AGCM 430 (ENVS 430 or NRES 464 or SOC 464) Communication in Environmental Social Movements
If you wanted to save the world, how would you do it?
Typical class questions: What strategies are movement organizations and activists using? What are the strengths and weaknesses of different strategies? Popular culture: What is being said now? What power do social media have to start a movement? What types of communications are best for promoting lasting social change?
Short description: This class is an upper-level undergraduate/course in environmental communication. The course is aimed at bridging the gap between the theoretical insights from the last 50 years of communication research and the reality of current communications. The first third of the class will be looking at the progression of environmental ideology from manifest destiny to deep ecology. The middle third will examine communications produced by large commercial interests – Hollywood blockbusters, advertising, and news. The last third will look at the strategies of movement activists – from image politics, to direct action, to organized education campaigns.
Class time: 2:00 – 3:20 pm
Tuesday and Thursday
And
JOURN 460 – L1 (first 8 weeks)
The Media and You: Getting the Message Out This course will equip students and practitioners in journalism, public relations, business, agriculture and science and technology fields with practical knowledge and tools to understand and work with all forms of media to achieve their goals. The course will include a quick survey of contemporary public relations and clarify several discrete elements: publicity, advertising, branding, press agency, public affairs, issues management, lobbying, investor relations and development. This will set the stage for this course, which will focus on working with and, at times, around news media. The core issue of working with the media will encompass guidelines for good media relations, guidelines for working with the press, and understanding the ethical dimensions of the relationships that form. The course will employ case studies, real and hypothetical. The class will break into small groups for the last four or five sessions to develop a set of strategies, employing an array of media, to reach a PR goal the instructor will develop. The instructor will solicit real world opportunities for class teams to work with local/regional interests on a media and communications plan that suits the client.
Class time: 9:00 – 10:50 am
Monday and Wednesday