COMMUNICATION, MEDIA & POLITICS

COMMUNICATION, MEDIA & POLITICS (81 hours)

Course Description

This course seeks to provide an overview and instil understanding of the key concepts that define the relationship between Communication, Media & Politics . It includes a thorough exposition of the nature, the role and influence of communication and media within the international terrain in the modern world.

The course explores the ways in which commercialised news media organisations have been occupying an increasingly important role in the global flow of modern communications. The impact of the media and their influence on the international system has scarcely begun to be appreciated. Communication, society, culture, the economy and foreign affairs are all now inseparable from the information created and exchanged on an international basis. Mass communication and mass media are comparatively recent phenomena but set the conditions and delineate the boundaries within which politicians and statesmen have been increasingly forced to operate.

This course is available to students coming from a variety of backgrounds and academic orientations. It is a highly recommended elective course for students wishing to enter the world of Economics, Business, Legal and European and International Studies, and a compulsory course for those entering the area of Media and Communication Studies.

AIM:

The aim of the course is two-fold. It intends to provide solid understanding of the basic concepts of Communication and help students comprehend the codes of communication and the various meanings and definitions of interpersonal communication and social interaction. Moreover, it intends to provide a comprehensive overview of overarching structures such as culture, mass media and gender, and of their respective roles in shaping interpersonal interaction.

In contrast, the Media part of the course avails the opportunity for students to see how communication principles apply to and operate within the contemporary media system and its social, political and economic aspects. Teaching of the material is enhanced with pertinent videos and in-class discussions. Students are responsible for submitting an assignment on a relevant topic in which they are required to incorporate major concepts covered in class during the academic year.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of this course, students will be expected to

• comprehend and apply communication principles in personal, small group, and public situations
• apply knowledge of nonverbal communication
• demonstrate critical thinking competencies
• adapt messages and behaviour to different communication contexts
• employ appropriate listening and responding behaviour
• demonstrate understanding and respect for cultural and social diversity
• know the various meanings and definitions of interpersonal communication and social interaction
• become familiar with overarching structures such as culture, mass media and gender, as well as with their role in shaping interpersonal interaction
• become better-informed users of mass media and, if they study or work in mass media contexts, more alert and sensitive practitioners
• understand the process of producing and distributing messages through mass communication
• realise the profound role mass media play in society and how mass media industries have been changing during the past fifteen years
• understand international communications and international politics since 1945
• develop a critical attitude towards the impact of contemporary news media on international affairs
• analyse the role of the media in the reporting of warfare
• study information warfare and psychological operations
• understand and critically evaluate modern trends in politics and communication
• become well-versed in the ways that modern methods of communication are applied to politics
• learn how to use appropriate tools of analysis to tackle issues of political and communicative character

SYLLABUS:

BASIC CONCEPTS OF COMMUNICATION

• Message
• Channels/Mediated Communication
• The Process of Communication
• Interpersonal/Intrapersonal/Small-Group/Organisational/Public Communication
• Mass Communication
• Communication and Culture
• Gender Stereotypes
• Cultures and their components
• Gender roles and sexual orientation

BASIC CONCEPTS OF MASS MEDIA

• The Mass Media Industry (Production, Distribution, Exhibition)
• The MM Genres (Entertainment, News, Advertising, Education)
• The Print Media (Books, Newspapers, Magazines)
• The Electronic Media (Radio, Motion Picture, Television, Computers)
• Advertising and Public Relations
• Mass Media and Society
• Communication and the media in the information age

BASIC CONCEPTS OF POLITICS

• Order and disorder in the information age
• International communication and international politics since 1945
• The real new world information order
• Brushfires and firefighters: international affairs and the news media
• Foreign policy in the mass media age
• Public opinion and foreign policy
• Diplomacy and the media
• Illusions of reality: the media and the reporting of warfare
• Television and diplomacy
• Framing the military-media dynamic
• Mind games: information warfare and psychological operations

Resources and booklist suggestions:

1. Joseph Turow, Media Today, An Introduction to Mass Communication, 3^rd, Routledge
2. Introduction to Mass Communication, 11^thedition, Agee, Ault, Emery, Harper Collins Publishers
3. Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, D. McQuail, 2^ndedition, Em Griffin
4. A First Look at Communication Theory, 9^thedition (McGraw-Hill, 2015)
5. Negrine, R. (2006) The Political Communication Reader, Routledge;
6. Stanyer, J. (2007) Modern Political Communication, Polity;
7. Swanson, D. L. & Mancini, P. (1996) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy. An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences, Greenwood;