Summer 2025 - CMNS 437 D100
Media Democratization: From Critique to Transformation (4)
Class Number: 1179
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
May 12 – Jun 20, 2025: Tue, Thu, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Sarah Ganter
sganter@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
26 CMNS units with a minimum grade of C- or 60 units with a minimum CGPA of 2.00.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
An advanced seminar on the normative debates, social bases, and strategic potential for media democratization in the context of economically developed liberal democracies like Canada and the United States. This course complements other courses which critically examine state communication policies and the political economy and allegedly ideological character of corporate media. Here, we focus on campaigns and movements in civil society to define and build alternative communicative forms based on equality, democratic participation and/or human rights. Students with credit for CMNS 428 or 487 under the same title may not take this course for further credit.
COURSE DETAILS:
Living in a platform society, the idea of democratizing media is growing more complex and increasingly addresses issues like access to information, net neutrality, diversity of information, hate speech and data democracy. This is an advanced seminar in which we look at the philosophical foundations, normative assumptions and political actions that are underlying and shaping media systems in the digital age. Using democratic theories, we critically examine the current estate of media systems, normative debates, social bases, and their strategic potential for media democratization in Canada and around the world.
This course complements other courses which critically examine state communication policies and the political economy and allegedly ideological character of corporate media and platforms. Here, we focus on the link between the citizens and the media. We consider organized forms of resistance like campaigns and movements in civil society, as well as at the role of the individual. We look at forms in which citizens position themselves to the media through alternative communicative forms, as well as through interaction with the media online and offline. We discuss in which ways and how citizens contribute to and shape media systems and their normative underpinnings in the platform age.
Grading
- Participation 10%
- Short Self-Reflection Paper 20%
- Presentation 30%
- Final term paper outline 10%
- Final term paper 30%
NOTES:
The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relationship to established university-wide practices. In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 with regard to Student Discipline. For further information visit: www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html.
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Robinson, S. (2018). Networked News, Racial Divides. How Power and Privilege Shape Public Discourse in Progressive Communities. Cambridge University Press.
Wasserman, H. (2018). Media, Geopolitics, and Power: A View from the Global South. University of Illinois Press.
Young, D. (2023). Wrong: How Media, Politics and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation. John Hopkins University Press.
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.
To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit:
- SFU’s Academic Integrity Policy: S10-01 Policy
- SFU’s Academic Integrity website, which includes helpful videos and tips in plain language: Academic Integrity at SFU
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.