Syllabus for Journalism & Media Studies Courses: International Communication (CMS 301)

With the unbundling of Mass Communication programme in Nigeria, the face of communication education in the country has changed. The programme has transited into a full college/faculty while individual courses have adapted to the change. While several new courses now exist in the seven new departments, some of the courses you used to know before have also taken a new shape. We have done a thorough research on what these courses offer in universities across the world; and we have provided prototype syllabus for students to study ahead. This is also to assist lecturers who might be facing new challenges with several new courses to have an idea of what the syllabus of each course offers.

COURSE COMPACT

Faculty: Communication and Media Studies Department: Journalism & Media Studies

Course Code: CMS 301 Unit(s): 2 Semester: First

Course Title: International Communication

Lecturer: Programme: B.Sc.

(A). BRIEF OVERVIEW OF COURSE

This course is designed to expose students to the nature, structure, and dynamics of the world’s media systems. The focus will be on the flow of information between the industrialized and advancing nations; how ideology, culture, economy and international market structure have all contributed either in hindering or advancing the international flow of news and entertainment among nations. The scope, characteristics, peculiarities and current issues in international communication will be exhaustively treated so as to acquaint the student with a thorough knowledge of the politics and manipulative nature of international communication. The course also examines the changes in the world’s media systems as it relates to content and technologies. It further explores controversies surrounding access to information as well as the regulation of information. International news gathering and reporting, in addition to entertainment and strategic communication will be critically analyzed. At the completion of this course, students would have been acquainted with cultural, economic, political and social implications of global communications, including a comprehensive overview of the global communication landscape and the development of the technological infrastructure of international communications.

(B). COURSE OBJECTIVES/GOALS

By the end of this course, students will have learned:

1. The history of the field of international communication

2. Nature, structure, content, audiences and dynamics of International media systems

3. Current theories of and research on international communication processes and effects

4. Comprehensive overview of the global communication landscape

5. The development of the technological infrastructure of international communications

6. How to compare, analyze and critique global media systems, content and audiences

7. Theories, concepts and issues relating to world news and transnational news flow

8. Cultural, economic, political and social implications of global communications.

(C). METHOD OF LECTURE DELIVERY

1. Lectures

2. Quizzes

3. Assignments

4. Practical Classroom Sessions

(D). COURSE OUTLINE

1. Introduction to International Communication

Definition of international Communication

International communication in the digital age

International Information/News flow (Examining the imbalance)

Global communication landscape

History and Controversies (The New World Information and Communication Order, NWICO debate)

Towards an integrative view of balanced information flow

2. International Communication and ICTs

Meaning of ICTs

Technological infrastructure of international communications

ICTs, Global communication and the global village

3. Theoretical Approaches to the Study of International Communication

Modernization theory

Dependency theory

World systems

Structural imperialism

Hegemony

Propaganda

Global Village

Technological Determinism

Globalization

Cultural Imperialism

Theories of information society

4. International media systems/comparative media systems

What is media system?

Indicators of a Media System

Types of media systems (Nature, structure, content, audiences and dynamics of International media systems; Western Media System; Revolutionary Media System; Communist Media System; Development Media System; Authoritarian Media System)

Media systems in Africa

Globalization and media systems

5. International News Organizations

News Agencies (Evolution, Functions, Typology)

Broadcast networks (Cable News Networks (CNN), British Broadcasting Service (BBC), Al Jazeera Networks, etc.)

Global Print Media/Entertainment Media

6. Factors Affecting International/Global Communication

Culture/ethnocentrism

Politics

Environment and Technology

Language

Others

7. Globalization and International Communication

What is globalization?

Globalization and international communication: The Fusion

Disappearing borders in the era of globalization (Global homogenization, Cultural hybridity, Revised cultural imperialism, Spaces of empowerment, Glocalization)