POLS 1104 - The Media & American Politics-Contemporary Political Issues

Credit Hours: 3.00

Objectives:

1. Identify and explain the various roles of the media in politics.
2. Identify, explain, define, and master key terminology as it relates to the mass media.
3. Identify and explain the importance of media in a democracy.
4. Identify and explain the relationship between the media, politicians, the public, and policy-making.
5. Identify, explain, and define different forms of news coverage, current developments and controversies in news reporting and journalism.
6. Identify and explain the relationship between mass media and issues of race, gender, and class.

Outcome 2: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the sources of the media’s power as well as the economic structure and concentration of ownership of the media.

Objectives:

1. Identify the importance of the institutional structure of the mass media.
2. Identify and explain the importance of ownership and commercial pressures.
3. Identify, explain, and define the role of advertising, public relations, and the focus on entertainment.
4. Identify and explain the process by which citizens process political information from the media.

Outcome 3: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to recognize the commercial and ideological biases of the media.

Objectives:

1. Identify and explain the various forms of bias that exist in media.
2. Identify and explain the main criticisms of news media.
3. Explain and define objectivity, subjectivity, and neutrality regarding media and news.

Outcome 4: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to be able to demonstrate knowledge of the symbiotic and adversarial relationships among reporters, corporations, the judiciary, and policy makers and analyze the effects on the quality of the news.

Objectives:

1. Identify and explain the effect of public policy on media and news, legislation, and regulation.
2. Identify and define key legislation and regulation and related government entities.
3. Identify and explain the role of the courts in media, journalism, and first amendment rights.

Outcome 5: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate a working knowledge of the various forms by which political information is delivered.

Objectives:

1. Identify and define different forms of news coverage.
2. Identify, explain, and define news management, press relations, and the importance of image.
3. Identify, explain, and define current developments in news delivery and production.
4. Identify and explain the media’s impact and influence on the electoral process.
5. Identify and explain the role of citizens in media and current developments in citizen journalism and news production.

1. The Functions of the Media in Politics
   1. Democracy requires an informed and educated citizenry
   2. The media sets the agenda for the public debate
   3. The media interprets the meaning of the news
   4. The media’s extensive role in the electoral process
   5. The symbiotic and adversarial relationship of media and politicians
   6. Why are Americans so ill informed and confused about politics?
2. The Different Forms of News Coverage
   1. Gatekeeping: who and what makes the news?
   2. Newspapers, magazines, and journals
   3. Television, radio, and the “chatterers”
   4. The internet and the changing face of politics
   5. Advocacy media and bloggers
   6. Soft news and the turn away from politics
   7. Various myths about media bias
   8. The main criticisms of the news media
   9. Positive signs of change
   10. Investigative journalism
   11. Comparative analysis
3. The Political Economy of the News
   1. Corporate profit and news content
   2. The concentration of ownership and its effects on democracy
   3. The role of advertising
   4. Infotainment
4. Journalists and Public Officials
   1. Strategically constructed version of events
   2. The techniques of image making
   3. News management and press relations
   4. Cooperation and control
   5. What is objectivity and the standards of professional journalism
   6. The insider syndrome
   7. Pack journalism
5. The Citizen and Information Processing
   1. The citizen’s dilemma: who and what to believe
   2. Why television rules
   3. What gets through the personal filter
   4. The media’s effect on political participation
   5. Interactive media and participatory democracy
   6. Is there an information divide?
   7. Seeking information outside the homogenized media
6. Conclusions