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Department of Political Science

PL3104: Media, Data and Politics

Course outline

Term 1, 2020-21

Course Lecturer and Seminar Tutor: Neville Chi Hang Li, P.hD.

chihangli@ln.edu.hk

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Part I Course Title: Media, Data and Politics Course Code: POL3104 Recommended Study: Year 3 and 4 No. of Credits/Term: 3 Mode of Tuition: Lecture and Tutorial Class Contact Hours: 3 hours per week Category: Elective course Discipline: Political Science Prerequisite(s): N/A Co-requisite(s): N/A Exclusion(s): N/A Exemption Requirement(s): N/A

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Part II

Brief Course Description

This course investigates the complex relationship between politics, media and data in modern society. We will explore how old media (newspaper, TV, radio, etc), new media (social media and Internet-based media) and the “big data” shape the global and local political landscape. Students are expected to learn about the role of different media in the political process, with a particular focus on how new media transforms such process - the rise of cyber propaganda, the use and abuse of social media, the fake news phenomenon and the impact of censorship and surveillance. We will combine classroom learning with real-life practices and expert sharing, such that students can learn about both the theoretical and practical aspects of how old and new media impacts politics.

Aims

To learn about how media and data constitutes and shapes our everyday political life; to become data-savvy in an increasingly digital world.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Identify the role of different forms of media in politics as well as the growing

importance (and pitfalls) of “big data” in daily lives. 2. Describe how states use media and data to exert power in different regime contexts. 3. Explain how ordinary citizens around the world empower themselves through social

media. 4. Perform basic research and analysis on social media data.

Indicative Content 1. Mass media in politics 2. Polling and public opinion 3. Political advertising in election campaigns 4. Fake news and cyber propaganda

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5. Social media and political participation 6. Social media and popular protests 7. Social media and big data 8. Internet censorship and digital surveillance

Measurement of Learning Outcomes

Participation and Performance in Lectures and Tutorials Students are encouraged to think critically and express their thoughts in class. The level and quality of participation and performance will be assessed through responses to presentations, direct observation, worksheets, etc., as appropriate (LO1, LO2, LO3). Tutorial presentation Each group, normally comprising 2 to 3 members, will deliver one presentation on a topic proposed by the members and approved by instructors. The presentation will normally last 25 minutes, plus Q&A of 5 to 10 minutes. (LO1, LO4) Essay Each student will submit a mini-research essay of around 2000 words. (LO1, LO4) Final Exam Final exam will evaluate student’s knowledge and mastering of the course content. The exam may consist of different question formats such as multiple-choice questions, short questions, or essays (LO1, LO2, LO3).

Assessment

Final examination -- 30% Continuous assessment -- 70%

• Essay 30% • Presentation 20% • Participation 20%

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Part III

Lecture Schedule and Outline Thursday, 3:30 pm to 5:20 pm (Real-time online teaching) Week 1 Introduction: Media-Politics Relationship 10 September Week 2 Three (Western) Models of Media and Politics 17 September Week 3 Election Polls: Data Analysis and Interpretation 24 September Week 4 Political Advertisement and Media Creditability Reschedule needed Week 5 The Era of Fake News, Post-Truth and Fact-checking 8 October Week 6 Older, Newer and Hybrid Media: The Transition 15 October Week 7 Technology, Social Media and Political Participation 22 October Week 8 Tribal Epistemology: Effective (Digital) Communication? 29 October Week 9 Political Mobilization, Social Movement and the Internet 5 November Week 10 Protest Logic, Practice and Organization in the Digital Era 12 November Week 11 Algorithm, Big Data and Social Media Reschedule needed Week 12 Censorship, Digital Surveillance and Data Security 26 November Week 13 The Future of Media and Politics 3 December

Reading

In the list which follows, we have identified core and additional readings for each lecture. All students are expected to read the core text, while the additional readings are for the students who are interested in specific topics or case studies. Apart from the weekly readings, the following textbooks are recommended: Comparing Media Systems among Liberal Democracies: Hallin, D.C. and Mancini, P., 2004. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of

Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Older, Newer and Hybrid Media Chadwick, A., 2013. The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. 2nd Edition.

New York: Oxford University Press. Hjorth, L. and Khoo, O. eds., 2016. Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia.

