28860

SoSe 13: The Power of the Mass Media in Modern Politics

Kenneth Newton

Kommentar

It is widely believed that the mass media play a powerful and largely negative role in modern government and politics but research shows that their power can be weak and positive. The seminar will consider the circumstances in which the modern media has either a strong or weak impact, and a malign or benign effect on democracy. It will consider a series of well executed case studies of the social, economic and political forces that condition media power, some of which reduce or even destroy media effects, and others that enhance and enlarge them. It will examine what sorts of media have what sorts of effects on what sorts of people by examine the factors that mediate between the media and their audiences. These are primarily individual values and beliefs, partisanship and party identification, knowledge and experience of the world and trust in the media. The second part of the seminar will consider the structural and institutional influences of different media systems, including public service and commercial systems, the increasing concentration of ownership and control of media systems in the hands of a few multi-media, multinational media conglomerates which is claimed to destroy the pluralism of the news media, and discussion networks. The case studies are drawn from the English language research work of political scientists, sociologists and economists mainly covering Europe and North America. Schließen

14 Termine

Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung

Di, 12:00 - 14:00 14 Termine

Di, 09.04.2013 12:00 - 14:00

Dozenten:
Kenneth Newton