MA in Political Communications

Core courses

The Structure of Contemporary Political Communications (30 credits, term one)

This first module focuses on core themes, actors and communication processes in political science and media studies/journalism. Topics covered include: theories of communications and democracy; news production and political journalism; political parties, ideologies and political marketing; public opinion and the crisis of disengagement; political advertising, public relations and spin; media effects and agenda-setting; civil society, counter public spheres and interest group campaigning; new media and e-democracy; government media management and propaganda; election campaigns; and, news coverage of conflict/terror, war, business and industrial relations.

Critical Perspectives on Political Communications (30 credits, term two)

This course builds on term one, covering fresh topics and new perspectives and literature developed in media sociology, political sociology, international/comparative politics and cultural theory. Work discussed includes: theories of media, culture and power; policy making, advocacy and elite decision-making; new technologies and the information society; popular culture and politics; identity and difference in global politics; interest groups and new social movements; alternative communications and forms of democracy; comparative systems work on democracies, transitional and authoritarian regimes; global governance and transnational communications and citizenship.

Dissertation and Research Methods (60 credits)

All students are encouraged to develop ideas for their own research projects, and are assigned a supervisor, in their first term of study. During the first and second term students attend a series of 10 research skills workshops. Topics include: literature reviews, research design, ethics, questionnaires and surveys, focus groups, interviews, online research, textual analysis, case studies, ethnography and observation. During the second and third terms, in conjuction with their supervisor, they work on their projects with a view to producing some independent research by the end of the course.

Some Option Modules in the Department of Media and Communications

Branding I: History, Contexts and Practices (30 credits)

The principal aim of this course is to provide a situated account of the evolution of branding and to introduce students to its scope and key features. The first part of the course explores important developments that have shaped the history of branding, such as the rise of market society and consumer culture, and changes in media, technology and intellectual property regulation. The second part explores the operation of branding more directly, and includes lectures dedicated to specific types of branding work, such as non-profit branding, public sector branding and service branding. Outside guest speakers, with professional experience, will regularly link to the weekly teaching topics.

Campaign Skills: Theory and Practice (15 credits, Practice Option)

This course is about practical campaigning issues and encourages students to combine political communications theory with practice. It is taught by outside experts with extensive experience of campaign communication in political parties and interest groups. The course curriculum covers: Essentials in advocacy, Working with decision makers and parliamentary lobbying, Campaigning for change – mobilising public opinion, International pressure – using the United Nations, Formulating and implementing a campaign. The course involves students undertaking a short, group-based practical project, which is assessed by a mixture of group presentation and personal log/detailed campaign report.

Asking the Right Questions (15 credits, Practice Option)

This course aims to equip students with the critical, analytical and practical skills to research and construct stories for public consumption. This involves three elements: the procedural – asking the right questions of whom, when and where; the political – knowing the organisational context in which the story has emerged, the constructs in which it will be seen, and the ways in which it will be perceived; and the personal – knowing what you can or cannot bring to the story, and managing the human factors that will enhance or obscure your story. The lectures in the first half of term concentrate on the British system, governmental and local, and in particular on the many different opportunities now available to online researchers. The second half of term concentrates on specialist territories that require particular understanding and research skills, from investigative journalism and statistics to politics and the law.

Promotional Culture (15 and 30 credits versions)

This course looks at the rise of promotional culture (public relations, advertising, marketing and branding) and promotional intermediaries and their impact on society. The first part of the course will discuss the history of promotional culture and will offer some conflicting theoretical approaches with which to view its development. These include: professional/industrial, economic, political economy, post-Fordist, audience, consumer society, risk society, and postmodern perspectives. The second part will look at specific case areas of promotional culture. These are in: commodities and services, popular media and culture, celebrities and public figures, politics, civil society, and financial markets.

Media, Law and Ethics (15 and 30 credit versions, Practice-Oriented Option)

This module looks at the legal, ethical and practical influences on journalism production. It covers a number of topics in the UK and elsewhere, including: The Historical Development of Media Law, Introduction to Defamation law and Contempt Issues, Ethical Judgements and Professional Codes for Media Practitioners, State Security and Secrecy, Media Ethics, Privacy, The Media Law of Japan, India and France, The Legal Problematising of Journalism, Human Rights and International Law for Journalists, International Comparisons and Global issues in Media Law and Ethics. This course will also be supported by interactive exercises, digital hand-outs and course materials provided on CD-Rom and the Goldsmiths virtual learning environment. The course also requires students to visit and report the UK legal system and structures of local, regional and national government (for example courts, employment tribunals, public enquiries, meetings of local authorities, the House of Commons).

Political Economy of the Mass Media (30 credits)

This is a course about the transformations of the media and media systems. From changes in the mass media of broadcasting and print, to multimedia and the Internet, we look at different ways of making sense of these transformations and consider a range of questions concerning media power and influence. This is also a course about the political and economic organisation of the media. It is concerned with questions about how media industries and cultural work is organised, and why this matters for the range and quality of what is produced by journalists, media professional and creative workers. Topics include: media globalisation and national media; political economy of the Internet; media commercialism; media and advertising; new journalism and entertainment media; media convergence and policy; democracy and the media; comparing media and political systems across the globe.

Media Audiences and Media Geography (30 credits)

This course will review a range of interdisciplinary perspectives on the study of media audiences and on the role of the media in constructing the post-modern geography of the contemporary world. The first section of the course will offer a review of both classical and contemporary models and approaches to the study of media audiences, media effects, media powers and patterns of cultural consumption, as well as a discussion of some of the recent methodological debates surrounding the use of qualitative, self-reflexive and ethnographic methodologies in this field. The second section of the course addresses questions concerning the specificity of different media and their micro-contexts and conditions of consumption, focussing on the domestic context of consumption of broadcasting (with particular reference to television) and on the significance of micro-studies of specific instances of the uses of communications and information technologies in the home. The third section of the course then moves back from micro to macro considerations, to examine the role of communications media in constructing the geography of our post-modern electronic landscapes. This section will address a range of issues focusing on processes of identity and boundary construction (at different geographical scales) and the associated issues of mobility and hybridity, within the broader context of processes of globalisation.

Contemporary Cultural Practice (30 credits)

This option presents students with the work of a range of key cultural and social theorists and demonstrates the value of their work in developing a fuller understanding of aspects of popular media, culture and the arts today. The course focuses on key theorists and presents an analysis and critical overview of those aspects most useful to students of media, communications, cultural studies and sociology. These include Adorno, Hall, Gilroy, Butler, Bhabha, Bourdieu, McRobbie and Hebdige. These are then applied to current cultural texts from TV to art and fashion as larger questions about gender, power, sexuality and identity are engaged with. At every opportunity students are expected to critically examine and re- conceptualise their own consumption of popular media and popular culture within the frameworks provided by these authors.