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)
8. Implications of global communication in the current world order
Cultural
Economic
Political
Social
International relations
9. Class activities and Assignments
Practical classroom exercises
(E). RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Hachten, W. A., & Scotton, J. F. (2007). The World News Prism: Global Information in a Satellite Age (7thed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
McPhail, T. L. (2010). Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends (3rded.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
(F). IMPORTANT LINKS
Global communication and cultural identities
Impact of globalization on cross-cultural identities
What is global/international communication?
Global Communications and Cultural Identities
Cross-Cultural/International Communication
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