Duration
07 Apr 2014 - 12 Apr 2014
In recent years the interest in comparative study of media systems has perked up within the field of media/mass communication studies. The course aims to contribute to this growing interest in understanding what shapes media systems and how they in turn shape societies. The course will address media systems in Europe and the world in relation to technological, economic, political, social and cultural changes that influence their development. The course will analyze these changes in a comparative way, engaging with recent methods of comparative analyses of media systems.
Over the last decades, many countries in Europe, America, Asia and Africa have made the transition from dictatorial to democratic systems. However, after the political transition, which frequently occurs in very short periods of time, there are a series of social, institutional and cultural changes. These changes allow firstly the establishment of values that give meaning to the democratic public space and, in addiction, the adjustments from the past to facilitate a better coexistence between citizens in the current nation. This course is in 2014 intended as a contribution to the comparative study of transitional processes with special emphasis on the politics of the media.
The course will also host a methodological workshop with new insights into novel comparative research methods.
Each year the topic of the course will focus on one, or a combination, of areas which define media systems: media markets (including aspects of ownership structures, concentration, audience behavior and media use, etc.), media and state (including media policy and regulation), political parallelism (or the relationship of the media, journalists, and the political sphere, including political communication and political culture), and professionalization of the journalists and the media.