Week

Date

Topic

1

9/13

Week 1: News and journalism in Taiwanese society and in other (democratic) societies around the world

Before the first class, please finish the required readings and consider the following questions:

1. What are you concerned about news, and why?


2. Do we have to care about journalism? Why or why not?


3. How should we approach news and journalism?

Required readings

• Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Eddy, K., Robertson, C. T., & Nielsen, R. K. (2023). Reuters Institute digital news report 2023. Oxford, UK: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/Digital_News_Report_2023.pdf

Please read the Executive Summary and Key Findings (p. 9-29) in addition to the analysis of your home country.

Optional readings

• Curran, J. (2011). Media and democracy. Oxford; New York: Routledge.


• Gans, H. (2003). Democracy and the news. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


• Lin, Y. H. (2004). Chapter 3: The changing meaning of ‘news’ in local academic history (第三章：本土學術史的「新聞」概念流變). In S. C. Weng (Ed.), Imaginaries of the discipline of communications in Taiwan (pp.55-84). Taipei: Chuliu Publisher.


• Mancini, P. (2000). Political complexity and alternative models of journalism: The Italian case. In J. Curran, & M. J. Park (Eds.), De-westernizing media studies (pp.234-246). London: Routledge.


• Mathews, N., Bélair-Gagnon, V., & Lewis, S. C. (2022). News is “toxic”: Exploring the non-sharing of news online. New Media & Society, 00(0), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221127212


• Pickard, V. (2019). Democracy without journalism? Confronting the misinformation society. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

2

9/20

Week 2: News, websites, and search engines

In this lecture, we will discuss the use of (news) websites and the role of search engines in engaging with news. We will also examine how news audiences from different national contexts, civic/political cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds engage with news in similar or different ways. Additionally, we will compare citizens of different eras (e.g. the age of oral communications, of mass media, and of the Internet) regarding their search for and handling of news. In doing so, we will reflect on the meaning of news value and the issue of trust in relation to technological and political developments.

Required readings

• Curran, J. (2011). Chapter 3: Media system, public knowledge and democracy: A comparative study. In J. Curran, S. Iyengar, A. B. Lund, & I. Salovaara-Moring (Eds.), Media and democracy (pp.47-60). Oxford; New York: Routledge.


• Lunt, P., Kaun, A., Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., Stark, B., & van Zoonen, L. (2014). Chapter 9: The mediation of civic participation: Diverse forms of political agency in a multimedia age. In N. Carpentier, K. Schrøder, & L. Hallett (Eds.), Audience transformations: Shifting audience positions in late modernity (pp.142-156). New York: Routledge.


• Tripodi, F. B. (2018). Googling for truth. In F. B. Tripodi (Ed.),
  
  Searching for alternative facts: Analyzing scriptural inference in conservative news practices (pp.27-34). New York: Data & Society Research Institute. https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Data_Society_Searching-for-Alternative-Facts.pdf

Optional readings

• Gans, H. (2003). Chapter 1: Citizens’ democracy and citizen disempowerment. In H. Gans (Ed.), Democracy and the news (pp.1-20). Oxford: Oxford University Press.


• Tong, J. R., & Lo, S. H. (Eds.). (2017). Digital technology and journalism: An international comparative perspective. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.


• Tripodi, F. B. (2022). The propagandists' playbook How conservative elites manipulate search and threaten democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press.


• Yamamoto, N. (Ed.). (2022). The COVID-19 pandemic and risks in East Asia: Media, social reactions, and theories. London: Routledge.

3

9/27

Week 3: News, bulletin-board systems (e.g. PTT), and social media platforms

This lecture will examine the place of social media platforms in contemporary news landscape, discussing PTT in relation to public culture(s) and democratic citizenship. It will invite students to address and debate the following questions: How are social media platforms related to quality news and journalism? How do they impact free speech? How do PTT shape Taiwan’s information environment? How should we re-imagine and re-configure PTT and social media platforms to facilitate civic/political communications and to strengthen democracy?

Required readings

• boyd, D. (2011). Chapter 2: Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.),
  
  A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites (pp.39-58). London: Routledge.


• Gillespie, T. (2010). The politics of ‘platforms’. New Media & Society, 12(3), 347-364.


