Political Communication and New Media

Sylabus

SYLLABUS  

Political Communication and New Media

Time & place: Monday 14.00-15.30, room H112

ECTS Credits: 6

Lecturer: Václav Štětka, Ph.D.

Contact: [e-mail] ; Skype: vaclavstetka ; Office hours: Monday 15.30-17.00  

The aim of this course is to provide the students with an introduction into the field of political communication and its contemporary transformations under the influence of new media and social network sites. Particularly, it will focus on the new opportunities the rise of digital and mobile communication technologies has brought to political actors, and on the changing nature of the relationship between politicians, citizens and journalists in light of the newly emerging ways to communicate politics, organize collective action and influence public agenda through the Internet and Web 2.0 platforms. Following a brief summary of the historical evolution of political communication research, this course will discuss the process of the adoption of new media by politicians and political parties, as well as the increasing role of social network sites (SNSs) in political campaigning across the Western world. In addition, attention will also be paid to the potential of new media to stimulate political engagement and enhance or even replace the established forms of political and civic participation. In this context, the course will overview some specific examples of political activism and protest movements facilitated and aided by social media, such as the Occupy movement, the 15-M Movement or the "Arab Spring", and debate the role of social media as possible instruments of democratization.     

Requirements:

-          attendance and active involvement in discussions (15%) (max. 3 absences)  

-          summary (300-400 words) from the readings before each class (min. 5; 25%)

-          oral presentation (case study) (15%)

-          final team project (25%) 

-          final test [OPTIONAL] (20%)  

ALL READINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE VIA THE SIS  

Course structure:

Week 1 (16.2.): Introduction to the course, course requirements ___  

Week 2 (23.2.): Politics and the media: Four ages of political communication  

Readings:

Blumler, Jay and Kavannagh, Dennis (1999) The Third Age of Political Communication: Influences and Features, Political Communication, 16:3, 209-230

Blumler, Jay (2005) "The Fourth Age of Political Communication". Keynote address at the a Workshop on Political Communication Online, the Free University of Berlin, September 12, 2013. ___

Week 3 (2.3.): Democracy and political engagement in the age of Internet

Readings:

Stephen Coleman & Jay G. Blumler (2012) The Internet and Citizenship: Democratic Opportunity or More of the Same? In Holli A. Semetko & Margaret Scammell (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Political Communication. London: SAGE, pp. 141-153

Jack M. McLeo; Nam-Jin Lee (2012) Social Networks, Public Discussion and Civic Engagement: A Socialization Perspective. In Holli A. Semetko & Margaret Scammell (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Political Communication. London: SAGE, pp. 197-209  

Presentations:

(1) Norris, P. (2000). A Virtuous Circle: Political Communications in Postindustrial Societies. Cambridge University Press. Chap. 14: A Virtuous Circle?, pp. 309-319.   ___

Week 4 (9.3.): New media in campaign communication (1): towards hypermedia campaigning

Readings:

Howard, P. N. 2006. New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1 - Introduction: The Hypermedia Campaign, pp. 1-27.  

Presentations (case studies):

(2) Howard Dean 2004 Campaign

Recommended source:  Hindman, M. 2005. "The Real Lessons of Howard Dean: Reflections on the First Digital Campaign". Perspectives on Politics 3(1): 121-128.

(3) Barack Obama 2008 Campaign

Recommended sources: Stromer-Galley, J. 2014. Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age "Ch 5: 2008: Networked Campaigning and Controlled Interactivity", pp. 104-139. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Cogburn, D. L. & F. K. Espinoza-Vasquez. 2011. "From Networked Nominee to Networked Nation: Examining the Impact of Web 2.0 and Social Media on Political Participation and Civic Engagement in the 2008 Obama Campaign". Journal of Political Marketing 10(1-2): 189-213.

(4) Nicolas Sarkozy / Segolene Royal 2007 Campaign

Recommended source: Lilleker, D. G., & Malagón, C. (2010). Levels of Interactivity in the 2007 French Presidential Candidates’ Websites. European Journal of Communication, 25(1), 25-42. doi:10.1177/0267323109354231   ___  

Week 5 (16.3.): New media in campaign communication (2): big data and networked campaigning

Readings:

Stromer-Galley, J. 2014. Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age "Ch 6: 2012: Data-Driven Networked Campaigning", pp. 140-170. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Presentations:

(5) Tufekci, Z. (2014). Engineering the public: Big data, surveillance and computational politics. First Monday, 19(7). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4901

(6) Kreiss, D. 2014. "Seizing the Moment: The Presidential Campaigns’ Use of Twitter During the 2012 Electoral Cycle". New Media & Society (Online First). ___  

Week 6 (23.3.):New media in campaign communication (3): adoption of SNSs by political actors across Europe

Readings:

Larsson, A. O., & Kalsnes, B. (2014). "Of course we are on Facebook": Use and non-use of social media among Swedish and Norwegian politicians. European Journal of Communication, pp.1-16.

Presentations (case studies):

(7) Adoption and use of social media by political actors in [YOUR COUNTRY]

(8) Adoption and use of social media by political actors in [YOUR COUNTRY]  

Week 7 (30.3.): Social media and civic activism (1)

Readings:  

Bennett, W. L. & A. Segerberg. 2012. "The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics." Information, Communication & Society 15(5): 739-768.  

Presentations:

(9) Occupy Wall Street  

Recommended reading: Dahlgren, Peter (2013) Occupy Wall Street: Discursive Strategies and Fields. Chap.4 in The Political Web. Media, Participation and Alternative Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 67-87.

(10) M15 / los indignados ___  

Week 8 (Easter Monday): Reading Week

Readings:

Coleman Stephen and Blumler, Jay G. (2009) The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice and Policy. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 5: E-democracy from below, pp.117-138.  

Neuman, W. R., B. Bimber & M. Hindman. 2011. "The Internet and Four Dimensions of Citizenship". In: The Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media, Eds. R. Y. Shapiro & L. R. Jacobs, et al., Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 22-42.

W. Lance Bennett; Deen G. Freelon; Muzammil M. Hussain; Chris Wells (2012) Digital Media and Youth Engagement. In Holli A. Semetko & Margaret Scammell (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Political Communication. London: SAGE, pp. 127-141   ___  

Week 9 (13.4.): New media and democratization: the Arab Spring

Readings:

Tufekci, Z. & C. Wilson. 2012. "Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations From Tahrir Square". Journal of Communication 62(2): 363-379

Anotace

The aim of this course is to provide the students with an introduction into the field of political communication and its contemporary transformations under the influence of new media and social network sites. Particularly, it will focus on the new opportunities the rise of digital and mobile communication technologies has brought to political actors, and on the changing nature of the relationship between politicians, citizens and journalists in light of the newly emerging ways to communicate politics, organize collective action and influence public agenda through the Internet and Web 2.0 platforms.

Following a brief summary of the historical evolution of political communication research, this course will discuss the process of the adoption of new media by politicians and political parties, as well as the increasing role of social network sites (SNSs) in political campaigning across the Western world. In addition, attention will also be paid to the potential of new media to stimulate political engagement and enhance or even replace the established forms of political and civic participation.

In this context, the course will overview some specific examples of political activism and protest movements facilitated and aided by social media, such as the Occupy movement, the 15-M Movement or the "Arab Spring", and debate the role of social media as possible instruments of democratization.