BJO203 Media and communication: Lecture plan

Course responsible: Helle Sjøvaag

Lecture room: AR Ø-130 (in Arne Rettedals hus)

Mondays 08:15-10:00

Lecture series
1 Week 36 05.09 Media/society in a digital world
2 Week 37 12.09 Media industries
3 Week 38 19.09 Media technologies
4 Week 39 26.09 The political economy of the media
5 Week 40 03.10 Media systems
6 Week 41 10.10 Journalism between the state and the market
7 Week 42 17.10 Media influence and media users
8 Week 43 24.10 Media and ideology
9 Week 44 31.10 Media platforms and media futures
10 Week 45 07.11 Summary and exam prep

Lecture 1: Media/society in a digital world

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag

The lecture will provide an introduction to the course, the main perspectives in the
curriculum and outline the contents and learning aims of the course. We will also talk about
the exam.

Obligatory reading:
Part I Introduction, Chapter 1: Media/society in a digital world (pp. 1-26), in Croteau,
D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content,
and users. Sage.

Lecture 2: Media industries

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag

The lecture outlines the basic economic principles of media industries and what makes media
products and markets so different from other products and markets. We will cover key
concepts such as public goods, market failure, platforms, and monopoly effects.

Obligatory reading:
Part III Industry, Chapter 3: The economics of the media industry (pp. 71-120), in Croteau,
D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content,
and users. Sage.

Lecture 3: Media technologies

Lecturer: Lars Nyre, Professor II, University of Stavanger

In this lecture, Professor Lars Nyre will trace the intellectual history of two of the main
theoretical perspectives of this course, technological determinism and social constructivism.
Obligatory reading:
Part II Technology, Chapter 2: The evolution of media technology (pp. 27-70), in Croteau,
D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content,
and users. Sage.

Suggested reading:
Meyrowitz, J. (1994). Medium theory, in Meyrowitz, J. et al., (eds.) Communication theory
today. Polity Press.

Lecture 4: The political economy of the media

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag

The lecture will address how politics and money influences the media, covering issues such
as ownership, regulation, globalization, media professionalism and media influence. This
lecture will draw together central themes from multiple chapters in the Crouteau et al.,
textbook.

Obligatory reading:
Part III Industry, Chapter 4: Political influence on media (pp. 121-170), in Croteau, D.,
Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content, and
users. Sage.

Part III Industry, Chapter 5: Media organizations and professionals (pp. 171-210), in Croteau,
D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content,
and users. Sage.

Suggested reading:
Curran, J. (2005) Mediations of democracy (pp. 122-152), in Gurevitch, M. & Curran, J.
(Eds.) Mass media and Society. Hodder Arnold.

Lecture 5: Media systems

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag

This lecture will context the highly American views presented in the Croutean et al., textbook
with a Scandinavian perspective by introducing the theory of media systems and what makes
Scandinavian countries different from other systems.

Obligatory reading:
Chapter 1-3 (pp. 1-50), in Sjøvaag, H. (2019). Journalism between the state and the market.
Routledge.

Suggested reading:
Cook. T. (2006). The news media as a political institution: Looking backward and looking
forward. Political Communication 23(2), 159-171.

Lecture 6: Journalism between the state and the market

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag
In this lecture, we examine in more detail what the media system means for media and
communication by looking at how a particular media profession, journalism, is affected by
the political economy of the system in which it operates.

Obligatory reading:
Chapter 4-6 (pp. 51-100), in Sjøvaag, H. (2019). Journalism between the state and the
market. Routledge.

Lecture 7: Media influence and media users

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag

This lecture will cover the theories of media effects and mediatization and discuss how social
media logics impact on media and communication.

Obligatory reading:
Part V Users, Chapter 8: Audiences and creators (pp. 297-332), in Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. &
Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content, and users. Sage.

Part V Users, Chapter 9: Media influence (pp. 333-378), in Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. &
Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content, and users. Sage.

Suggested reading:
Hjarvard, S. (2008). The mediatization of society. Nordicom Review. 29(2), 102-131.

Van Dijck J. & Poell. T (2013). Understanding social media logic. Media and
Communication. 1(1), 2-14.

Quandt. T. (2018). Dark participation. Media and Communication. 6(4), 36-48.

Lecture 8: Media and ideology

Lecturer: Ingvil Førland Hellstrand, Associate Professor, University of Stavanger

In this lecture, Associate professor Ingvil Førland Hellstrøm will give a fascinating insight
into the ideology of science fiction and how it reflects movements and currents in the real
world.

Obligatory reading:
Part IV Content, Chapter 6: Media and ideology (pp. 211-252), in Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. &
Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries, content, and users. Sage.

Part IV Content, Chapter 7: Social inequality and media representation (pp. 253-296), in
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries,
content, and users. Sage.

Suggested reading:
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of
Communication. 43(4), 51-58.

Lecture 9: Media platforms and media futures

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag
This lecture will draw lines from previous lectures on the economics and politics of media
systems to examine how platform economics and logics influence media and communications
now and in the future.

Obligatory reading:
Part VI Afterword, Chapter 10: Globalization and the future of media (pp. 379-414), in
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. C. (2022). Media/society: Technology, industries,
content, and users. Sage.

Lecture 10: Summary and exam prep

Lecturer: Helle Sjøvaag

The lecture will summarize the main contents of the course, draw connections between the
various perspectives and prepare students for the exam.

No obligatory readings for this lecture; but revise your course notes before class.

Summary of lecture series

Date Topic Lecturer Obligatory reading Suggested reading
05.09 Media/society in a digital H. Sjøvaag Croteau et al.,
world Chapter 1
12.09 Media industries H. Sjøvaag Croteau et al.,
Chapter 3
19.09 Media technologies L. Nyre Croteau et al., Meyrowitz (1994)
Chapter 2
26.09 The political economy of the H. Sjøvaag Croteau et al., Curran (2005)
media Chapter 4-5
03.10 Media systems H. Sjøvaag Sjøvaag, Cook (2006)
Chapter 1-3
10.10 Journalism between the state H. Sjøvaag Sjøvaag,
and the market Chapter 4-6
17.10 Media influence and media H. Sjøvaag Croteau et al., Hjarvard (2008)
users Chapter 8-9 van Dijck & Poell (2013)
Quandt (2018)
24.10 Media and ideology I. Hellstrand Croteau et al., Entman (1993)
Chapter 6-7
31.10 Media platforms and media H. Sjøvaag Croteau et al.,
futures Chapter 10
07.11 Summary and exam prep H. Sjøvaag Course notes