MEVIT4320 ¨C Political Communication: Opinion Processes and Influence

Course content

The political communication systems of established democracies are currently undergoing fundamental processes of change. Digitization changes the structure of the public sphere, challenges news media¡¯s financial models, and alter people¡¯s media consumption in fundamental ways. Political communication is about the flow of information and messages among political actors, citizens and the media, and the consequences of communication for allocation of public resources. The course addresses the conditions for and importance of political communication in today`s digital media system, with an emphasis on what is going on at the frontier of political communication research.

Learning outcome

Candidates who have completed the Political communication: opinion processes and influence, will have acquired the following knowledge, skills and general competences:

Knowledge

After completion of the course, the candidate:

• has advanced knowledge about essential theories and concepts in political communication, like opinion formation, misinformation, agenda-setting, framing, echo chambers, motivated reasoning, and populism
• has advanced knowledge about essential developments in political communication in established democracies
• has advanced knowledge about how a changing media system challenges established knowledge in the political communication field and changes the conditions for actors who wants to influence political processes

Skills

After completion of the course, the candidate:

• can critically analyze how political communication systems inform and influence citizens
• can critically analyze the influence of social media in today¡¯s political communication environment
• can critically analyze the communicative power relations between political actors
• can critically discuss and disentangle scientific articles

General competence

After completion of the course, the candidate:

• has a general understanding of how political communication influence power relations in society
• is able to identify and analyze issues of social and scientific relevance from a political communication perspective

Admission to the course

MA-students enrolled in the Political communication ("Politisk kommunikasjon") master`s program will have priority for this course.?

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester?register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.

Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.

Teaching

Teaching in the course is organised as lectures and seminars.

Compulsory activity:

The students must have the following two obligatory activities approved in order to qualify for the exam:

• Participation in the submission of at least 4 out of 5 seminar hand-ins.?
• Qualification assignment

Read about compulsory activities at the Faculty of Humanities.

Examination

4 hours take-home exam.

The compulsory activities must be approved before the exam.

See previous exams and grading guidelines.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.