The Politics Dept is offering a new course, a 300 level class on "The Media and US Politics" in the fall 2011 semester. The class meets MW 4-5:15. This course should be of interest to students of journalism, TVR, and anyone else interested in how mass communications interacts with politics in the US.
Description of the course: News media have long been recognized as a key component of the American political landscape. And as the economy, social organization and technology have become more complex, mass communication has become even more central to democratic politics.
This course provides an overview of electronic and print forms of mass communication in U.S. political life, focusing on several themes: the alternately combative and cozy relationship between media and government; how professional media routines shape the content of political news; media’s effects on public opinion, voting behavior and public policy-making; the tensions between news outlets’ role as profit-seeking businesses, on the one hand, and their role as providers of political information and sites for democratic debate, on the other; the nature and effects of political advertising; and critical changes to media taking place today.
We will examine these issues in light of our expectations for how a democratic society ought to operate. Class discussions and readings will engage scholarship in political science and communication studies as well as news coverage of contemporary political issues and events.
Course number: POLT 31900 "Selected Topics in US Politics: The Media and US Politics" MW 4:00pm - 5:15pm
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/2011041906302925