• Hermida, A. & Young, M. L. (2023, 4 July). Bill C-18: Google and Meta spark crucial test for Canadian journalism. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/bill-c-18-google-and-meta-spark-crucial-test-for-canadian-journalism-208827

Optional readings

• Bucher, T. (2021). Facebook. Cambridge: Polity Press.


• Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online video and participatory culture (2^nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.


• Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). Instagram: Visual social media cultures. Cambridge: Polity Press.


• Li, S. L. (2012). How is 150,000 users' BBS possible: Study of PTT 's technological change (十五萬人的BBS是如何煉成的：批踢踢實業坊技術演變歷程之研究（1995-2008）). Unpublished Master’s dissertation, National Chengchi University, Taipei.


• Lin, S. P. (2017). An audience study on PTT gossiping and the politics of truth (網?八卦與真?政治：批踢踢八卦板之閱聽人研究). Mass Communication Research, 133, 135-188.


• Liu, C. D. (2020). “Social-network-manager” journalism: The impacts of social media and messaging apps on the journalistic profession (小編新聞學：社群媒體與通訊軟體如何轉換新聞專業). Mass Communication Research, 142, 1-58.


• Murthy, D. (2013). Twitter: Social communication in the Twitter age (2^nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.


• Smith, N., & Copland, S. (2022). Memetic moments: The speed of Twitter memes. Journal of Digital Social Research, 4(1), 23-48.

4

10/4

Week 4: News, algorithm, and data journalism

In this lecture, we will consider how data and algorithms mediate both news audiencing and production. Our discussion will therefore concern civic engagement and culture, as well as journalistic practices and values. In doing so, we will also reflect on political ramifications that algorithms and (big) data have for democracy.   

Required readings

• Coddington, M. (2015). Clarifying journalism’s quantitative turn: A typology for evaluating data journalism, computational journalism, and computer-assisted reporting. Digital Journalism, 3(3), 331-348.


• Gillespie, T. (2014). Chapter 9: The relevance of algorithms. In T. Gillespie, P. J. Boczkowski, & K. A. Foot (Eds.), Media technologies: Essays on communication, materiality, and society (pp.167-193). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Optional readings

• Bucher, T. (2017). The algorithmic imaginary: Exploring the ordinary affects of Facebook algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 30-44.


• Georgakopoulou, A. (2022). Co-opting small stories on social media: A narrative analysis of the directive of authenticity. Poetics Today, 43(2), 265-286.


• Hermida, A., & Young, M. L. (2019). Data journalism and the regeneration of news. London: Routledge.


• Tong, J. R. (2022). Data for journalism: Between transparency and accountability. London: Routledge.

5

10/11

Week 5: Guest lecture on data journalism

Dr Shangyuan Wu, Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore (TBC): Data journalism in Singapore

Required readings

• Diakopoulos, N. (2019). Chapter 2: Journalistic data mining. In N. Diakopoulos (Ed.), Automating the news: How algorithms are rewriting the media. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Optional readings

• Eldridge II, S., & Franklin, B. (Eds.). (2018). The Routledge handbook of developments in digital journalism studies. London: Routledge.

6

10/18

Week 6: News, the technology of deep fakes, and AI-driven storytelling (e.g. ChatGPT)

Considering many discussions on the power of AI accompanying an unprecedented popularity of ChatGPT, this lecture will begin with an examination of how AI is represented in media and is understood by citizens. It will then turn attention to the applications of AI to deepfake news. These examinations will highlight the situated and contested nature of our engagement with AI. We will critically reflect on knowledge production processes, the issue of credibility, and the social and civic role of news in the age of AI.

Required readings

• Bartholomew, J., & Mehta, D. (2023, 26 May). How the media is covering ChatGPT. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/media-coverage-chatgpt.php


• Lee, J., & Shin, S. Y. (2022). Something that they never said: Multimodal disinformation and source vividness in understanding the power of AI-enabled deepfake news. Media Psychology, 25(4), 531-546.


• Perrotta, C., Selwyn, N., & Ewin, C. (2022). Artificial intelligence and the affective labour of understanding: The intimate moderation of a language model. New Media & Society, 00(0), 1-25.

Optional readings

• Bunz, M., & Braghieri, M. (2022). The AI doctor will see you now: Assessing the framing of AI in news coverage. AI & Society, 37, 9-22.


