Teaching

This semester’s Advanced Research Seminar B, FOSE B, will focus on European creative industries, namely film industries, gaming industries, and animation industries, and the sustainability and platformisation of European cultural industries.
These creative products, films, animations and video games are artefacts of cultural expression but also mediums of meaning making, central to the formation of identity, global exchange of cultures and ideas as well as a multibillion-euro global industry.

Creative industry ecosystems are one of the main priorities of European policy and essential for European integration. The changes taking place in these sectors are manifold: the use of AI in the production of moving images, the convergence and intersection of different industries in others, the ways in which women and minorities are still underrepresented in directing, game development or animation and the preferences of children and young people are some of the aspects that require further exploration.
 
Research undertaken here will be addressing important contextual, structural, policy and theoretical questions with regard to the current status and future of the European creative industries. Students on this course will have the opportunity to work closely with colleagues involved in several research projects on European creative industry ecosystems, which are funded by the European Commission’s HORIZON grant.
Blogposts, subject to quality, will be published on the project websites and Media Governance Lab blog.
 
Research topics could be:
 
- Green policies of media industry companies (VOD streaming platforms, animation, film distribution, etc.)
- Digital consumption among youth and children
- Environmental awareness among youth and children
- Consumption of animation among youth and children
- European animation as ‘cultural diplomacy’
- European identity at film festivals
- Business models of the European animation industry

Students on this course will have the opportunity to participate in research currently undertaken in several international and interdisciplinary teams.
 
 

We continue our exploration from Research Project A Part 1, and further investigate and practice the elements of research as designed in part 1 in the previous semester.

This Bachelor Seminar invites students with interests in how media and cultural industries are governed and regulated, with particular focus on the role of young people, children and young adults.
The aim of this course is to independently answer a research question and submit an empirical or literature paper.
 
FIELDS OF RESEARCH 
Note that this semester we are exploring European and global perspectives in the following subareas:
 
- Youth and children and film: consumption, preferences, policies
- Youth and the news
- Children as audiences
- Children as policymakers
- Children and youth and AI
- Children and video games
- Children, youth and animation
 
Generally, priority is given to theses connected to the topic of media governance:
Media policy; media industry, media organisation (e.g. privacy/social media; copyright; disinformation/misinformation/fake news; censorship; human rights and communication, governance of archives)
 

This is a fee-based continuing education (master's) program/certificate program offered by the Postgraduate Center.

This semester’s Research Seminar, FOSE, will focus on European creative industries, namely film industries, gaming industries, and animation industries, and the sustainability and platformisation of European cultural industries.
These creative products, films, animations, video games, are artefacts of cultural expression but also mediums of meaning making, central to the formation of identity, global exchange of cultures and ideas as well as a multibillion global industry.
Creative industry ecosystems are one of the main priorities of European policy and essential for European integration. The changes taking place in these sectors are manifold: the use of AI in the production of moving image, the convergence and intersection of different industries in others, the ways in which women and minorities are still under-represented in directing, game development or animation and the preferences of children and young people are some of the aspects that require further exploration.

Research undertaken here will be addressing important contextual, structural, policy and theoretical questions with regards to the current status and future of the European creative industries. Students on this course will have the opportunity to work closely with colleagues involved in several research projects on European creative industry ecosystems which are funded by the European Commission’s HORIZON grant.

Blogposts, subject to quality, will be published on the project websites and Media Governance Lab blog.

Students on this course will have the opportunity to participate in research currently undertaken in several international and interdisciplinary teams.

This is a Jean Monnet designated FOSE . The aims of this FOSE are to put in practice advanced research skills in conducting original research. The course will guide you in designing and carrying out original research in a team modus.

“Media and communication history is, on the one hand, one of the oldest subdisciplines of communication studies, as it engaged at a very early stage with the periodical press and the history of journalism (Robert E. Prutz, 1845). On the other hand, it is a very young subdiscipline, since only from the mid-1980s onward have more systematic research efforts been undertaken in this field.” (Klaus Beck, 2018)

A particular focus of the lecture series is placed on feminist approaches.

Within the sessions held by Katharine Sarikakis, an overview is provided of women’s movements and societal structures over the course of the last centuries, as well as the role of media and media evolution. These aspects are examined from the perspective of critical communication studies.

Hate Speech and the Media: challenges to Democracy and Europe?

Hate speech became a widely accepted term for speech that incites violence and hatred against a group or an individual.
It is considered undemocratic, because it is not the kind of speech that enhances rational debate, but it is based on tactics that aim to undermine democratic public debate by silencing groups through intimidation of speakers and violence against them.
The subject of hate speech have been predominantly social groups of a minority status, such as on the basis of religion, ethnic origins or sexuality or of historical marginalisation as are women.
Hate speech is particularly problematic in pre-election periods and increasingly on social media in so-called media bubbles, where such speech is not subjected to public scrutiny.

The aim of this course is to explore and analyse the legal, structural and cultural underpinnings of hate speech and provide an adequate groundwork for understanding the social and political functions of hate speech.

Structural limitations to Freedom of Expression

The aim of this course is to give an introduction to the relationship of media and politics.
Media and politics are two complex systems, which correlate in different areas and have a strong impact on society. The study of media and politics focuses around questions of power, rights, processes and actors, questions ultimately connected to the study of democracy and citizenship.
Students will gain advanced knowledge and skills to critically analyse information and theoretical perspectives into the following topics:

• Media, Politics, Democracy
• Media governance
• Media and political campaigns
• Media and citizenship
• European public sphere
• Freedom of expression and media and limitations
• European and global standards: access to information, ownership rules
• Public service media in Europe
• European dimensions of media and politics
• Political communication

The VERGLPO lecture is designed to deepen specialized knowledge in the fields of media policy and political communication. It covers the fundamental concepts and developments of both research disciplines, as well as the underlying theories and current debates.

The following topics are intended to provide insight into the two disciplines and their respective fields of research:

• European media policy and media governance

• Citizenship

• The public sphere

• Digitalization and media

• Democracy and the media: freedom of expression and freedom of the press

• The importance of public service media

• Privacy and surveillance

• Media and election campaigns

• Media and gender