About BTMM
Welcome to the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and
Mass Media (BTMM) at Temple University. We are one of six academic
departments in Temple's School of Communications and Theater,
located in Annenberg Hall on Temple's main Campus.
As the information and entertainment media industries rapidly
evolve, it's an exciting time to study the production of media
messages and products and their many roles in our lives.
The dynamic mix of BTMM courses prepares students for careers in
rapidly changing communications fields such as television and
radio, the recording industry, new media, organizational
management, telecommunications, media research and consulting, and
much more.
Our Mission
The mission of the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications
and Mass Media is to train students to responsibly create, reflect
on and analyze media content and institutions.
The media content includes commercial and industrial presentations in genres including information (news and documentary), music, comedy, sports, drama, and persuasion, and is distributed nationally and internationally via mass and personal electronic media including radio and television, mp3 and other audio recording media, the internet, videotapes, DVDs, and more.
The media institutions we train students for create (e.g., production studios), distribute (e.g., television and radio networks) and analyze (e.g., audience measurement companies) media products. BTMM students reflect on media content and institutions - think about them purposefully and critically - and analyze them systematically via formal research tools such as participant observation, interviews, surveys, experiments, and content analysis.
We prepare students to act responsibly, applying high ethical standards as they interact with the world both in careers in media
institutions and as citizens.
A secondary goal of the department is to have a positive impact on
current and future professional media creation and analysis. Our
students develop both the technical and critical skills to create
high quality and meaningful media products, respond appropriately
to ethically challenging dilemmas in the professional world, and to
thoughtfully evaluate the media products and patterns they
encounter as consumers and citizens.
Our Curriculum
The Bachelor of Arts degree program in the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications, and Mass Media allows students to
obtain the knowledge and skills they need for successful careers in
three broad areas, which are represented in the department’s
curriculum:
Media Production and Performance
The courses in Media Production & Performance provide students with
the conceptual and technical tools to create media content in a variety of formats and genres. The emphasis is on the production of
content for large, diverse populations. Students who study in this
area develop strong professional skills as well as critical and
analytical abilities that will enable them to evaluate content for
television, radio, and new electronic media.
Television Production
Our television production courses offer access to HD cameras, three
television studios, and a digital video editing center that
features Avid and Final Cut Pro work stations. BTMM students
produce content designed for broadcast, cable, and emerging
audio/visual media. Specific projects vary each semester and
include music video, documentary, sports, and comedy.
The Television Practicum offers students the opportunity to write, produce and perform for "Temple Update". The program gives Temple students the opportunity to gain news gathering experience during their college years. In addition to Philadelphia and other major media markets, the alumni of "Temple Update" are working all across the United States. Anchorage, Cincinnati, Tampa, Nashville, Richmond and an army base in Guam are just some of the places former Updaters now call home.
Recording Industry
Recording Industry courses provide a world-class education in music
production technology, techniques and business working with working
producers, musicians and a Grammy® winning engineer in a controlled
environment. This environment helps foster the risk-taking that is critical to developing the new business models and exciting, new
music needed to reinvigorate the industry.
Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as producer, writer, Videographer, and talent in traditional and emerging media.
Media Business & Entrepreneurship
The courses in Media Business & Entrepreneurship are about the
practical and ethical ways to start, operate or participate in an
enterprise that concerns itself with the creation, production,
and/or distribution of media content.
Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media
production freelancer, new media entrepreneur, production company
owner and operator, station owner and operator, and channel owner
and operator.
Media Analysis
The courses in Media Analysis provide students with a critical understanding of the role of media in contemporary culture, including media technology as a cultural force, the nature of media institutions, the factors that influence audiences, the comprehension of mediated texts, and the media as a source of shared social identities.
Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media consultant in politics, education, government, and the non-profit sector; editorial or technical writer; professor; fund raiser in government, non-profit and educational sectors; media activist; media specialist, speech writer, or community activist in government; consumer affairs advocate; corporate communication producer; market research analyst; media sales person; media literacy advocate.
This web site contains much information about our department, its programs, courses and, most important, its people. But if you can't findwhat you're looking for, please contact us and we'll be happy to help!
Scholarly Venues for BTMM Students: Conferences
www.icahdq.org - International Communication Association
The International Communication Association aims to advance
the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging
and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide.
The purposes of the Association are (1) to provide an
international forum to enable the development, conduct, and
critical evaluation of communication research; (2) to
sustain a program of high quality scholarly publication and
knowledge exchange; (3) to facilitate inclusiveness and
debate among scholars from diverse national and cultural
backgrounds and from multi-disciplinary perspectives on
communication-related issues; and (4) to promote a wider
public interest in, and visibility of, the theories,
methods, findings and applications generated by research in
communication and allied fields.
www.natcom.org/nca - National Communication Association
NCA is a scholarly society and as such works to enhance the
research, teaching, and service produced by its members on
topics of both intellectual and social significance. Staff
at the NCA National Office follow trends in national
research, teaching, and service priorities. It both relays
those opportunities to its members and represents the
academic discipline of communication in those national
efforts.
www.aoir.org - Association of Internet Researchers
The Association of Internet Researchers is an academic
association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-
disciplinary field of Internet studies. It is a member-based
support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet
research independent from traditional disciplines and
existing across academic borders. The association is
international in scope.
www.aejmc.org - Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication is a non-profit, educational association of
journalism and mass communication faculty, administrators,
students and media professionals.
http://www.beaweb.org/ - Broadcast Education Association
The Broadcast Education Association is the professional
association for professors, industry professionals and
graduate students who are interested in teaching and
research related to electronic media and multimedia
enterprises.
www.global-fusion.org/ - Global Fusion.
The Purpose of the Global Fusion Conference Series is to
promote academic excellence in international-intercultural
communications studies worldwide. These conferences bring
together scholars and professionals interested in mass
communications, journalism, comparative broadcasting,
diplomacy and cross-border communication, advertising, new
technology, media economics and privatization, cultural
effects, visual communication, media and international law,
and global dialogues in search of peace.
http://www.ecasite.org/ - Eastern Communication Association
The Eastern Communication Association was initially
established in 1910 and continues as the oldest professional
communication association in the United States. As a
distinguished service-oriented organization with a history
of achievement in research, criticism, communication theory,
and excellence in teaching, the association welcomes members
who share the goals and objectives of a membership dedicated
to participation in state, regional, and national activity.
http://iamcr.org/ - International Association for Media and
Communication Research
IAMCR is the worldwide professional organisation in the
field of media and communication research. Its members
promote global inclusiveness and excellence within the best
traditions of critical research in the field. Its objectives
include strengthening and encouraging the participation of
new scholars, women, and those from economically
disadvantaged regions, including researchers from African,
Asian and South and Central American countries.
http://www.tprc.org/ - Telecommunications Policy Research
Conference
The TPRC, a non-profit organization, hosts this annual forum
for scholars engaged in publishable research on policy-
relevant telecommunications and information issues, and for
public- and private-sector decision makers engaged in
telecommunications and information policy. The purpose of
the conference is to acquaint policy makers with the best of
recent research and to familiarize researchers with the
knowledge needs of policy makers.