My Political Communication Syllabus for This Semester

This semester at American University, I am teaching an advanced undergraduate/graduate seminar on Political Communication. Needless to say, it’s the right time and the right city to be teaching this course. I’ve included a link to the the syllabus which contains hyperlinks to many of the assigned readings.
Download syllabus

Below is the course description:

This course reviews major areas of research in political communication, connecting this scholarly work to the insights of leading political strategists and journalists. General topics covered include:

A) How political communication and various forms of media shape civic life, elections, and policy decisions, and what this means for the health of democratic institutions and decision-making.

B) How citizens, journalists, and elected officials make sense of and use political messages. Specifically how news, advertising, and entertainment media shape political perceptions, emotions, and behavior and what this means for effective communication strategy.

C) How micro-targeting and “on the ground” recruitment strategies are either complementing or replacing traditional campaign activities and mobilization efforts.

D) How soft news and late night comedy along with blogs and social networking sites have shaped campaign strategy and news coverage; how citizens use this political information, and what it means for both campaign strategy but also civic life.

E) And as special topics, how these themes apply to the debate over the war in Iraq and to the nature and future of America’s youngest citizens, in other words, citizens like you.