First Class

Today I taught a class on mass media systems. I began the class with a group activity in which students had to invent a prime time program that would fit the paradigm of the media system within their country of origin. We then had a class discussion and I observed the same phenomenon among students as I experienced here three years ago. Whether they were from Germany, Mexico, Czech Republic or Bangladesh, all felt the public/commercial hybrid media systems in their countries were far superior to that of the United States' commercial system. Yet when I asked each of them what their favorite programs were, guess what they named? You guessed it... American Idol, The Office, The Sopranos, etc. etc. When I asked them if they would like to see the commercial channels taken off the air in their countries they emphatically said NO.

When I showed them UCF students' newscast they were not impressed, nor were they impressed by any of my students' documentaries. A German student found all of it "annoying." At least he didn't call it "American crap!" like a Czech student did last time I was here.

In a classroom setting, International Students are tough. But, when you get them in the studio they know very, very little about camera work, editing, etc. They loosen up a bit when they are doing more hands-on work and they discover it's not easy to make any television program look good.