Course Objectives

This course will consider International Political and Media Systems from two related standpoints:

1. Description, analysis and comparison of political systems in Europe (including the Russian Federation) and the Americas, as well as other selected territories; and how mass media systems function there;

2. Consideration of how political and media systems interact to produce national and international policies. The assumption here is that in a 24/7 global news environment politics and the media are becoming increasingly interdependent and are creating challenges for professsionals in both fields.

Faculty

Alexander MacLeod, B.A. (Hons), University of New Zealand. He has had 40 years of practical experience in broadcasting and print journalism. In New Zealand he was Editor-in-Chief of the NZ Listener and President of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. In Britain he has served as Foreign Editor of The Sunday Times (London), Diplomatic Editor of The Scotsman (Edinburgh), and British Isles correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor (Boston). For five years he was Editor of the London-based Round Table Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. He has more than 20 years of experience as a news presenter on BBC Radio, including nearly 10 years as presenter on Twenty-Four Hours for the BBC World Service, and for fifteen years he anchored BBC Radio Four's World Tonight programme. As a roving documentary-maker in the United States, Europe and Asia he has made many programmes for the BBC.

Course Readings

Hyperlinked readings:

Lord, K.M. (2008) Voices of America : US diplomacy for the 21st century.  The Foreign Policy Program at Brookings.  ISBN: 978-0-8157-0302-0. Available at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2008/11_public_diplomacy_lord/11_public_diplomacy_lord.pdf

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