Last modified: 05 Aug 2021 13:04
This course is about political communication - how media, politicians and citizens interact, and how parties run their election campaigns - in the digital age(s). Students will learn topics like how journalism is changing, who social media empower, whether echo chambers divide, how populists treat the media, who runs campaigns, how parties target citizens, and whether digital media jeopardise democracy. These themes are explored through cases from the UK and US, but also from across the globe.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 3 |
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| Session | Second Sub Session | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
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This course is about political communication; it concerns how people communicate about politics. Specifically it is about contemporary political communication. This in turn means that it is about political communication in digital times. Digital technologies have wrought numerous changes in political communication. Students will explore those changes and evaluate whether they have precipitated (another) crisis in democratic political communication.
This course is designed to enable students to explore digital politics first-hand, using primary materials. Activities are incorporated throughout the course that guide students to explore variety in newspapers, new online news platforms, social media platforms, and election campaign content, among other things.
You may especially like to take this course if you want to:
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | 30 | Feedback Weeks | 33 | |
| Feedback |
Reflection on netnographic observation of social media. Short paragraph of written feedback. |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 20 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 33 | Feedback Weeks | 36 | |
| Feedback |
Short pararaph of written feedback. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 20 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 28 | Feedback Weeks | 31 | |
| Feedback |
Short paragraph of written feedback. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 34 | Feedback Weeks | 38 | |
| Feedback |
Essay on disruption and political communication. Short paragraph of written feedback. |
Word Count | 1500 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | ||
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Conceptual | Understand | Understand populism and disinformation communication methods and strategies. |
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse how production of ‘the news’ is shaped by norms; market-pressures; and interactions between journalists, political actors, citizens and platforms. |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | Evaluate whether and to what extent media segmentation, populism and disinformation constitute a crisis in democratic communication systems. |
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse how political parties communicate, and how this varies with the development of ICTs. |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | Analyse to what extent and in what ways digital information communication technologies (ICTs) have empowered non-elite actors to communicate about politics. |
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