DOCUMENT RESUME ED 415 540 CS 509 665 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (80th, Chicago, Illinois, July 30-August 2, 1997): Media Management and Economics. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE 1997-07-00 NOTE 315p.; For other sections of these Proceedings, see CS 509 657-676. PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) Reports Research (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Case Studies; Childrens Literature; *Economic Factors; Journalism; *Mass Media Role; Media Research; News Media; *Newspapers; *Publishing Industry; *Television; World War II IDENTIFIERS High Definition Television; Indiana; Journalists; Kentucky; Market Research; *Media Management; Stock Market ABSTRACT The Media Management and Economics section of the Proceedings contains the following 14 papers: "The Case Method and Telecommunication Management Education: A Classroom Trial" (Anne Hoag, Ron Rizzuto, and Rex Martin); "It's a Small Publishing World after All: Media Monopolization of the Children's Book Market" (James L. McQuivey and Megan K. McQuivey); "The National Program Service: A New Beginning?" (Matt Jackson); "State Influence on Public Television: A Case Study of Indiana and Kentucky" (Matt Jackson); "Do Employee Ethical Beliefs Affect Advertising Clearance Decisions at Commercial Television Stations?" (Jan LeBlanc Wicks and Avery Abernethy); "Job Satisfaction among Journalists at Daily Newspapers: Does Size of Organization Make a Difference?" (Kris P. Kodrich and Randal A. Beam); "Network Affiliation Changes and Inheritance Effects" (Marianne Barrett and Charles C. Brotherton); "A Profile of Potential High-Definition Television Adopters in the United States" (Michel Dupagne); "The Effect of the VCR on the Mass Media Markets in Korea, 1961-1993: The Principle of Relative Constancy Reapplied" (Sung Tae Kim); "Entrepreneurship and Economics: Essentials of the Media Management Course" (Mary Alice Shaver); "Wage Stabilization and the Daily Newspaper Commission in World War II" (Mary Alice Shaver and Anthony Hatcher); "Newspaper Stocks and Stock Market Indicators: A Comparison and Analysis of Means of Tracking Performance" (Regina Lewis and Robert G. Picard); "Rosse's Model Revisited: Moving from Linearity to Concentric Circles to Explain Newspaper Competition" (Janet A. Bridges, Barry Litman, and Lamar W. Bridges); and "Playing the Market: Diversification as a Management Strategy among Publicly Traded Newspaper Companies" (John Carvalho). Individual papers contain references. (CR) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATION IN JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION (80th, Chicago, Illinois, July 30-August 2, 1997) : MEDIA MANAGEMENT and ECONOMICS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY r ceived from the person ororganization riginating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy... 1 2 The Case Method andTelecommunication Management Education: A Classroom Trial by Anne Hoag <[email protected]>* Ron Rizzuto <rrizzuto @du.edu > ** Rex Martin <[email protected]>* Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Convention Media Management and Economics Division "Call for Teaching Papers" July 30 - August 2,1997 *The Pennsylvania State University, 218 Carnegie, University Park, PA 16802 **University of Denver, 2020 Race Street, Denver, CO 80208 ABSTRACT The Case Method andTelecommunication ManagementEducation: A Classroom Trial The efficacy of the case methodis well known but only sometimesused in media management education.Now, as the convergence of mediatechnologies and industries accelerates, thereis a growing need for media management courses that teach across abroader array of technologies and management functions. The case method is particularlytuned to this kind of integrative experience-based learning. This paper, intended as apractical resource for educators, reviews case method literature andrelates the results of a recent classroom trial in which complex telecommunicationmanagement cases were used with encouraging results. 4 2 The Case Methodand TelecommunicationManagement Education: A Classroom Trial Introduction Both student demand for mediamanagement education and instructor demand for innovative teachingtools are growing. More than ever,students express a desire toobtain skills and experience thatwill give them an edge in the employment marketplace. In a sense,this is a gratifying turn of events for educators. However, this places increasing pressureon educators to offer the most current, the most realistic andthe most relevant lessons and to choosethe most effective means of promoting practicallearning.- In the age of convergence, the additionalchallenge in teaching media management is integration of the confusing arrayof new technologies and new product markets that hardly existed a few years ago.What's more, since our students are preparing for the re-engineeredworkplace of the 21st century, their success will depend on possessingthe skill to solve simultaneous strategic problems in programming, technlogy, marketing,finance, human resources, customer service and regulation. Currently, media management, or more particularlytelecommunication management courses, are generally taught by thetraditional lecture method. In the lecture method, students absorb materialfrom (instantly dated) textbooks and other readings and from the teacher's lectures.The method has its advantages, certainly. Intelecommunications, some teachers mayfeel lectures are the best way totransfer the same set of information ontechnology and policy, for examples, to everystudent. Lectures may be the choicewhen it is important that every studentacquire the same facts. However,the method is limited as a means of developingproblem solving reasoning. The case method, on the other hand, is a veryattractive means of learning when the subject is management.Teaching by the case method is nothing new in media management education.The efficacy of the case method is well known and media management casematerial that focuses on broadcasting and print media is available. However, as the convergenceof media technologies and industries accelerates, there is agrowing need for media management courses that link an expanding array oftechnologies and management functionson-line newspapers and marketing, direct broadcast satellite and finance, personal communication systems and organizational behavior. Some excellent case material designed for undergraduate education exists but it focuses largely on single topics and hardly at all upon current telecommunications management issues. However, there are sophisticated and complex cases developed for executive level training in the telecommunications industry. These high level cases were adopted recently for an advanced undergraduate media management course with very positive results. The 6 4 lessons of this experiment suggestthe case approach deserves broader adoption in media managementeducation. In this paper, case method literatureis briefly reviewed, currently available case material andteacher development resources are describedand the results of the classroom trial are presented.The objective of this exercise is to provide the interested telecommunicationsmanagement teacher with a single resource on which to build a successfulcase-based course. The Case Method In mass communications education, the case method haslong been the obvious choice for subjects such as communications law, mediaethics, and others where the central principles and theories can be brought to lifethrough concrete examples. This tradition of providing students with simulations of real problems has a long history. In U. S. higher education, we think of professional education in medicine, business and law as the places where the case approach was pioneered (Merseth, 1991). Indeed, Harvard LawSchool first used reported court decisions as the basis for classroom instruction in the 1860s (Donham, 1922). Business schools have long relied on the case method for its ability to demonstrate the interrelatedness of management functions. A 1931 primer on the method defines the philosophy at Harvard Business School, "[Students] realize that they are dealing with actual business situations rather than with 7 5 intangible theories and that the thought,method of approach, and principles applied in reaching a decision may beused in solving similar problems later in life (Fraser, p. 6)." Early in this century, John Dewey's pragmatistphilosophy on education connected thinking as a method to the importanceof experience. He faulted educators of the day with assuming that studentshad experience, that is, had the experience of "trying to do something andhaving the thing perceptibly do something to one in return (1916)." An experience, or empirical situation, was one that occurred