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February 07, 2005

Lecture: Who makes law & policy and how do they do it?

Online Class Reader: Inside the Beltway

read Ch. 4 "Inside the Beltway as an Interpretive Community" (pp. 113-162), from: Streeter T. (1999). Selling the Air: A Critique of the Policy of Commercial Broadcasting in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=44651

Online Class Reader: Administrative Law

The section titled Administrative Law (pp. 35-40.), from: Carter, T. B., Franklin, M. A., & Wright, J. B. (2003). The First Amendment and the Fifth Estate. (6th ed.) New York: Foundation Press. http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=44649

Assignment: BLOG POST: Explain how to be a policy expert.

Streeter argues in "Inside the Beltway," that law and policy can be understood as theater -- in other words, communication policy is like a play in which different people have roles (commissioner, judge, expert). For this assignment, condense Streeter's chapter: write some short, practical advice to someone who wants to play the role of policy expert (e.g., see p. 132). If you like, you can format this as a list of stage directions -- things to do and not to do. The article contains many examples that may be useful -- please cite the page number when you refer to an example taken from the article. Post an answer in your blog that is at least 200 words. DEADLINE: 1 p.m. -- one hour before class begins.

Assignment: Post a test comment to anyone's blog

By today, you should have signed up for a TypeKey account and figured out how to post a comment to a blog entry. This assignment is not graded (but if you don't do it, you won't be able to do the next assignments.) For help, see the Illustrated Guide to Blogging on the help/handouts page.