New York: Routledge. Hunsinger, J., Allen, M.M. and Klastrup, L. eds., 2018. Second International

Handbook of Internet Research. Dordrecht: Springer. Fake News and the Post-truth Era: d’Andcona, M., 2017. Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back.

London: Ebury. Farkas, J. and Schou, J., 2020. Post-truth, Fake News and Democracy. New York:

Routledge. Levinson, P., 2017. Fake News in Real Context. New York: Connected Editions. Election Polling and Analysis Asher, H., 2016. Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know. 9th

Edition. Thousand Oaks, California: CQ Press. Social Movement, Protest Logic, Practice and Organization Bennett, W.L. and Segerberg, A., 2013. The Logic of Connective Action: Digital

Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Castells, M., 2015. Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Lee, F.L.F. and Chan, J.M., 2018. Media and Protest Logics in the Digital Era: The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tufekci, Z., 2017. Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Lecture 1 Introduction: Media-Politics Relationship

Core: Newton, K. and Van Deth, J.W., 2016. The Mass Media. In: K. Newton & J.W. Van

Deth, Foundations of Comparative Politics: Democracies of the Modern World. 3rd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.233-250.

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Additional: • Hallin, D.C. and Mancini, P., 2004. Comparing Media Systems. In: D.C. Hallin & P.

Mancini, Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.21-45.

• Norris, P., 2014. Watchdog Journalism. In: M. Bovens, R.E. Goodin & T.

Schillemans, eds. Oxford Handbook of Public Accountability. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 525-544.

Lecture 2 Three (Western) Models of Media and Politics

Core: Hallin, D.C. and Mancini, P., 2004. Media and Political Systems, and the Question

of Differentiation. In: D.C. Hallin & P. Mancini, Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.66-86.

Additional: • Reporters Without Borders, 2020. 2020 Worldwide Press Freedom Index [Online].

Available from: https://rsf.org/en/ranking [Accessed 25 Aug 2020]. • Reporters Without Borders, 2020. How the Index is compiled [Online]. Available

from: https://rsf.org/en/detailed-methodology [Accessed 25 Aug 2020]. • Hallin, D.C. and Mancini, P., 2004. The Political Context of Media Systems. In: D.C.

Hallin & P. Mancini, Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.46-65.

• Lijphart, A., 1971. Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method. American

Political Science Review, 65(3), pp.682-693.

Lecture 3 Election Polls: Data Analysis and Interpretation

Core: Asher, H., 2016. Analyzing and Interpreting Polls. In: H. Asher, Polling and the

Public: What Every Citizen Should Know. 9th Edition. Thousand Oaks, California: CQ Press, pp. 237-278

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Additional: • Project FiveThirtyEight, 2020. Our 2020 Election Forecast [Online]. Available from:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2020]. • Silver, N., 2012. The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail but Some

Don't. New York: Penguin. • Norris, P., 2016. Electoral Integrity in East Asia. Taiwan Journal of Democracy,

12(1), pp.1-18.

Lecture 4 Political Advertisement and Media Creditability

Core: Norris, P., 2006. Did the Media Matter? Agenda-Setting, Persuasion and

Mobilization Effects in the British General Election Campaign. British Politics, 1(2), pp. 195-221.

Additional: • Chadwick, A., 2013. Donald Trump, the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign, and the

Intensification of the Hybrid Media System. In: A. Chadwick, The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.240-284.

• The University of Michigan Library., 2020. New Sources on the Political Spectrum

[Online]. Available from: https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444 [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

• Li, H., 2014. The Declining Credibility of the Traditional Media in Hong Kong.

Asian Politics and Policy, 6(1), pp.159-162. • Media Education Foundation., 2006. The Myth of the Liberal Media: The

Propaganda Model of News [Online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

• BBC Studios., 2007. Who reads the papers? - Yes, Prime Minister - BBC comedy [Online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M

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[Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

Lecture 5 The Era of Fake News, Post-Truth and Fact-checking

Core: Collins, J., 2019. “The facts don’t work”: The EU referendum campaign and the

journalistic construction of ‘Post-truth politics’. Discourse, Context and Media, 27, pp.15-21.

Additional: • Corner, J., 2017. Fake News, Post-truth and media-political change. Media Culture

and Society, 39(7), pp.1100-1107. • d’Andcona, M., 2017. Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back

[Symposium presentation]. Politics, Fake News and the Post-Truth Era, IPR Public Lecture, University of Bath. Available from: https://vimeo.com/252500642 [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

• d’Andcona, M., 2017. Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back.

