Course Objectives and Content

This seminar examines how politicians and journalists interact.  Each possesses something that the other wants: politicians desire favorable news coverage, and journalists want access to newsworthy individuals and stories.  As a result, the two sides may cooperate, but not without a strong suspicion of the other side's motives.  We will explore the motivations of both politicians and journalists, focusing on individuals and examples from national politics.  Students will discuss a range of questions: What routines do journalists follow in their reporting?  How do politicians attempt to take advantage of these routines, in hopes of winning favorable coverage?  How do these attempts at manipulation affect policy making in Washington?  How does the resulting coverage influence American public opinion?

We will investigate these questions in a number of ways.  The seminar will read and discuss both qualitative and quantitative analyses of politicians and journalists.  In addition, students will undertake individual research projects, using quantitative analysis to investigate a particular topic from class.  Finally, groups of students will integrate their findings and present the results to the class for review and discussion.   

All research projects will focus on interaction between politicians and journalists during the seminar (spring of 2004).  Students will work together to create data sets for their research projects, containing data on both politicians' actions and journalists' coverage.  By building their data sets together, students will develop a better understanding of each other's projects and hopefully offer more constructive suggestions and assistance.  I will work closely with students to develop a research question and to conduct the actual analysis.  Since the research projects will be quantitative in nature, the seminar will cover several basic statistical concepts and tests common to political science.  While quantitative analysis is only one of many useful ways to analyze and understand political events and actions, this approach will be central to the students' work in this course.  The class "Methods and Statistics in Political Science" (POL221) provides students with sufficient expertise in statistical analysis for the course.

Successful completion of the seminar can provide students with diverse skills that may prove useful after graduation.  Most obviously, learning the analytical skills of political science leads to improved critical analysis, particularly in identifying problems and solutions.  The seminar also encourages students to develop their skills of written and verbal expression, as well as the ability to work together on group projects.  Students will become adept at using three computer programs: Stata for conducting statistical analysis, Power Point for making presentations, and Dreamweaver for creating web pages.  Finally, students will learn a great deal about political strategy.  This knowledge can prove useful when campaigning for any position, from elective office to a job promotion.  

Course Requirements

Each student’s grade for the seminar will be based on several components.  

• First short paper (5% of overall grade). Each student will describe the recent political history of an issue currently facing national or international politicians, including coalitions, prominent political positions, and media messages.
• Second short paper (5%). Each student will describe past academic findings on his or her research topic.
• Third short paper (5%).  Each student will describe the dependent and independent variables for his or her topic, explaining how the variables are related and how to operationalize them.
• Research paper (40%).  Each student completes a major research paper, including revised versions of the short papers with the results of the analysis proposed in those papers.  The final paper should be at least 20 pages in length.
• Data collection (5%).  Each student will be responsible for collecting data on the actions of politicians or journalists' coverage of those actions.  I will evaluate each student's collection of data on the basis of meeting assigned deadlines and adhering to guidelines.
• Group presentation (10%).  All students assigned to a particular issue will make a joint presentation of the combined results of their research.  On each issue, students will undertake different topics.  So, the group presentation will require integration of their results, beyond the level of each individual research paper.
• Group web page (10%).  All students assigned to a particular issue will jointly produce a web page summarizing the combined results of their research. 
• Preparation and participation (20%).  Students are expected to attend every class prepared to discuss the assigned reading.  Many discussions will incorporate current events, and students should also read the New York Times regularly.  

Students will receive more details about each assignment in class.  All the paper assignments are due at the start of class on the assigned date (unless noted otherwise).  Assignments turned in more than halfway through a class period will be considered late.  For each 24-hour period that an assignment is late, the grade on that assignment will be penalized by 10 points.  Exceptions to the late penalty will be considered for medical and other emergencies; computer problems are not acceptable excuses for late work.  I have compiled a list of web sites that may prove useful for these assignments.

The Honor Code binds all work in the course.  In accordance with the Honor Code, all paper assignments must provide appropriate citations for any sources or information included in the paper; failure to provide these citations is a violation of the Honor Code.  If you have questions about the appropriate format for citations, make sure that you ask me before turning in the paper.  You can also visit the Campus Writing Center for additional assistance with citations.  Unless stated otherwise in class, all work for the course must be completed individually, with each student responsible for his or her own work.  The group projects are an important exception to this requirement for individual work.  In addition, students can often improve their papers by getting classmates to read and comment on them.  I encourage this peer review, but students must cite in their paper the names of any other students who have read and commented on that paper.

The numerical grade for any assignment may range from outstanding (above 90) to failing (55).  Note that the failure to turn in any assignment (paper, presentation, exam, or in-class activity) will result in a numerical grade of 55 for that assignment.  When calculating final grades, I calculate the overall numerical averages and use the following table to convert them to letter grades:
 

Assigned Readings

The course requires six texts, listed below.  The first five are are available for purchase in the college bookstore.  The final text (denoted with an asterisk) is available at www.amazon.com.

Jacobs, Lawrence and Robert Shapiro, Politicians Don't Pander
Page, Ben, Who Deliberates?
Ornstein, Norm and Thomas Mann, The Permanent Campaign and Its Future
Just, Marion, Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates, and the Media in a Presidential Campaign
Bennett, W. Lance and David Paletz, Taken By Storm
Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel, The Elements of Journalism*

In the course outline below, readings denoted with a “*” are available on electronic reserve through the library's web site.