COMN 1000, ‘Introduction to Communications’, 2012-13

Final essay
The final essay will be 1500-2000 words in length (6 pages, double-spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, not including footnotes and bibliography

Plagiarism of any written assignment is punishable by failure of the course. Be sure to hand in both an electronic copy and a paper copy of your paper, and be sure to save your research notes and rough drafts.

Topics
1. Provide an overview of the structure and operation of the feature film industry in Canada. Historically, what have been the major problems/issues facing this industry and Canadian feature film? Realistically, what might be done about these problems? Given the history and current situation what do you think the future holds for the Canadian feature film industry?

2. What roles can community media play in providing alternatives to dominant media sources? What challenges or limitations do community media face, including those resulting from commercial pressures and influences? Starting from these general questions, develop a case study of one specific community media source.

3. What is concentration of media ownership? Why is it an issue in Canada? Is allowing foreign companies to hold majority ownership of Canadian media companies a possible solution to this problem? Why or why not?

4. Historically, what role has the CBC played in the Canadian broadcasting system? With the proliferation of communications technology, and what some claim to be ever expanding choice in media products, is there a future for the CBC and public broadcasting? Discuss.

5. What are “Canadian content” regulations? Why were they implemented? How do they operate? Have they been successful? Why or why not? Should they be replaced by some other mode of regulation? Should they just be dropped? Discuss.

6. What is “media imperialism”? Focusing your research either on Canada or another country/region, discuss how media imperialism manifests…