Students will Identify different mass media theories and their related conceptual frameworks. Be able to apply these concepts and theoretical frameworks to the critical analysis and interpretation of current phenomena.

The objective of this course is to introduce students to the main theories and basic concepts related to mass media, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The perspective is not historical, but genealogical: it is assumed that the current media system can only be understood from an structural and dialectical perspective of mass media. Program: 1. Technologically mediated communication as object of science. 2. Media and mass culture 3. Propaganda and war 4. Persuasion and the media 5. Opinion leaders and the nature of influence 6. The functionalist approach 7. The Frankfurt School and the "cultural industry" 8. Structuralism, semiotics and mass communication 9. The medium as a message 10. Cultural studies and media 11. Mass media and social construction of reality 12. Internet and the digital environment 13. Towards a society without spectacle? 14. Post-truth, fake news and the reinvention of the mediated past.

Lectures Seminars Case studies Online resources (Open Course Ware, MOOCs etc.) Readings / Screenings Textual / Audiovisual analysis Teamwork Discussion Elaboration of reports Classroom presentations Forums