General Information
| Course Code | S_SPO |
|---|---|
| Credits | 6 EC |
| Period | P2 |
| Course Level | 500 |
| Language of Tuition | Dutch / English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences |
| Course Coordinator | dr. M.A.C.G. van der Velden |
| Examiner | dr. M.A.C.G. van der Velden |
| Teaching Staff |
dr. M.A.C.G. van der Velden |
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Part of programme(s)
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Practical Information
You need to register for this course yourself. The (de)registration deadlines can be found on VU.nl
| Teaching Methods | Study-group, Lecture |
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Target audiences
This course is also available as:
Course Objective
After completion of this course, the student is able to apply theories on political communication:
- To critically analyze and give feedback on research literature about the news impact on citizens' attitudes and behavior;
- To assess theoretical and empirical alternatives of how political information influences public opinion;
- To evaluate your own work and the work by others on the real-world impact of political information;
- To be able to apply the theoretical insights to foster and develop develop citizenship knowledge, citizenship skills and citizenship attitudes;
- To orally present and discuss choices made by politicians, journalists and citizens in terms of democratic citizenship.
Course Content
In most political systems, citizens rarely have direct contact with their political representatives. As scholars of political communication have noted, politicians operate within a highly mediatized environment where the media serve as the primary source of political information for citizens. The field of political communication explores how politics is represented in the media (primarily by journalists) and how citizens then process and use this mediated information. For instance, how do people search for political information, and how has this changed in the digital age? How do individuals learn from political news, and when does political ideology influence this process? Do media contribute to political polarization? Political Communication is a broad academic field, and a single period (such as the six weeks of this course) is not sufficient to cover all its complexities and topics in detail.
In this course, we focus specifically on the impact of political information on public opinion and behavior. The readings are a capita selecta, meaning a carefully chosen selection of articles. Many other articles could have been included, as Political Communication is an inherently diverse and interdisciplinary field, which is reflected in the reading list. This course will help students address key questions in political communication by combining theoretical insights with practical applications. Theoretically, students will engage with both classic and recent literature in the field.
Additional Information Teaching Methods
During the meetings, then, we spend time to contextualize the readings assigned for each topic, as well as discuss the societal and pragmatic implications. Moreover,students will work in groups on their weekly challenges, where they have to explain complex concepts to a variety of audiences. Thinking about literacy of various societal groups as well as the skill to judge the veracity of a study and the certainty with which claims can be made are indispensable for current days political communication advisors and journalists. Given that this is a political communication course, you are expected to follow news on politics pretty closely during this period. Make sure that you either read a daily newspaper (paper version or online), watch national television news, or listen to news analyses on the radio, podcasts or another communication medium every day.
Method of Assessment
Your final grade is composed of two elements: (1) a Portfolio of Assignments and (2) a Take-Home Exam. Each component accounts for 50% of your overall grade. The Portfolio of Assignments consists of three parts:
- Group Reports based on the Weekly Challenges, which contribute 60% of your portfolio grade (equivalent to 30% of your final grade);
- Presentation of an academic paper, which accounts for 30% of your portfolio grade (equivalent to 15% of your final grade);
- Weekly Discussion Questions, which make up 10% of your portfolio grade (equivalent to 5% of your final grade).
There is no possibility of compensating between the Portfolio of Assignments and the Take-Home Exam. This means that both must receive a grade higher than 5.5. If a student receives a failing grade for either the portfolio or the exam, they will need to complete a resit for the entire course, which will involve an individual assignment provided on Canvas. However, compensation is possible within the Portfolio of Assignments itself.
Literature
- Hyperlinks to the syllabus and selected articles from communication journals will be available on Canvas.
- For students who feel a deficiency in some respects a list of additional literature is available.
Additional Information Target Audience
Master students Communication Science, track Media and Democracy
Additional Information
The language of instruction for this course is “bilingual”, which means that the lectures are held in English but the working groups are offered separately in English or Dutch. If you are following the English-language program, please sign up (if registration is possible) for the English-language working groups.