Professor Tracey's long standing research interest is in the nature of cultural production.. He has recently refocused his long standing interest in the nature and condition of public service broadcasting. To this end he has completed two long essays on the BBC, the first dealing with John Reith and what he describes as the 'original intent' of the BBC, the second dealing with the BBC today and the way in which public policy developments are changing that intent. He has completed a book manuscript on post-war public broadcasting in Germany. He continues to do background research for the biography of Donald Baverstock. He is also interested in the relationship of cultural production to levels of literacy. In this context he has begun to write extensively about the condition of literacy and reading, particularly in light of the digital revolution and the fact of the immersion of children in multiple forms of technology , particularly for language and cognitive development
keywords
american popular culture, culture and literacy, public broadcasting, BBC, critical theory, media history
MDST 2002 - Media and Communication History
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2019
Examines the historical development of communication forms, tools, technologies and institutions (orality, writing, printing, photography, film, radio, television, computers, internet); their influence on culture (forms of expression and social relationships); and their impact on social and individual experience. Applies knowledge of communication history to contemporary social issues and problems in media and society, domestically and internationally.
MDST 3201 - Media, Culture and Globalization
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2019
Surveys the political and economic structures of media system in developed and developing countries and discusses the impact of privatization, ownership consolidation, and globalization on the flow of information across national borders. Also looks at how global media flows and counter-flows affect conceptions of nationhood and cultural identity.
MDST 3791 - Media and the Public
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2022
Provides an overview of how publishing in print and electronic forms has been tied closely to democratic ideals for centuries. Explores how the idea of the public is central to the theory and practice of media politics, and how the contested concepts of "the public sphere" and "public opinion" have long been linked to debates about the proper relationship between media and democratic citizenship.
MDST 4111 - Crime, Media and Contemporary Culture
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024
Addressed in the course are a range of issues from within a variety of literatures that consider the ways in which the media cover crime. Those literatures are particularly drawn from sociology and the emergent, and increasingly dominant, field of cultural criminology. The focus of the class is to get students to think of "crime" as a constructed and mediated concept and set of narratives that often create problematic public "understandings".
MDST 4931 - Internship
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022
