MEDIA AND POLITICS

Catalog description

This course takes a broad view of the media and its impact on politics, as well as the attempts of politicians and bureaucrats to manipulate media messages. We begin the semester by exploring the origin of the division between "news" and "entertainment" media and the recent blurring of this distinction. We then look at the evolution of the PR industry to see how opinion makers (particularly politicians and business interests) have developed techniques to shape mass public opinion. With this background we consider the impact of modern media coverage on political campaigns and executive and legislative politics.