Sylabus
ZUR393I: Political Communication
4 ECTS
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.
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 U34 Thursday 22. 10.: 8:00 - 9:30 & 17:00 - 20:15;
room U34 Friday 23. 10.: 8:00 - 13:00; room U33
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:
PASS: A: 100 - 93 B: 92 - 85 C: 84 - 77 D: 76 - 69 E: 68 - 60
FAIL: F: 59 - 0
Final grade is Pass/Fail.
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.