Attendance

The course aims to reconstruct the dynamics of political agenda construction in relation to the media system (news coverage). In today’s hybrid media system - marked by a growing disintermediation that allows for the multiplication of actors, the proliferation of communicative opportunities and a different distribution of power dynamics - the construction of the political agenda becomes a complex subject of study. If in the past, in fact, the political agenda was easily identifiable - both on the constitutive and expressive fronts - today, one cannot say as much, in light of the multiple actors, the different platforms involved and the complex relationships activated. In an effort to clarify the complex relationships at work, the student will be provided with suitable tools to analyze, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, the following issues: • agenda construction from the perspective of the actors involved (political actors, media actors, citizens, organized groups; ad hoc audiences); • the construction of the agenda from the point of view of the issues, from the perspective of identifying their ownership or, if present, the networked dimension; • agenda construction from the perspective of platforms and their specific affordances. At the same time, students will be urged to identify ways of constructing coverage media taking into account the reference: • to the journalistic logic properly understood, i.e., as proper to the model of journalism present; • to the journalistic frames that preside over the narrative of politics; • to the overall media logic understood as aimed at personalization, spectacularization and attention capture. By the end of the course, the student will have acquired the capacity for critical analysis and empirical research on strategies for constructing and publicizing the political agenda. This ability will be further implemented through the presentation of concrete case studies designed to illustrate news management and communication management in times of crisis. The acquisition of this knowledge/skill will enable the building of a background that will allow the student the construction of solid research/reflections on the phenomenon under consideration.