NMC 201 | Course Introduction and Application Information - Department of New Media and Communication

Course Name

Media and Politics

Code	Semester	Theory (hour/week)	Application/Lab (hour/week)	Local Credits	ECTS
NMC 201	Fall	2	2	3	6

Prerequisites	None
Course Language	English
Course Type	Required
Course Level	First Cycle
Mode of Delivery	face to face
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course	Case Study Lecture / Presentation
National Occupation Classification	-
Course Coordinator	Öğr. Gör. Burcu SARAÇOĞLU
Course Lecturer(s)	Öğr. Gör. Burcu SARAÇOĞLU
Assistant(s)	-

Course Objectives	The course aims to introduce students to the main concepts of political science and the relationship between politics and communication.
Learning Outcomes	The students who succeeded in this course; Analyse how social, economic and political forces determine the role and effect of media in a given society. Apply diverse theoretical tools to the discussion of the interplay between media/communication and politics. Provide essays related to the key issues of the politics, media and communication. Apply diverse theoretical tools to the discussion of the interplay between media/communication and politics Analyse the interaction between media and politics in international conjuncture.
Course Description	This course is designed to provide the students with an historical account of relations between media and political power. In addition to theoretical discussions on how the media is shaped by social, economic and political circumstances, the course also examines a number of cases, both from international and domestic, that best exemplify the interplay between media and politics.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

Course Category	Core Courses
	Major Area Courses	X
	Supportive Courses
	Media and Management Skills Courses
	Transferable Skill Courses

Week	Subjects	Related Preparation
1	Media and politics - key concepts	To read: Wolfsfeld, Gadi. Making Sense of Media and Politics. Routledge, 2011, pp. 9–72 / McNair, Brian. Politics in the Age of Mediation. London, 1995, pp. 3–67. To see: The Social Dilemma (2020, Netflix) / The Great Hack (2019, Netflix).
2	Power and Ideology	To Read: Domhoff, G. W. (2010). Who Rules America: Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill / Lukes, Steven. (2005). Power: A Radical View. Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd Edition. To See: The Century of the Self (2002, Adam Curtis, BBC) – Ep. 1 (YouTube) / Orwell Rolls in His Grave (2004, YouTube) / The Brainwashing of My Dad (2015, YouTube).
3	Nationalism and Propaganda	To Read: Dhiman, B. (2023). Media in Weimar and Nazi Germany: A Critical Review / Reeves, Nicholas. (1999). The Power of Film Propaganda: Myth or Reality? (Intro & Ch. 1) / Welch, David. (2013). Propaganda, Power and Persuasion: From World War I to WikiLeaks. Introduction: Opening Pandora’s Box. To see: Mueller, Michael (dir.). (2023). Faces of Colonialism: The Story of an Imperialist Propaganda. DW Documentary / Riefenstahl, Leni (dir.). (1935). Triumph of the Will (excerpts) / Yutkevich, Sergei (dir.). (1935). Türkiye’nin Kalbi Ankara.
4	Media, Social Movements, and Digital Activism	To Read: Tufekci, Zeynep. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas. Chapters 5 & 6 / Cottle, Simon. (2011). Media and the Arab Uprisings. Journalism, 12(5), 647–659 / Milan, Stefania. (2015). From Social Movements to Cloud Protesting. Information, Communication & Society, 18(8), 887–900. To See: #chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes on a Dictator (2013).
5	Media and Democracy	To Read: Keane, John. (2016). “The Life and Death of Democracy.” In Democracy: A Reader, ed. Ricardo Blaug & John Schwarzmantel. Columbia University Press / Curran, J., Iyengar, S., Lund, A. B., & Salovaara-Moring, I. (2009). Media System, Public Knowledge and Democracy: A Comparative Study. European Journal of Communication, 24(1), 5–26. To See: The Edge of Democracy (2019, Netflix
6	Populism and Media	To Read: Kaptan, Y. (2022). Authoritarian Populism and the Discourse of "the People" in the Turkish Islamist Media. International Journal of Communication, 16, 3760–3779 / İşeri, E., & Ersoy, M. (2023). Framing the Syrian Operations: Populism in Foreign Policy and the Polarized News Media of Turkey. International Journal of Communication, 17, 1970–1989 / Bulut, E., & Yörük, E. (2017). Mediatized Populisms: Digital Populism. International Journal of Communication, 11, 4093–4117 / Gandini, A., Ceron, A., & Lodetti, P. (2024). Populists or Influencers? International Journal of Communication, 18, 1687–1707 / Brookings Institution. (2020). Why Are Populists Winning Online? Social Media Reinforces Their Anti-Establishment Message. To See: The Rise of Global Populism (Then & Now, YouTube).
7	Political Economy of the Media / Manufacturing Consent	Read: Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M. (1944). The Culture Industry / Herman, E. S. & Chomsky, N. (2010). Manufacturing Consent. (Intro, pp. xi–xix). To See: Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992, YouTube).
8	Media Polarization and Disinformation	To Read: Lazer, D. M. J. et al. (2018). The Science of Fake News. Science, 359(6380), 1094–1096. / Tucker, J. A. et al. (2018). Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation. Political Science Quarterly, 133(4), 707–751. To See: After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News (Dailymotion, 2020, YouTube) / The Facebook Dilemma—Part One & Part Two (Frontline, 2018, YouTube).
9	Midterm Exam
10	Media Ownership and Global Power	To Read: McChesney, R. W. (2006). Telling the truth at a moment of truth: US news media and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Socialist Register, 42 / Freedman, Des. (2014). The Contradictions of Media Power (Ch. 1). To See: Rupert Murdoch: Battle with Britain (BBC Panorama, 2012).
11	Satire, Comedy, and Political Communication	To Read: Baym, Geoffrey. (2005). The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism. Political Communication, 22(3), 259–276 / Dağtaş, M. S. (2016). “‘Down With Some Things!’ The Politics of Humour and Humour as Politics in Turkey's Gezi Protests.” Etnofoor, 28(1), 11–34 / Mumcu, Ö. (2020). Hegemony Versus Humour: An Analysis of Turkish Polarized Politics Through Press Portrayals 1947–1960 (PhD thesis, ODTÜ). To See: Don’t Look Up (2021, Netflix) / Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020, Amazon Prime).
12	Politics and the Digital Age: AI, Algorithms, and Platforms	To Read: Simons, J. (2023). Algorithms for the People: Democracy in the Age of AI. PhD thesis, Harvard / Mateen, H. (2018). Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, 39(1), 285–292. To See: Coded Bias (2020, Netflix/YouTube).
13	Gender, Diversity, and Representation in Political Media	To Read: Van der Pas, D. J. & Aaldering, L. (2020). Gender differences in political media coverage: A meta-analysis. Journal of Communication, 70(1), 114–143 / Çubukçu, S. U. (2008). Gender discourse in popular culture: The case of television series in Turkey. In Groups, Ideologies and Discourses: Glimpses of the Turkic Speaking World, pp. 113–130 / Burul, Y. & Eslen-Ziya, H. (2020). Understanding ‘New Turkey’ through women’s eyes: Gender politics in Turkish daytime talk shows. In Media and Politics in the Southern Mediterranean, pp. 300–313. Routledge. To See: Miss Representation (2011, YouTube)
14	Student Presentations
15	General evaluation
16	Final Exam

