COM 436Media Effects Group Presentation and Paper Ideas

COM 436 Media Effects Presentation & Paper Ideas n February 5: Effects of Movies on Children/ Adults –Effects of Horror or Scary Movies Why are people drawn to these? –Ethnic and Cultural Images & Entertainment Hollywood’s portrayal of minorities (or a specific minority) on TV and/or in Movies –Past? Present? Comparison between the two? –Influence of Comic Books on Youth n February 12: Media’s Role in a Political Campaign –2000 Presidential Campaign Media’s mistake in calling the winner of the Florida electorate –Upcoming Elections in Hawaii All 76 congressional seats up for election –Effect of newspaper endorsements of candidates

COM 436 Media Effects Presentation & Paper Ideas n February 19: Daytime Radio Serials –Effects of Soap Operas –Effects of Talk Shows Oprah, Jerry Springer, Montel –Effects of Courtroom Shows Judge Judy n February 28: Adoption of Innovation –The Impact of New Technologies Internet Pagers and Cell Phones PDA’s Downloadable Music (MP3 & Napster)

COM 436 Media Effects Presentation & Paper Ideas n March 7 & 14: Communication and Persuasion –Subliminal Advertising TV commercials, magazine advertisements Tobacco ads, liquor ads, sex sells –Analysis of persuasive speech What makes certain people more persuasive than others? –Use of Humor in persuasion n March 21: Personal Influence –Use of sports stars, or movie stars for product endorsement

COM 436 Media Effects Presentation & Paper Ideas n April 4: Use of Leaflets –Leaflets dropped during WWII, Viet Nam conflict, Gulf war, Afghanistan & War on Terrorism –Purpose? Successful? Wording? Content? –How many? Where? How often? n April 16: Television and Children –Any connection between what is viewed and behavior? –Average number of hours watched versus playing? –Connection between cartoons, and toy marketing? –Influence of MTV’s Jackass

COM 436 Media Effects Presentation & Paper Ideas n April 23: Agenda-Setting Function of the Press –“The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.” Bernard Cohen, political scientist n April 30: Violence in the Media –Connection between viewing violence and aggressive behavior? Desensitization? –Influence of media and/or music lyrics on the high school shootings? Colorado?, Arkansas? –Copycat Phenomenon Wife murders abusive husband by pouring gasoline on bed and setting it on fire.

COM 436 Media Effects Resources n On-line (begin search with Google or other search engine) –cnn.com, abcnews.com, 20-20, Nightline archives n Bibliography at the end of the relevant chapter in the text n Hamilton Library n Wong AV Center n School of Communications Library –George Hall 301 back room n Brent’s Office