Political Journalism

Objectives

Political journalism is one of the most developed specialties in the media. In fact, the function of the media themselves in contemporary society is to create an agenda, a function that is related to the ability of these media to set the pace of events, especially of a political nature. How many times have we seen political leaders act based on how they want to construct the current narrative in the media? How many times have we heard that a newspaper has brought down a government?

For this reason, the main objective of this subject is to introduce students to the intellectual and practical singularities of journalism dedicated to politics, both that which takes place within a parliament or in other government institutions and that linked to the social movements The specific objectives are:

• Understand the social system as a set of subsystems related to each other, of which the political is one of the essential bases.
• Get to know the various actors who participate in politics and the relationships they maintain between them, either directly or through the media subsystem.
• Know the political dimension of the media and their participation in decision-making processes.
• Know the various journalistic genres and their specificities within the field of politics.
• Differentiate the news treatment of political events according to whether it is for press, radio, television or new media.

Learning outcomes

• Communicate information, ideas, arguments, comments or opinions in an orderly and clear manner to both specialist and non-specialist audiences, considering linguistic, social, cultural and gender diversity.
• Interpret relevant data to correctly base judgments or arguments, derived from a reflection on socio-economic, political, cultural or scientific matters, taking into account linguistic, social and gender diversity.
• Apply professional ethics, deontology and the legal framework of journalism to decision-making in complex situations, both in an academic and professional context respecting linguistic, social, cultural and gender diversity.

Content

1. A brief history of political journalism
2. The political journalist
3. The creation of political news
4. Report, chronicle and interview in the politics section
5. Work on the sources
6. Political parties in Catalonia
7. Political parties in Spain
8. The Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy
9. The electoral laws, the Spanish Courts and the Parliament of Catalonia
10. Territorial structure of Spain and Catalonia
11. Policy and institutions of the European Union
12. Political marketing and political communication

Evaluation

The final mark, out of 10, is obtained from the average of the different activities carried out in the subject, duly weighted and without minimum requirements.

The evaluation is distributed as follows:

Specific assessment test: 30%
Follow-up of the work done (An informative political interview): 10%
Follow-up of the work done (A political chronicle): 10%
Follow-up of the work done (Five political news in different media): 10%
Carrying out work or projects (An in-depth political report): 25%
Observation of participation (Class attendance, visits and group participation in "political week"): 15%

The specific test cannot be recovered, but if one or more of the completed work tests are suspended, a maximum of one will be allowed to be repeated.

Methodology

The subject's methodology aims to emphasize the integration of theoretical content into the student's practice. Thus, a simulation exercise is carried out with the creation of political media and also real practices. The current electoral situation is particularly favorable for students to practice political journalism.

To ensure that the students can materialize their learning in real situations, several professionals related to political communication and also different political representatives visit the classroom. In addition, the possibility of doing real practices outside the classroom is also considered depending on the possibilities and political current affairs (such as journalistically covering political events).

In this way, the basic points on which the subject is developed are:

• theory
• simulation
• Real practices (different genres, interview, reportage, press conference...)
• Visits by professionals and politicians
• Debates, discussion forums and oral presentations

Bibliography

Key references

• Bastenier, M. A. (2001). El blanco móvil. Ediciones El País.
• Mazzoleni, G. (2010). La comunicación política. Alianza Editorial.
• Miravitllas, R. (2012). Los nuevos déspotas del periodismo político. Laertes.
• Ortega, F. (2011). La política mediatizada. Alianza Editorial.

Further reading

Teachers will provide complementary bibliography and compulsory reading throughout the course via the Virtual Campus.