Media and Democracy 3301-KA2508-1ST

The course examines the key technological developments that have changed the way people communicate, starting with the printing press and ending with the Internet. The correlation between the mass communication methods and the political process that produced a modern democratic society is our primary focus. The approach adopted in the course proposes to investigate the social changes correlated with the technological inventions producing dramatic transformation in the process of social communication. From Industrial Age up to the Information Age we will examine the phenomenon of media convergence: the confluence of home, school and business computers, TV sets, telephones, radio, CD players, VCRs, e-mail, newspapers, fax machines, magazines and communication satellites. In the construction of the course we follow the topical rather than chronological perspective, with specific attention paid to the developments in Britain and the USA. This approach begins the study of specific industries within the media that students know best: radio, television, cable and film. The impact of the media development on the political process and transformation of the political scene and participation of citizens in the process will be examined.
Placing past and present processes within a contemporary perspective we look at older media within the context of the new forms that have reshaped the print culture.
The methodological approach is based on cultural analysis principles of viewing the media as part of the rituals of everyday culture. We will investigate how these rituals and the way people use the media frames provide meaning to their lives in the social context and how these formulations translate into the political practice of the democratic form of government.