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.