Course Notes/Textbooks

Mills, C. W., The power elite. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1956 ISBN 978-0195133547.; Dahl, R. A., A preface to democratic theory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1956, ISBN 0-226-13426-1.; Domhoff, G. W., Who rules America: Challenges to corporate and class dominance (6th ed.). New York,NY: McGraw Hill, 2010, ISBN 0078111560,9780078111563.Lukes, Steven, Power, A Radical View, Palgrave, Second Edition, 2005, ISBN 9780333420928; Murdock, Graham and Golding, Peter, “Dismantling the Digital Divide: Rethinking the Dynamics of Participation and Exclusion”, A. Calabrese and C.Sparks (eds), Toward a Political Economy of Culture, Capitalism and Communication in the21st Century, Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004,.ISBN 0742526844, 9780742526846; Noam Chomsky, Noam,and HermanEdward S, Manufacturing Consent:The Political Economy of the Mass Media, 1988, ISBN 9781847920706

Suggested Readings/Materials

Semester Activities	Number	Weigthing
Participation	1	10
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
Presentation / Jury	1	30
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exams
Midterm	1	30
Final Exam	1	30
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade	3	70
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade	1	30
Total

Semester Activities	Number	Duration (Hours)	Workload
Theoretical Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours)	16	2	32
Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: '.16.' x total hours)	16	2	32
Study Hours Out of Class	14	2	28
Field Work			0
Quizzes / Studio Critiques			0
Portfolio			0
Homework / Assignments			0
Presentation / Jury	1	20	20
Project			0
Seminar / Workshop			0
Oral Exam			0
Midterms	1	28	28
Final Exam	1	35	35
		Total	175

#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	* Contribution Level
#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication.	-	-	X	-	-
2	To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	X
3	To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes.	-	-	-	-	-
4	To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution.	-	-	-	-	-
5	To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.	-	-	-	-	-
6	To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
7	To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public.	-	-	X	-	-
8	To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies.	-	-	X	-	-
9	To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process.	-	-	-	-	-
10	To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
11	To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).	-	-	-	-	-
12	To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.	-	-	-	-	-
13	To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise.	-	-	-	-	-