Italian Media: Popes, Politicians, and Pop-culture

Transcription

1 Italian Media: Popes, Politicians, and Pop-culture COURSE DESIGNATOR Language of Instruction English NUMBER OF CREDITS 3 COURSE DESCRIPTION The course provides an overview of 2,000 years of Italian-style communications, from Julius Caesar to Machiavelli, Mussolini and the Mafia. It goes on to offer critical insights into the past and present workings of the Vatican s media machine from the Gutenberg Bible to Benedict XVI on YouTube. It analyses why communications hold the key to the ongoing power struggle between Church and State in Italy, how that impacts both on popular culture and freedom of the press and what happens when one man controls over 80% of all television and print media, turning them into his own PR tool. Issues dealt with during the course are grouped into 5 thematic clusters: Italian-style communication the first 2,000 years: an overview The Vatican Media Machine: introducing the Catholic Church s media The Italian Media Mess: presenting Italian state and private media The Making of an Empire: how Berlusconi came to control media in Italy Italian Media and Me: interacting with Italian media models COURSE OBJECTIVES To introduce Italian contemporary culture through the media To provide an overview of Church, state and private media in Italy To analyse Berlusconi s role and power in the media in Italy To understand the Italian media model in terms of politics, the Catholic Church and the way it dictates popular culture. LEARNING OUTCOMES GENERAL OUTCOMES At the end of the course students should be able to identify, define and solve problems and to critically evaluate information. They should know how to communicate effectively and be able to compare and contrast their own U.S. cultural/communications experience with what they have seen and learned in Italy. COURSE-SPECIFIC OUTCOMES At the end of the course students should be able to: analyse different Italian communications models apply and evaluate critical approaches to Italian media

2 discuss different moral, ethical and aesthetic aspects of Italian media relate the three major themes of the course (political, religious and commercial) to their own experience and perception COURSE PREREQUISITES No prerequisites are needed. The final assessment will be based on the material presented in class. Students are expected to respect the deadlines indicated and to take notes on the material presented. Information derived from on-site visits and presentations by visiting experts is integral to the course. METHODOLOGY One three-hour class per week, alternating between in-class lectures/discussions and on-the-spot location experiences. OUT-OF-CLASS ACTIVITIES The students are taken on field-trips to visit various media structures (one of Berlusconi s TV studios, the Vatican Radio and Television ) and to the Italian Parliament, where they have the opportunity to meet and speak with professionals and experts in the field. Two guest speakers will come to class to give lectures on Italian media and Italian politics, respectively. DRESS CODE On-site visits to the Vatican and Italian parliament require jacket and tie for men and shoulder cover for women. REQUIRED READING/MATERIALS These will be provided by the instructor ahead of each class as compulsory reading for the lesson. RECOMMENDED READINGS Matthew Hibberd, The Media in Italy Alexander Stille, The Sack of Rome Paul Ginsborg, Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony GRADING CLASS PARTICIPATION AND ATTENDANCE Participation is vital. Students are expected to participate actively and critically in class and to hand in their weekly assignment papers on time. Students are responsible for making up any missed assignments. ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND PAPERS The topics for discussion are proposed by the students and confirmed by the instructor. Papers are presented once a week and, aside from demonstrating an understanding of the material presented in class, they need to include personal opinions, criticism and observations. Students will also keep a journal in which they annotate their experiences and perceptions. FINAL EXAM The final exam includes the ability of the student to sustain a simulated television stand-up during which he/she defends a chosen position regarding the state of Italian media. PAGE 2

3 CRITERIA FOR GRADING AND GRADING STANDARDS Summary of how grades are weighted: Grading Rubric A 95+ Achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements. A B B Achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements. B C C C D D Achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect. Achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements. F <60 Represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I. Journal 30% Assignments 30% Participation 10% Final exam 30% Overall grade 100% PAGE 3

4 CLASS SCHEDULE AND DESCRIPTION WEEK 1 LESSON 1 Topic: Presentation of the course with general overview procedures, projects and personalities. Questions Addressed: 1. How have Italian-style communication codes/modes changed over 2,000 years? 2. What do politicians, popes, and pop culture have in common? 3. How is our perception of Italy conditioned by the Italian media model? (Does it exist) Assigned Readings Week 1 WEEK 2 LESSON 2 Topic: Presentation of the Vatican media machine- print, radio, television, and internet. Questions Addressed: 1. What role do religious/church media play in Italy s communicationssaturated society? 2. How do they influence Church-State relations in Italy, where both claim independence? 3. Is the Vatican effective in getting its message across? Does it impact pop culture at all? Assigned Readings Week 2 WEEK 3 LESSON 3 Cross-examining a well-known visiting Vatican journalist (or Vaticanista ) Assigned Readings Week 3 PAGE 4