• Govia, L. (2020). Coproduction, ethics and artificial intelligence: A perspective from cultural anthropology. Journal of Digital Social Research, 2(3), 42-64.


• Lee, S., Nah, S., Chung, D. S., & Kim, J. (2020). Predicting AI news credibility: Communicative or social capital or both? Communication Studies, 71(3), 428-447.


• Natale, S. (2021). Deceitful media: Artificial intelligence and social life after the Turing test. New York: Oxford University Press.


• Thorne, S. (2020). Hey Siri, tell me a story: Digital storytelling and AI authorship. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 26(4), 808-823.

7

10/25

Week 7: News, conspiracy theories, and disinformation

In this lecture, we will first review definitions of key concepts, including fake news, misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theory, information warfare, and cognitive warfare, for our further discussion on how citizens can be well informed, and journalists can uphold public interest against the backdrop of post-truth politics. Additionally, considering the global reach and prevalence of Chinese media and recognising the ongoing tension between democratic and authoritarian blocs, we will also reflect on ‘China factor’ specifically in relation to (dis)information campaigns and in broader communicative processes.

Required readings

• Gill, H., & Rojas, H. (2020). Chatting in a mobile chamber: Effects of instant messenger use on tolerance toward political misinformation among South Koreans. Asian Journal of Communication, 30(6), 470-493.


• Hung, T. C., & Hung, T. W. (2020). How China’s cognitive warfare works: A frontline perspective of Taiwan’s anti-disinformation wars. Journal of Global Security Studies, 7(4), 1-18.


• Konkes, C., & Lester, L. (2017). Incomplete knowledge, rumour and truth seeking: When conspiracy theories become news. Journalism Studies, 18(7), 826-844.

Optional readings

• Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2018). Fake news and the economy of emotions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 154-175.


• Billard, T. J. (2023). “Gender-critical” discourse as disinformation: Unpacking TERF strategies of political communication. Women's Studies in Communication, 46(2), 235-243.


• Chen, Y. N. (2023). Agenda setting and Covid-19: Misinformation from social network sites to traditional media (新冠疫情中虛假資訊的議題設定：從社群媒體到傳統媒體). Communication and Society, 63, 101-133.


• Cheng, Y. C. (2021). Exploring the operation modes of disinformation on social media: Two political disinformation cases in Taiwan (社交媒體假訊息的操作模式初探：以兩個臺灣政治傳播個案為例). Chinese Journal of Communication Research, 39, 3-41.


• Huang, J. N. (2017). The China factor in Taiwan’s media: Outsourcing Chinese censorship abroad. China Perspectives, 3, 27-36.


• Keane, M., & Yu, H. Q. (2019). A digital empire in the making: China’s outbound digital platforms. International Journal of Communication, 13, 4624-4641.


• Monaco. N. J. (2018). Chapter 5: Taiwan: Digital democracy meets automated autocracy. In S. C. Woolley, & P. N. Howard (Eds.), Computational propaganda: Political parties, politicians, and political manipulation on social media (pp.104-127). Oxford: Oxford University Press.


• Pitlo III, L. B. (2016). U.S. media reporting of China's rise: The New York Times’ the China factor. Asian Politics & Policy, 8(3), 524-529.


• Wu, J. M. (2021). More than sharp power: Chinese influence operations in Taiwan, Hong Kong and beyond. In B. C. H. Fong, J. M. Wu, & A. J. Nathan, (Eds.) China’s influence and the center-periphery tug of war in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific (pp.24-44). London: Routledge.

8

11/01

Week 8: Guest lecture on AI, fake news campaigns, and journalism

Roman Höfner, Der Spiegel (TBC): AI, fake news campaigns, and journalism in Germany

Dr Mimi Zou, Law School, University of Exeter (TBC): Deepfake regulations in China

9

11/08

Case-study based essays and in-class discussions

10

11/15

Week 10: News narratives and digital communications: Elections

Required readings

• Mesbah, H. (2022). Tweeted attitudes towards women parliamentary candidates in Kuwait: A social dominance perspective. Journal of Digital Social Research, 4(1), 98-127.

Optional readings

• Iyengar, S. (2018). Media politics: A citizen's guide (4^th ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.


• Kerman, H., & Rasoul, F. (2022). Protesting is not everything: Analyzing Twitter use during electoral events in non-democratic contexts. Journal of Digital Social Research, 4(4), 22-51.

