Contemporary Issues in Communication and Journalism

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

The core teachings will be done by the professor. Also, the course is structured according to plan in advance of sessions and the respective readings that the students select and present during scheduled sessions. There will also be sessions of content exposure through Powerpoint, aiming that students to discuss the slides in presentation and viewing of documentaries, news, advertisements and other studies where appropriate.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students should be able to

1. Establish the framework for debates on topics that include the media and their messages, as well as industries and media communication processes;

2. Evaluate a set of approaches to critically discuss the main theories aimed at explaining these topics;

3. Explain how communication produces a view of the social world as a view from the new professional practices of journalism and communication.

4. Apply theories and debates to specific issues of media communication and its digital transformations.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

This course seeks to explore messages, industries, and communication processes that transcend national boundaries, as well as the principal theories intended to explain them. The central topics to be presented and discussed in this seminar include:

• Global and local influences in media cultures;

• New information practices and audiences in the digital age;

• The disinformation society;

• Global journalism, advertising and public relations;

• Public sector communication;

• Theories of consumerism.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Clara Moreira de Almeida Santos

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Synthesis work: 20.0%
Research work: 80.0%

Bibliography

Ashley, S. (2019). News Literacy and Democracy. Routledge.

Canel, M. J., & Luoma-aho, V. (2018). Public sector communication: Closing gaps between citizens and public organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Figueira, J., & Santos, S. (Eds.). (2019). As fake news e a nova ordem (des) informativa na era da pós-verdade. Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.

Lewis J. (2017). Digital Desires: Mediated Consumerism and Climate Crisis. In B. Brevini & G. Murdock (Eds.) Carbon Capitalism and Communication. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pickard, V. (2019). Democracy Without Journalism?: Confronting the Misinformation Society. Oxford University Press.

Ricaud, P. (2020). New Information Practices and Audiences in the Digital Age. Digitalization of Society and Socio‐political Issues 2: Digital, Information and Research, 15-25.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. (2019). The Handbook of Journalism Studies. Routledge.