of the issues we will be addressing through the course. In this unit we begin by having a relatively superficial look at the texts and the types of questions they raise. Accordingly, in the following pages you will be asked to answer some questions and to comment on various aspects of the texts and text extracts. You will be provided with text boxes and various typical web page devices to enable you to do this online. Your answers, comments, complaints, questions etc will be collected and transmitted electronically to a central database. This material will then be used to provide the starting point for the discussion at the next week's seminar. It will mean we can go straight into debate and discussion and hence, hopefully, cover more material and perhaps engage in some livelier debates. In the week after the seminar, some selection of this material will be posted back to the Mass Media Rhetoric web pages so that you'll be able to read what those in other groups have had to say on the issues raised/questions asked.
In order to facilitate this process, you will need to supply some form of identification on the form which is provided on the next page. There you should also indicate which seminar group you usually attend. Then we'll be able to move forward into this exciting world of online interaction. Think of it as part of exploring NEW MEDIA experiences.
