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| COMU0024-2 | Socioeconomy of communication groups
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | Geoffrey Geuens |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Course contents :
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| The course will construct the morphological profile for the main communication groups in Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc.) and United States, in the communication sector (press, broadcasting, "pure player", film industry, advertising...). The analysis of the leadership and financial structure of the companies studied will lead us to critical reflections on the relationship between information and the field of power, and this will be done within the framework of a strict interdisciplinary and comparative approach. |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| Because a field of scientific reflection like this one is crisscrossed from every direction by ideological and political agendas, regarding which one must absolutely take one's distance, this course will be based primarily upon the use of an empirical method. With this in mind, here are the principal objectives aimed at by the course :
1) to present the main european and american groups that operate in the area of communication (divisions, shareholders, board of directors...) ;
2) to measure relationships of competition and/or cooperation that obtain between companies in our sample ;
3) to evaluate the logic of consolidation, and concentration operating in the sector ;
4) to study the increasing interpenetration between the boards of directors of the main communications groups and various other institutions such as international economic organizations, business lobbyists, governmental advisory boards, think tanks ;
5) to rethink in a fundamental way the relations between the media, political power, and society, avoiding misleading (though sometimes dominant) representations of this situation. |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| None |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| Practical introduction to research in the field of socioeconomics of communication industries. |
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| Two hours by week, each tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (Salle Wittert) |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| Required readings :
1) Geoffrey Geuens, Les vieilles élites de la nouvelle économie. Un portrait collectif des dirigeants de la "révolution numérique" aux Etats-Unis et en Europe, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2011.
2) A powerpoint, online, with informations concerning belgian multimedia companies.
3) The works of the students about major European companies in the communication sector. These documents will be deposited on the site My ULg. |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| The oral examination will try to test the theoretical knowledge acquired by the student and the capacity of students to adopt a critical standpoint concerning the material that has been reviewed in class. The material over which students will be examined includes :
1° Chapters I, II, III and IV from Geoffrey Geuens, Les vieilles élites de la nouvelle économie, Paris, P.U.F., 2011 ;
2° theoretical lectures by the teacher, including information communicated through PowerPoint slide shows (Private multimedia groups in Belgium) and school cases that have been the object of detailed analysis ;
3° theoretical lectures and papers by the students, presenting results of their collective researches about biggest european companies in the sector of communication. |
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Organizational remarks :
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Contacts :
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| Instructor : Geoffrey Geuens, Département des « Arts et Sciences de la Communication », Place du 20-Août, 7, 4000 Liège (Bldg. A1, 4th floor). Tel. : 04 366 32 78. Fax : 04 366 51 84. E-mail : Geoffrey.Geuens@ulg.ac.be Geoffrey Geuens will meet students during office hours, every Thursday morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Secretary : Anne-Marie D'Acchille, Département des « Arts et Sciences de la Communication », Place du 20-Août, 7, 4000 Liège (Bldg. A1, 4th floor). Tel. : 04 366 32 79. Fax : 04 366 51 84. E-mail : AM.DAcchille@ulg.ac.be |
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