Communication 387 - Media, PR & Propaganda

This course examines the role that commercial advertising-supported media, as well as the public relations industry, play in the democratic process of American society. It examines the history of the development of the media system such that it comes to be an adjunct to the system of corporate marketing, and the crucial role played by public relations in shaping public perceptions and debate about important subjects. There is heavy emphasis on how public perceptions about domestic issues, international relations, war and the military/industrial complex have come to be narrowly controlled by economic and political elites.

COMM 387 is taught principally in an online format. All lectures will be available as streaming video on the internet.