Universität Wien

950152 VU Communication in and about Europe (2025S)

2.00 ECTS (1.00 SWS), Universitätslehrgänge
Continuous assessment of course work
MIXED

This is a fee-based continuing education (master's) program/certificate program offered by the Postgraduate Center. Please note that you must be admitted to a continuing education (master's) programe/certificate program * to participate. For further information regarding continuing education (mster's) programs/certificate programs, please visit: https://www.postgraduatecenter.at/en/

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes

Fri 23 May 2025, 4:30PM - 8:45PM
Fri 6 Jun 2025, 4:30PM - 8:45PM
Fri 20 Jun 2025, 4:30PM - 8:45PM


Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course aims to develop critical thinking and advanced analytical skills in the field of Europe and Communication: in particular three thematic areas are addressed to comprehensively examine the role of Communication in the building of Europe as a polity through the European Union; Europe as a cultural and communicative space through deliberative dimensions and the public sphere; and Europe as a process of identity formation. These three dimensions intersect around communicative spaces (streets, public spaces of debate, media, online platforms, political debates) as well as policies concerning communication institutions and media industries.
The course will explore through this lens the ways in which communication is central in the creation of Europe and European identity as a bottom-up approach but also as a top down directed governance and hence how it has impacted on media and communication landscapes.
The course is based on interactive modalities around specific themes and questions consisting of mini lecture formats, student led presentations and fishbowl technique participation in order to a. tap into the social and live experience of students and connect it to the scientific study b. tap into the practical and practice based experience of students and allow it to inform scientific enquiry and c. connect scientific method, background and experience into a process of ‘translating’ world problems into academic exploration.

Assessment and permitted materials

The course is based on individual and group participation:
a. individual seminar paper (20 mins) 70% of grade. Dates of class
b. individual blogpost (700-1000 words) 30% of grade. Deadline: 30 May and 6 June, 2025
Blogposts of high quality will be published on the Jean Monnet Blog of the Media Governance and Industries Lab Website
c. in class participation in activities - attendance is obligatory and active participation necessary

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Very Good (1): 87 - 100%
Good (2): 75 - 86,99%
Satisfactory (3): 63 - 74,99%
Sufficient (4): 50 - 62,99%
Not Sufficient (5): < 50%

Examination topics

More information will be published on moodle.

Reading list

European public sphere
Hänska, M., & Bauchowitz, S. (2019). Can social media facilitate a European public sphere? Transnational communication and the Europeanization of Twitter during the Eurozone crisis. Social media+ society, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119854686
Lodge, J., & Sarikakis, K. (2013). Citizens in ‘an ever-closer union’? The long path to a public sphere in the EU. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 9(2), 165-181.
Müller, J.-W. (2016). The EU’s Democratic Deficit and the Public Sphere. Current History, 115(779), 83–88. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48614146
Sarikakis, K., & Kolokytha, O. (2019). EU democratic deficits. The EU project and a European public sphere. In K. Arnold, P. Preston, & S. Kinnebrock (Eds.). The Handbook of European Communication History (pp. 315–331). Wiley.
Sarikakis, K., Koukou, A., & Winter, L. (2018). "Banal" Europeanized national public spheres? Framing the Eurozone crisis in the European elite press. International Journal of Communication, 12, 3454–3472.

European policy on communicating Europe: Plan D
Boucher, S. (2009). If citizens have a voice, who's listening? Lessons from recent citizen consultation experiments for the European Union. CEPS EPIN Working Paper No. 24, 12 June 2009.
Ivic, S. (2011). European Commission’s plan D for democracy, dialogue and debate: the path towards deliberation?’. Journal of Law and Conflict Resolution, 3(2), 14-19.
Monaghan, E. (2008). 'Communicating Europe': The Role of Organised Civil Society. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 4(1), 18-31.
Murdock, G. (2014). Another people: communication policy and the Europe of citizens. In The Palgrave Handbook of European Media Policy (pp. 143-171). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Yang, M. (2013). Europe's New Communication Policy and the Introduction of Transnational Deliberative Citizens' Involvement Projects. In R. Kies (Ed.). Is Europe Listening to Us? (pp. 17-34). Routledge.

Europe in the media
Bijsmans, P. (2021). The Eurozone crisis and Euroscepticism in the European press. Journal of European Integration, 43(3), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2020.1740698
Kevin, D., & European Institute for the Media. (2003). Europe in the media : a comparison of reporting, representation, and rhetoric in national media systems in Europe. L. Erlbaum Associates.
Oberhuber, F., Bärenreuter, C., & Krzyzanowski, M. (2005). Debating the European Constitution:On representations of Europe/the EU in the press. Journal of Language and Politics, 4(2), 227–271. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.4.2.05obe
Sarikakis, K. (2011). The Making of Europe: Mediation, Communication and Culture. In J. Lodge, & K. Sarikakis (Eds.). Communication, Mediation and Culture in the Making of Europe. Il Mulino Publishers.
Sarikakis, K., Gudkova, O., Berset, C., Bîrsan D.-I., Bortolotti L., Fath F., Fechner A., Fröhlich T., Heilemann D., Inama K., Jacobsen C., Krynytska A., Luthfah A., Meixner K.M., Möhrer F.S., Nacken L., Pandrea M., Toledano A., Würzelberger N., Zeitlinger T. (2023). Communicating refugee crises: media and policy debates in the EU 2015-2023. Report by the Jean Monnet Communication, Facts and Regulation for European Democracy (FREuDe) Centre of Excellence. https://mediagovernance.univie.ac.at/jean-monnet-grants/research-impact/reports/

Additional literature
Green, D. M. (2007). The Europeans. Political Identity in an Emerging Polity. Rienner.
Karppinen, K. (2007). Making a difference to media pluralism. A critique of the pluralistic consensus in European media policy. In B. Cammaerts, & N. Carpentier (Eds.). Reclaiming the media: communication rights and democratic media roles. Intellect Books. 9–30.
Korbiel, I., & Sarikakis, K. (2018). Media and citizens in Greece and beyond: Resistance and domination through the Eurocrisis. Journal of Greek Media & Culture, 4(1), 3–8.
Krzyzowski, B. W., Delinavelli, G., & Iimori-Voss, R. (2020). Pluralism in the Media: A Critique of the Current European U

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 09.04.2025 13:07