Prompt

After reading Robert McChesney’s Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy, write an argumentative essay that addresses the following questions. You should write about one paragraph per question—and two paragraphs for those that ask you to address two examples, as noted below.

  1. What three topics does McChesney address in this book?
  2. What is Political Economy? What is the most fundamentally important determinant in this theory?
  3. Why is Political Economy a method better suited for his study than what the Skeptics and the Celebrants offer?
  4. What is Political Economy of Communication? What is the relationship between communication, economic resources, and political power?
  5. Summarize two examples, from Chapter 3, McChesney uses to explain the connection between communication, economic resources, and political power. You might consider selecting one historical and one contemporary example.
  6. Summarize two examples, from Chapter 4, that address how the openness of the Internet was closed by powerful monopolistic interests from the pre-Internet age.
  7. Summarize two examples, from Chapter 5, that address how the Internet has begat new emergent monopolistic interests in the digital age.
  8. Why does the Internet, according to McChesney in Chapter 6, threaten the viability of valuable public debate in journalism and what effect does that have for political power?
  9. Using two contemporary media industries we’ve studied in class, discuss how you would use political economy of communication to examine these media industries? What would your analysis tell us about the relationship of political power, economic resources, and contemporary media?
  10. Conclude with a discussion of whether you agree or disagree with McChesney’s method and why you think his use of political economy works (or doesn’t work) for studying contemporary media.

Rubric

I will evaluate your essay based on the following criteria:

  1. Your responses should be in paragraph form, consisting of multiple, complete sentences. Do not list in bullets or with numerals.
  2. Your essay should have an introduction that…
    1. summarizes the main argument of McChesney’s book, and
    2. explains how it is relevant for analyzing contemporary media.
  3. Your essay should answer each of the questions above, in order. Each response a paragraph in length. In the case of questions that ask for two examples, each response should consist of two pargraphs.
  4. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence.
  5. Each body paragraph should use examples, as the questions above require, to illustrate your topic sentence.
  6. You must cite pages numbers from the book in parentheses, e.g. (83). There is no need to include McChesney or the book title because I know that you are using only one source and I know which source you are using.
  7. Your conclusion should also include a topic sentence and a relevant discussion to explain why you agree or disagree with his use of political economy.

Specifications

  1. Your paper must be a Google Doc. No other format is acceptable.
  2. Your paper must be typed and double-spaced.
  3. Your paper must include your name on the first page.
  4. Cite your sources using only a page number in parentheses from McChesney’s book. If you used any outside sources, which you do not need to use for this assignment, then you must include a reference list at the end of your document.
  5. Submit your final paper to Google Classroom, as a Google Doc, by Friday, December 14.