Strategic Communications Skills (1)

Staff

Specialized skills courses, such as writing for public affairs, video editing and production, political uses of social media, web development and strategy, formal briefing, speechwriting, public speaking. Topics announced in the Schedule of Classes.

Theories of Mediated Political Communication (3)

Usher, Aday, and Staff

Institutional functions and individual effects of mediated communication. Impacts of different textual content and format on individual thinking and emotion; forces that shape content production.

Information, Technology, and Political Communication (3)

Hindman

Issues pertaining to the political uses of the Internet, social media, and other new media; the effect that new information technologies have on political life and the ways in which politics shape technology development.

Strategic Political Communication (3)

Manheim and Staff

Theory, techniques, and implications of strategic communication as employed by individuals, groups, organizations, and governments to advance their interests; applications to non-electoral politics and policymaking; use of political, psychological, sociological, and other processes; methodological considerations; domestic and international applications.

Media, Development, and Globalization (3)

Huebner, Steele, Waisbord

Theories of media and globalization. The changing role of communication media, including the Internet and other newer technologies as well as traditional books, film, newspapers, telephone, and satellite in establishing closer relationships and interdependencies among people, their cultures, and their organizations in various countries.

Waisbord, Livingston

Cross-disciplinary approaches to global changes in the nature of governance and collective action. The role of new technology, social movements, NGOs and transnational advocacy networks. Information campaigns and advocacy communication.

Political Persuasion and Public Opinion (3)

Gross and Staff

Major theories and perspectives in public opinion and persuasion research. Information processing, psychological models applied to politics and media research (cognition, attitudes, resistance, heuristics), public opinion dynamics.

Livingston, Aday

The effects of U.S. media on U.S. and foreign governments, and of foreign media on the U.S.; effects of other countries' media on each other; the impact of the Internet, inexpensive global phoning, CNN, al Jazeera, and other newer technologies and networks on the stuff of international relations: diplomacy, military operations, trade negotiations.

Manheim and Staff

Design of strategy for an information and influence campaign. Research on issues and actors, identification of critical decision-making points and key constituencies, development of communication strategies more likely to achieve stated objectives of a campaign. Prerequisite: SMPA 6204. For students doing a strategic communication capstone project, this course replaces SMPA 6297.

Communication and Technology Practicum (3)

Staff

Practicum in using digital and social media tools to advocate and communicate. A project-based course in which students develop and implement an online campaign using web, social media, and blogs. Students design campaign and message elements, create content, and manage website.

Principles and Methods of Documentary Filmmaking (6)

Seavey

Analytical and practical exploration of the elements of documentary filmmaking. The genres of nonfiction filmmaking; fundamentals of film conceptualization, documentary screenwriting, story structure, and production theory; and basic practical elements of production. Admission by permission of instructor.

Documentary Filmmaking Practicum (3)

Seavey

Intensive practical experience in documentary film production. Students produce a 10-15-minute documentary film on a selected topic. Emphasis on major markers in film production: treatment and script writing, location shooting, Final Cut Pro editing, graphics, music, and final sound mix. Prerequisite: SMPA 6230 and permission of instructor.

Research Methods (3)

Bailard and Staff

Design, applications, and limitations of quantitative research as applied to the field of media and public affairs. Framing of research questions, identification of variables and formulation of hypotheses, measurement, sampling, data gathering techniques, data analysis, and preparation of research reports. Brief exposure to qualitative research. Prerequisite: an undergraduate statistics course.

Topics in Media Processes and Institutions (3)

Staff

Topics address such issues as the history of media content, institutions, and process; impact of changing communication technology on culture; history and development of mass-produced culture; and professional ideology and practice of journalism. May be repeated for credit provided the topic differs.

Topics in Media and Public Affairs (3)

Staff

Topics explore such areas as social theories of public opinion and mass media's response; and the role of mass media in constructing social perceptions of the scientific process and its relationship to cultural and material life.

Media Bias, Power, and Democracy (3)

Entman

Consideration of the available scholarly evidence in order to develop a more sophisticated empirical and theoretical understanding of what constitutes media bias. How do we recognize and measure bias? Are there patterns in decisions about news coverage that indicate bias? Which political parties and economic interests benefit from patterns of news coverage?

Media and War (3)

Aday

Historic and contemporary examination of the media's role in wartime. Topics include covering war, the role of the media in generating support for foreign intervention, propaganda, effects of war coverage on public opinion, media and genocide, and public diplomacy. Ethical, philosophical and political implications of the media's role.

Directed Readings and Research (3)

Staff

Independent research with SMPA faculty member. Must be approved in advance by supervising professor and director of graduate studies.

Capstone Project (3-3)

Thesis Research (3-3)