After completing the course, students will have a deep understanding of the core theories on the role of the media in global societal change. They have acquired the basis for making sense of how the media play a role in the processes in which national policies take their form, and aware of how both the traditional news media and social media affect domestic policies.

The course departs from the idea that the media is one of the central actors through which national actors become aware of far-away events and through which these events become integrated with domestic policy discourses. However, this process is a complex one. On one hand, the journalists are central players in it as they decide what is topical or newsworthy for domestic audiences. They also frame the events so that they make good sense to domestic addressees. On the other hand, in domestic contexts there are many other actors that aim to influence the public understanding of the reported events. These actors bring far-way events into their political argumentation in their attempts to advance their own political interests and desires. Interpretations that appear widely convincing are typically taken up and reported by the media.
Starting from these premises, the course suggests, the media serve not merely as an arena through which far-away events are introduced to local audiences. If anything, the media can be seen as a political arena in which different accounts of the reported events meet thus constructing public understanding of these events. Sooner or later, these understandings convert into domestic policy decisions and practices.
The course approaches the above phenomenon especially from the perspective of the traditional news media institution, i.e. of how the national media serve as a forum through which foreign news events are incorporated into domestic policy discourses. Additionally, the course discusses the role of social media in processes in which far-way news events are brought into local political argumentation, thus affecting domestic policies.

In order to be able to participate in the course, students are required to complete either
(a) the lectures (5 ECTS), or (b) the lectures plus seminars (10 ECTS). It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Max. 40 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students