Sylabus POL365: Political Communication 4 ECTS Lecturers: Jay Perkins (jrperk@lsu.edu) Pavel Sedláček (pavelsedlacek@mail.muni.cz) Miloš Gregor (mgregor@fss.muni.cz) Date & Rooms: Thursday 15. 10.: 8:00 - 9:30 & 17:00 - 20:15; room U34 Friday 16. 10.: 8:00 - 13:00; room U33 Thursday 22. 10.: 8:00 - 9:30 & 17:00 - 20:15; room U34 Friday 23. 10.: 8:00 - 13:00; room U33 Assignments: essay, team project. Course Content: In the first day, we will focus on the literature on political communication theory and we will discuss those. The second day will be devoted to developing a political campaign and we will discuss how to prepare candidates for television, creation of a media plan with timeline, dealing with the media, etc. Students will split into groups and conditions and outlines of team work will be specified. In the second week, we will focus on team presentations and evaluations. Students are expected to attend classes. Essay: Paper should follow the course literature (it is necessary to read it before the course starts so we can discuss it in classes), length 2-3 standard pages (3600-5400 characters). The essay should discuss media and its role in political communication and its change in time. Components of evaluation: relevant goals, structure, basis in literature. Date of submission: October 15th. Maximum points: 30. Team project: Students will run a simulated campaign for president of the Czech Republic with the major issue of the time being immigration and refugee resettlement. We will use the candidates from the 2013 presidential race. Students will split into four members teams and they will research their candidates position on discussed topics. On this basis students will develop a 60 second campaign commercial for television. This TV spot should be a part of a complex and comprehensive media plan. Each team will present their proposal in front of the entire class, explain the rationale behind their decisions, etc. Critical comment will be encouraged from the class. Maximum points: 70. Grading: A: 100 - 93 B: 92 - 85 C: 84 - 77 D: 76 - 69 E: 68 - 60 F: 59 - 0 Course structure: Day 1 (Oct. 15): Introduction and discussion on political communication theory Day 2 (Oct. 16): developing of political campaign and preparation for media Day 3 (Oct. 22): student presentations Day 4 (Oct. 23): evaluation and discussion Required literature: ‣ Bennett, W.L.; Iyengar, S. 2008. A New Era of Minimal Effects? The Changing Foundations of Political Communication. In Journal of Communication 58/IV, 707-731. ‣ Dahlgren, P. 2005. The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication: Dispersion and Deliberation. In Political Communication 22, 147-162. ‣ Davy, S. 2010. How Technology Changed American Politics in the Internet Age. MediaShift: http://mediashift.org/2010/04/how-technology-changed-american- politics-in-the-internet-age096/. ‣ Iyengar, S.; McGrady, J.A. 2007. Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide. Excerpt from “Campaigning Through Media”. Draft, 182-201. ‣ Rayne, L.; Horrigan, J. B.; Cornfield, M. 2005. The Internet and Campaigns 2004. PewInternet: http://www.pewinternet.org/2005/03/06/the-internet-andcampaign-2004/ . ‣ Smith, A. 2014. Pew Research findings on Politics and advocacy in the social media era. Presentation at Public Affairs Council, available on-line (http:// www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/pew-research-findings-on-politics-and- advocacy-in-the-social-media-era?ref=http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/07/29/ politics-and-advocacy-in-the-social-media-era/). *************************** Jay L. Perkins: Academic Experience 1982-2010 Louisiana State University, associate professor emeritus. I began teaching as the adviser to the student newspaper and an instructor in the journalism school. I retired in 2010 from  full time teaching but have continued to teach study abroad classes in central Europe for the past five years. My students won numerous national awards for reporting while students and more than a dozen were selected to compete in San Francisco for  the  title of best student reporter in the nation. One former student won a Pulitzer for investigative reporting and two others have shared in Pulitzers. Professional Experience 1967-1982 I began as a reporter on an afternoon newspaper in Wichita, Kansas but moved to the Associated Press one year later. I worked as an editor for the AP in Oklahoma City for three years and then was moved to Washington, D.C., to cover politics. I covered the  Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980, three national conventions, Congress, the White House, and a variety of governmental departments. Academic Training ‣ Louisiana State University, MA American History 1988 ‣ Oklahoma State University, BS Journalism, 1967 Courses taught: Media writing; Reporting I; Advanced Reporting; Investigative Reporting; Feature Writing; Opinion Journalism; Editing; Political Communication. Books: ‣ Lessons from Ground Zero: Media Response to Terror, Ralph Izard and Jay Perkins, editors, Transaction Press, Rutgers University, 2010. ‣ Covering Disaster: Lessons from Media Coverage of Katrina and Rita, Ralph Izard and Jay Perkins, editors, Transaction Press, Rutgers University, 2009. ‣ Numerous refereed journal and popular press articles and columns. Overseas Teaching I have taught overseas each summer for the past dozen years. I directed the Magical Media Tour of England and Scotland for seven years. I created and have directed the Hidden Treasures tour of Central Europe for the past five years. In addition, I twice spent two weeks teaching in Zambia at the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication and I helped develop the program at that institution.