COMM 4710U – Global Media, the Internet and International Relations

The whole world is now more digitally networked than ever before and media and information moves across borders at the speed of light, and yet, in the global village, tensions and conflicts between governments, nations, and cultures persist. What roles do the global media and Internet play in shaping interactions between governments, nations, and cultures? How do they inform and influence how people in one country perceive another country’s identity, foreign policy and values? This course is about the global media and the Internet in international relations. Focusing on global media competitions, collaborations and conflicts between the world’s greatest superpowers, it shows how news, entertainment and social media shape international relations and highlights the power of global media and Internet communications to public diplomacy, nation-branding, soft power, surveillance, trade and even war.