K2SP 2010 - Media and Politics

The media “may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. The world will look different to different people” (Cohen 1963)

We take this quotation as a starting point into the relationship between media and politics. It opens up several perspectives that we will tackle in this course.

We will explore how technological, economic and regulatory transformations—especially in the platform era—have reshaped the boundaries between newsmaking, opinion formation, and political action. While media systems vary across countries, citizens everywhere increasingly rely on algorithmically curated information environments, often riddled with disinformation and driven by new actors such as tech platforms and AI-generated content.

Throughout the course, we examine both the enduring functions of legacy media and the disruptions brought about by digitalization, deepfakes, populist narratives, and global information flows. The aim is to understand the multiple roles media play in democratic and authoritarian settings alike.

None.

We will hold weekly discussions on compulsory readings. The main assignment is a short research paper

related to one of the classes. The project for this paper will be briefly presented during the corresponding

session.

Weekly readings, one presentation and final paper.