COM2413

Cultural and Communications Policy ( 6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Philip Dearman

Offered:
Gippsland First semester 2006 (Day)
Gippsland First semester 2006 (OCL)
Singapore First semester 2006 (OCL)

Synopsis: This unit recounts a brief history of the ideas informing policy approaches to culture and communication. It introduces students to key rhetorics or frameworks informing policy debate (the nation-state, public sphere, media as industry) and some challenges facing the management of the communications sector (globalisation, convergence, and deregulation). Students will be provided with overviews of particular media industries and an understanding of how the policy rhetorics inform and function through the particular debates about media regulation. Examples are drawn from the Australian, Singaporean and Malaysian contexts.

Objectives: On successful completion of this unit students will have: 1) understanding of the policy approach to communications and culture; 2) ability to identify the key rhetorics informing media regulation and the ways in which they function within and through particular policy debates; 3) knowledge of the historical development of the general communications sector; 4) understanding of the significance of globalisation, convergence and deregulation as challenges facing cultural and communications policy; 5) awareness of the central role of notions of the nation-state in the development of cultural and communications policy; 6) ability to conduct independent research.

Assessment: Essay (2500 words): 50% + Examination (2 hours): 50%

Contact Hours: 2 hours (1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour tutorial) per week

Prerequisites: COM1010 and COM1020 or equivalents

Prohibitions: GSC3413, COM3413