5 WEEK 4 LESSON 4 Topic: Presentation of state-run and privately owned media in Italy- RAI, Mediaset, Murdoch and more.. Questions Addressed: 1. How have the changes in Italian media changed the way Italians see themselves (and the way the world sees Italians)? 2. Why are the rules regarding freedom of the press in Italy different from anywhere else? 3. What are the lessons other democracies can learn from the politicization of media in Italy? Activities: Comparing and analyzing 7 television newscasts and 7 national newspaper headlines. Assigned Readings Week 4 WEEK 5 LESSON 5 Topic: Presentation of the Berlusconi media empire- television, advertising, publishing, and more. Questions Addressed: 1. How did one man come to wield so much media power while being challenged by so few? 2. Is Berlusconi s communications approach just a populist answer to democracy s present fragility? Are we watching history repeat itself? 3. To what extent has Berlusconi used his TV/media model to create the same pop culture that now sustains him? Assigned Readings Week 5 WEEK 6 LESSON 6 Cross-examining a well-known visiting (anti-berlusconi) Italian journalist. Assigned Readings Week 6 PAGE 5

6 WEEK 7 Topic: Presentation of the ethical/moral divide characterizing Italian and Vatican media- how both condemn the sinner but never the sin. LESSON 7 Questions Addressed: 1. Where does entertainment end and where do ethics enter (if they do)? 2. How does Berlusconi s media culture of sex and luxury coexist alongside papal austerity and tradition? 3. Do Berlusconi s/benedict XVI s spin doctors ever get giddy attacks? Activities: A simulated radio talk show (in a professional radio studio) where students defend an ethical/political position they themselves are not convinced of- and become their own spin doctors. Assigned Readings Week 7 WEEK 8 LESSON 8 Topic: Presentation of conflicts/clashes between Church and State media in Italy- how the one who makes the most noise wins. Questions Addressed: 1. If Italy becomes a populist autocracy can the Church become the defender of democracy? 2. Can Benedict XVI s moral authority outweigh Berlusconi s millions? 3. What are the main issues on which the Pope and the President fail to see eye-to-eye? Activities: Cross-examining a well known visiting (pro-berlusconi) Italian politician. Assigned Readings Week 8 PAGE 6

7 WEEK 9 LESSON 9 Topic: Presentation of the media in Italy as seen through the eyes of the media in the rest of the world. Questions Addressed: 1. Does the foreign press covering the Vatican/Italy have its own preconceived agenda? 2. Do you have to be Catholic, a football fan and a male, in order to be a journalist in Italy? 3. Where else in the world has the Italian media-model been cloned? Assigned Readings Week 9 WEEK 10 Meeting Place: On-site Topic: Italian Media. LESSON 10 A simulated television talk show (in a professional TV studio) where students present their own analysis of the Italian media- and experience what it s like to be a foreign correspondent. On-site lecture and tour of Vatican communications facilities (including Vatican Radio and TV Production Centres) inside and outside Vatican City State. Assigned Readings Week 10 WEEK 11 LESSON 11 Topic: Presentation of projected models and future developments in Italian-style communications. Questions Addressed: 1. How will the expanding digital and satellite market affect the current media monopolies? 2. How are internet media channels changing Italy s perception of itself as a nation-state? 3. What will happen if Silvio Berlusconi is/is not re-elected in 2012? Assigned Readings Week 11 PAGE 7

8 WEEK 12 LESSON 12 Meeting Place: On-site Topic: Italian Media. Cross-examining a well known visiting Italian media analyst. On-site lecture and tour of Italian State Radio & Television Production Centre in Rome. Assigned Readings Week 12 WEEK 13 LESSON 13 Topic: Presentation of the course with general overview procedures, projects and personalities. Final Examination and Course Evaluation UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Academic integrity is essential to a positive teaching and learning environment. All students enrolled in University courses are expected to complete coursework responsibilities with fairness and honesty. Failure to do so by seeking unfair advantage over others or misrepresenting someone else s work as your own, can result in disciplinary action. The University Student Conduct Code defines scholastic dishonesty as follows: SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY: Scholastic dishonesty means plagiarizing; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using test materials without faculty permission; submitting false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement; altering forging, or misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying data, research procedures, or data analysis. Within this course, a student responsible for scholastic dishonesty can be assigned a penalty up to and including an F or N for the course. If you have any questions regarding the expectations for a specific assignment or exam, ask. STUDENT CONDUCT The University of Minnesota has specific policies concerning student conduct and student needs. This information can be found on the Learning Abroad Center website. PAGE 8