1. Essay - 2000 words (due 28 May
"We are producing and consuming news around the world in a new regime of truth". Discuss.

During the course you will prepare and present three short presentations on Photographs and Video and Word-based media around the world - from both Big Media and small, independent media. The second assignment will consist of your  three presentations and a short (750 word) evaluation.

The aim of the second assignment is for you to explore the relations between 'Big' and 'Small' media (around the world) using the various theoretical tools we have been using by directly focusing on real photos, words and videos. 

You can pick any country or area around the world for your presentations and can work on your own or in groups. Attached to this page is a worksheet that should help you structure your presentation. When your submit your final self-evaluation, you should include the three worksheets and any other material you like. Feel free to contact Paul while you'r working on your presentations if you need any help.

• The presentation doesn't have to be long. Just long enough to make some useful analytical points or raise some interesting questions... or both.
• You can use 'Powerpoint' if you like (use Google Docs Presentation if you need to). But you can use a whiteboard or just talk if easier.
• Obvious starting points for material are www.pressdisplay.com , www.globalvoicesonline.org , www.nowpublic.com but there are lots of others, probably some you have added to your Google reader. If you get stuck for material, let me know.
• Think of approaching the texts AND the practices in terms of our theoretical models - semiotics to look at how texts mean, regime of truth to look at the  power-full rules for practices and global media/culture industry for the economic/political/cultural context around globalisation. 
• Make use of your own cultural knowledge about the country under investigation. Look for how the specifics of that country's culture or other media and arts and politics etc relate to the text and practices.

RE Absence:

If for any reason you can't make any of the three presentation sessions you need to:

1. Let me know in advance.
2. Submit a written version of the short presentation you miss along with the self-evaluation by the final week.

If you don't I can only mark you on the presentations you do complete.

Submitting second assignment:

You need to hand in:

1. Your three two presentations (one on 'photos' and one on 'video' and one on 'words'). These can be in the form of written pieces; URLs for shared PowerPoint presentations on Google or here on the site or print outs of the slides.
2. A 'self assessment' - a 500-750 word reflection on the presentations. This should cover:

• A critical assessment of what worked and what didn't; what you included and what you might include now if you did it again.
• A reflection on the comments and discussion in class around your presentations (from me and other students)

A few things you might want to say:

• ... you thought the video examples you picked were interesting but that finding an example from the country at the heart of the story might have helped you make the point you wanted to about how news is culturally located...
• ... you thought the point that was made in thde discussion about how the pictures still bore the traces of 'old rules of the decisive moment' was a good one and that you might want to look for other images to see if that held true elsewhere.
• ... the point you were trying to ake about how the media is seen in Country X didn't really come across and so the group ended up talking about the poiticial rather than the media situation.

You might

You need to hand in this second assignment and the first assignment together with the Portfolio Cover Sheet to the Birkbeck office in Russell Square by Friday 10th July.

UPDATE: because the video presentations took longer than I anticipated (beacuse they were so interesting) I have moved the final 'lecture' on 'Words Around the World' to the final week. this means thayt there will not be time for a final round of presentations. So you need only submit two presentations along with your self-evaluation - one on Photos and one on Video. you can of course do a third if you like.