Digital Media in Policy and Politics: Practices, Problems and Policy Issues

Policymakers and political practitioners are grappling with a wide variety of issues surrounding digital media, in part because of the 2016 election. This course will be divided into three broad categories: 1.) Current policy issues, 2.) Digital media’s application in a political context, 3.) Emerging issues in the news about digital media. Sessions on policy issues will include discussions on foreign influence in the 2016 election, antitrust issues for tech companies, implications of tech company policies on free speech, changing definitions of “news”, explorations of privacy, appropriate requirements for transparency and disclosure surrounding digital spending in campaigns, and other topics.Sessions on digital media’s application in the political arena will include discussions about best practices for digital media, the various platforms widely in use—and their strength and weaknesses, implications for approaches to creative, an extended exploration of targeting options, methods for building digital budgets, reporting and measures of campaign success, and the ways digital media is used for voter engagement and organizing, fundraising, person and mobilization. For the sessions on emerging issues, students will be expected to monitor the news and social media to help identify relevant topics for class discussion and come to class prepared to discuss them.