11

11/22

Week 11: News narratives and digital communications: Social movement

Required readings

• Jacobs, K., Cheung, D., Maltezos, V., & Wong, C. (2012). The Pepe the Frog image-meme in Hong Kong: Visual recurrences and gender fluidity on the LIHKG forum. Journal of Digital Social Research, 4(4), 22-51.


• Papacharissi, Z., & de Fatima Oliveira, M. (2012). Affective news and networked publics: The rhythms of news storytelling on #Egypt. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 266-282.

Optional readings

• Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2013). Chapter 2: Personalized communication in protest networks. In W. L. Bennett, & A. Segerberg (Eds.), A logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics (pp.55-86). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


• Cheng, Y. C., & Chen, P. L. (2016). Online real-time civic engagement in a networked movement: A case study of Taiwan’s 318 Movement (探索線上公眾即時參與網絡化社運－以臺灣318運動為例). Journal of Communication Research and Practice, 6(1), 117-150.


• Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in a networked culture. New York, NY: New York University Press.


• Liu, H. W. (2021). Anti-extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement on Facebook: A term analysis on social editor’s news choice (社群小編的新聞選擇及其意義再現：以臉書上的「反送中」為例). Journal of Communication & Culture, 21, 38-68.

12

11/29

Week 12: News narratives and digital communications: War (I)

• Adler, N., Ensel, R., & Wintle, M. (Eds.). (2019). Narratives of war: Remembering and chronicling battle in twentieth-century Europe. New York, NY: Routledge.


• Baysha, O. (2023). War, peace, and populist discourse in Ukraine. New York, NY: Routledge.


• Bennett, D. (2013). Digital media and reporting conflict: Blogging and the BBC's coverage of war and terrorism. New York, NY: Routledge.


• Colley, T. (2019). Always at war: British public narratives of war. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.


• de Graaf, B., Dimitriu, G., & Ringsmose, J. (Eds.). (2015). Strategic narratives, public opinion and war: Winning domestic support for the Afghan War. Oxford; New York, NY: Routledge.


• Tashchenko, A. (2022, 25 August). Something not skin-deep: Visualised cultural values in the images of wartime. Media@LSE. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2022/08/25/something-not-skin-deep-visualised-cultural-values-in-the-images-of-wartime/

13

12/06

Week 13: News narratives and digital communications: War (II)

• Matheson, D. (2023). Chapter 27: The ethics of war reporting. In S. Allan (Ed.), The Routledge companion to news and journalism (2^nd ed.) (pp.267-275). London: Routledge.


• Matheson, D., & Allan, S. (2009). Digital war reporting. Cambridge: Polity Press.


• Stupart, R. (2021). Tired, hungry, and on deadline: Affect and emotion in the practice of conflict journalism. Journalism Studies, 22(12),1574-1589. 

Stupart R. (2021). Feeling responsible: Emotion and practical ethics in conflict journalism. Media, War & Conflict, 14(3), 268-281.

14

12/13

Week 14: Guest lecture on conflict reporting and humanitarian communication

Dr Richard Stupart, Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool (TBC): Conflict journalism and humanitarian images as moral objects

15

12/20

Week 15: Digital media ethics (I): Democratic institutions

• Ess, C. (2020). Digital media ethics (3^rd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.


• LSE Truth, Trust & Technology Commission. (2018). Tackling the information crisis: A policy framework for media system resilience. London School of Economics and Political Science. https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/assets/documents/research/T3-Report-Tackling-the-Information-Crisis-v6.pdf


• Ward, S. (2015). Chapter 4: Radical media ethics. In S. Ward, Radical media ethics: A global approach (pp.93-118). New York. NY: WILEY.


• Ward, S. (2018). Disrupting journalism ethics: Radical change on the frontier of digital media. London: Routledge.

16

12/27

Week 16: Digital media ethics (II): Consumer-citizens

• Livingstone, S. (2005). Chapter 1: On the relation between audiences and publics. In S. Livingstone (Ed.), Audiences and publics: When cultural engagement matters for the public sphere (pp.17-41). Bristol: Intellect Books.

Wall, M. (2015). Citizen journalism: A retrospective on what we know, an agenda for what we don’t. Digital Journalism, 3(6), 797-813.

17

1/3

Student presentations (I)

18

1/10

Student presentations (II) and conclusion