B5145 - History and Analysis of Mass Communication (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to analyse the languages of the various mass media, from the traditional (newspapers, radio, cinema, television) to the digital, using interdisciplinary research methods. They will be able to understand the relationships between journalistic communication and the historical, social, political and economic contexts in which this communication is expressed, evaluating the relationships of mutual influence between the variables operating in a collective environment. They will be able to carry out analyses of particularly significant moments in contemporary history, with reference to Italian and world reality.

Course contents

Why this course could be useful: the media are part of the construction of the contemporary era.

Lesson topics

- Max Weber and reflections on charismatic power (historical cases: populism);

- Roland Barthes and myth as a way of constructing meaning (historical cases: stardom and advertising);

- Propaganda, belonging, identification, community.

- Emotions, theatricality, entertainment.

- The relationship between political communication and commercial communication. Is politics a product? Analysis of commercial and electoral advertising.

- Walter Benjamin and the liberating power of new technologies (historical cases: photography, cinema and art, between industry and consumption).

- The attribution of meanings: from the scientific method (Umberto Eco) to labelling (historical cases: the power of media naming, discourse that produces reality).

- How the public forms an opinion: Walter Lippmann, Marshall McLuhan, Jurgen Habermas, Niklas Luhmann, Elisabeth Noelle Neumann, Irving Crespi.

- Approval or audience? How to measure the audience in television, print media and the web.

- How artificial intelligence is changing the contemporary world.

- Fear as a form of communication and a tool for guiding decisions.

- Strategies of fear: the threat of war, terrorism.

- Recurring concepts: public opinion, agenda setting, post-truth, fake news, disintermediation, big data.

- Another part of the lessons will come from student requests.

- At the end of the course, we will try to offer a definition about of media power .

Readings/Bibliography

EVEN FOR STUDENTS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS, ONLY THE PROGRAMME FOR THE LAST YEAR OF THE COURSE IS VALID.

PROGRAMME FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMME FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students must write a thesis of no more than 20,000 characters in length, developing a topic of their choice presented during the course. Appendices and notes are not included in this calculation. The final versions of the texts must be submitted by 19 April 2026.

The essays will then be grouped into a single file and will constitute the first part of the exam programme that attending students will take in a preliminary written exam consisting of 14 multiple-choice questions to be held in May.

To complete their preparation, students must choose two texts from those scheduled for the exam, which they can take in the exam sessions starting in June.

PROGRAMME FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

The following texts must be read in their entirety:

1) Il potere della menzogna. Comunicazione e politica nella società digitale (a cura di Jacopo Marchetti), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2024;

2)Mirco Dondi, Dal salotto al palazzo. Storia del potere televisivo in Italia 1974 - 1994, Roma - Bari, Laterza, 2025.

3) Mirco Dondi, L’eco del boato. Storia della strategia della tensione 1965 - 1974, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2023.

4) Parole chiave per i media studies (a cura di Laurie Ouellette e Jonathan Gray), Roma, Minum fax, 2018.

There will be 7 multiple-choice questions for each text.

 

 

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, videos, power points, group discussions, student reports, text processing.

Assessment methods

Written exam for everyone.

Seven multiple-choice questions will be submitted for each book. Depending on the question, the correct answers may be two, three or four.

For istance: Quali caratteristiche presenta la televisione italiana delle origini?

A) E' a colori; B) Si ispira alla BBC per quanto riguarda i principi base: intrattenere, informare, educare; C) I telegiornali sono trasmessi ogni due ore; D) E' sotto stretto controllo governativo; E) Ricorre ad un ampio uso della diretta.

Correct answers: B and D.

The first wrong answer is not calculated for the purpose of the evaluation, for each subsequent error a point will be taken.

In the case of correct but incomplete answers, once three missing answer options are reached, a point will be taken.

In any case, to pass the exam, it is necessary to answer correctly at least half of the questions for each text on the program.

For not attending students:
Seven questions per text, for a total of 28 questions.

For attending students:

Seven questions per text, for a total of 14 questions.

Teaching tools

Films and archives on the web.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office:

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Office hours

See the website of Mirco Dondi