London: Ebury. • Farkas, J. and Schou, J., 2020. Post-truth, Fake News and Democracy. New York:

Routledge. • Levinson, P., 2017. Fake News in Real Context. New York: Connected Editions.

Lecture 6 Older, Newer and Hybrid Media: The Transition

Core: Chadwick, A., 2013. All Media Systems Have Been Hybrid. In: A. Chadwick, The

Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.28-48.

Additional: • Lee, F.L.F., 2018. Changing Political Economy of the Hong Kong Media. China

Perspectives, 3, pp.9-18.

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• Gurevitch, M., Coleman, S. and Blumler, J.G., 2009. Political Communication - Old

and New Media Relationships. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 625, pp.164-181.

• Chafffee, S.H. and Kanihan, S.F., 1997. Learning about Politics from the Mass

Media, Political Communication, 14(4), pp. 421-430. • Robertson, A., 2013. Connecting in Crisis: “Old” and “New” Media and the Arab

Spring. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(3), pp.325-341.

Lecture 7 Technology, Social Media and Political Participation

Core: Chadwick, A., 2013. The Political Information Cycle. In: A. Chadwick, The Hybrid

Media System: Politics and Power. 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.70-102.

Boulianne, S., 2011. Stimulating or Reinforcing Political Interest: Using

Panel Data to Examine Reciprocal Effects Between News Media and Political Interest, Political Communication. 28(2), pp.147-162.

Additional: • Farkas, J. and Schou, J., 2018. Disguised Propaganda from Digital to Social Media.

In: J. Hunsinger, L. Klastrup & M.M. Allen, eds. Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.707-724.

• Tang, G., 2014. Online Media: The Growing Arena of Public Opinion in Hong

Kong. Asian Politics and Policy. 6(1), pp.155-176. • Garrett, R.K., 2006. Protest in an Information Society: A review of literature on

social movements and new ICTs. Information, Communication and Society, 9(2), pp.202-224.

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Lecture 8 Tribal Epistemology: Effective (Digital) Communication?

Core: Roberts, D., 2017. Donald Trump and the Rise of Tribal Epistemology [Online]. Vox.

Available from: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/22/14762030/donald-trump-tribal-epistemology [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

Additional: • Keane, J., 2018. Post-truth politics and why the antidote isn’t simply ‘fact-checking’

and truth [Online]. The Conversation. Available from: https://theconversation.com/post-truth-politics-and-why-the-antidote-isnt-simply-fact-checking-and-truth-87364 [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

• Dahlgren, P., 2005. The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication:

Dispersion and Deliberation, Political Communication, 22(2), pp.147-162. • Jones, R. and Li, N.C.H., 2016. Evidentiary video and “Professional Vision” in the

Hong Kong Umbrella Movement: Historicizing Protest. Journal of Language and Politics. 15(5), pp.567-588.

• Silverstone, R., 2007. Morality and Media. In: R. Silverstone, Media and Morality:

On the Rise of the Mediapolis. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.1-24.

Lecture 9 Political Mobilization, Social Movement and the Internet

Core: Bennet, W.L. and Segerberg, A., 2011. Digital media and the personalization of

collective action. Information, Communication and Society, 14(6), pp.770-799. Lin, Z., 2016. Traditional Media, Social Media, and Alternative Media in Hong

Kong's Umbrella Movement. Asian Politics and Policy, 8(2), pp.365-372.

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Additional: • Kindstrand, L., Nishimura, K. and Slater, D.H., 2016. Mobilizing Discontent: Social

Media and Networked Activism since the Great East Japan Earthquake. In: L. Hjorth, & O. Khoo (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia, New York: Routledge, pp.53-65.

• Law, P., 2016. A New Media Movement and A new Praxis @Passiontimes.hk. In: L.

Hjorth, & O. Khoo (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia, New York: Routledge, pp.141-157.

Lecture 10 Protest Logic, Practice and Organization in Digital Era

Core: Lee, F.L.F. and Chan, J.M., 2018. Digital Media Activities and Connective Actions.

In: F.L.F. Lee & J.M. Chan, Media and Protest Logics in the Digital Era: The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 105-149.

