Objectives and competences
The objective of this course is to acquire student with critical understanding of mass media's social role.
Content (Syllabus outline)
Introduction: Media, politics, democracy, ideology, political processes, public sphere, power.
Basic elements: democratic processes, politics, political system, political parties, freedom.
Main political institutions: parliament, government.
Media: functions, role, public opinion, public interest, citizenship, freedom to information.
Dilemma of media politics: ethics in media.
Media regulation: regulation in ZDA, Europe, Slovenia.
Broadcasting politics: area of evaluation.
Public and commercial media: importance, role and responsibility of broadcasting, power of information.
Politics in media: election campaign, analysis of political image (personality, party); political show, political print.
Learning and teaching methods
lectures,
tutorials,
individual work.
Intended learning outcomes - knowledge and understanding
On completion of this course the student will be able to
demonstrate knowledge and understanding of basic social and political functions of the media,
recognize the public and institutional conditions within which media production and reception take place,
identify different methods of studying relationship of mass media with society.
Intended learning outcomes - transferable/key skills and other attributes
Communication skills: oral project defense, manner of expression at written and oral examination.
Organization skills: organization and preparation of plan for the implementation of the project.
Working in a group: team work in the project.
Readings
J. Curran: Media and Power, Routledge, London, 2002.
D. McQuail: McQuail's mass communication theory, 5th ed., Sage, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, 2006.
F. Corcoran, P. Preston: Democracy and communication in the new Europe: change and continuity in East and West, Hampton Press, Cresskill, New Jersey, 1995.
S. Allan: News Culture, OpenUniversity Press, Buckingham (U.K.), Philadelphia, 2002.
Curtis, Michael: Western European Government and Politics. Longman, London, 1997.