Additional: • Lee, F.L.F. and Chan, J.M., 2018. Media, Participation, and Public Opinion toward

the Movement. In: F.L.F. Lee & J.M. Chan, Media and Protest Logics in the Digital Era: The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.75-104.

• Tufekci, Z., 2017. Leading the Leaderless. In: Z. Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas:

The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp.49-82.

• Bennett, W.L. and Segerberg, A., 2013. The Logic of Connective Action. In: W.L.

Bennett and A. Segerberg The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

• Castells, M., 2015. Changing the World in the Network Society. In M. Castells,

Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.249-271.

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Lecture 11 Algorithm, Big Data and Social Media

Core: Bruns, A., 2018. Big Social Data Approaches in Internet Studies: The Case of

Twitter. In: J. Hunsinger, L. Klastrup & M.M. Allen, eds. Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.65-82.

Additional: • Tufekci, Z., 2017. Platforms and Algorithms. In: Z. Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas:

The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp.132-163.

• Bonenfant, M. and Meurs, M, 2018. Collaboration Between Social Sciences and

Computer Science: Toward a Cross-Disciplinary Methodology for Studying Big Social Data from Online Communities. In: J. Hunsinger, L. Klastrup & M.M. Allen, eds. Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.47-64.

• boyd d. and Crawford, K., 2012. Critical questions for big data. Information,

Communication and Society, 15(5), pp.662–679 • Meissner, M., 2017. China’s Social Credit System: A big-data enabled approach to

market regulation with broad implications for doing business in China [Online]. Mercator Institute for China Studies. Available from: https://merics.org/en/report/chinas-social-credit-system [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

Lecture 12 Censorship, Digital Surveillance and Data Security

Core: Tippet, R., 2018. Constitutive Surveillance and Social Media. In: J. Hunsinger, L.

Klastrup & M.M. Allen, eds. Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.1011-1032.

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Additional: • Tufekci, Z., 2017. Censorship and Attention. In: Z. Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas:

The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp.28-48.

• Wall, T. and Linnemann, T., 2014. Staring Down the State: Police power, visual

economies, and the ‘war on cameras’. Crime, Media, Culture, 10(2), pp.133-149. • Pitlo III, L.B., 2014. Testing Hong Kong’s Liberal Tradition: The Snowden Case

and Hong Kong-PRC Relations. Asian Politics and Policy, 6(1), pp.168-171. • Davies, G., 2016. Chinese Social Media, “Publicness” and One-party Rule. In: L.

Hjorth, & O. Khoo (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia. New York: Routledge, pp.167-178.

• Kostka, G., 2018. China’s Social Credit Systems are highly popular – for now

[Online]. Mercator Institute for China Studies. Available from: https://www.merics.org/en/blog/chinas-social-credit-systems-are-highly-popular-now [Accessed 25 Aug 2020].

Lecture 13 The Future of Media and Politics

Core: Castells, M., 2015. Beyond Outrage, Hope: The Life and Death of Networked Social

Movements. In: M. Castells, Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.314-316.

Additional: • Foth, M., Mitchell, P. and Estrada-Grajales, C., 2018. Today’s Internet for

Tomorrow’s Cities: On Algorithmic Culture and Urban Imaginaries. In: J. Hunsinger, L. Klastrup & M.M. Allen, eds. Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.725-746.

• Tufekci, Z., 2017. Epilogue: The Uncertain Climb. In: Z. Tufekci, Twitter and Tear

Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp.261-278.

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Important Notes: (1) Students are expected to spend a total of 9 hours (i.e. 3 hours of class contact and 6

hours of personal study) per week to achieve the course learning outcomes. (2) Students shall be aware of the University regulations about dishonest practice in

course work, tests and examinations, and the possible consequences as stipulated in the Regulations Governing University Examinations. In particular, plagiarism, being a kind of dishonest practice, is “the presentation of another person’s work without proper acknowledgement of the source, including exact phrases, or summarised ideas, or even footnotes/citations, whether protected by copyright or not, as the student’s own work”. Students are required to strictly follow university regulations governing academic integrity and honesty.

(3) Students are required to submit writing assignment(s) using Turnitin. (4) To enhance students’ understanding of plagiarism, a mini-course “Online Tutorial

on Plagiarism Awareness” is available on https://pla.ln.edu.hk/.

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