Evaluate the role of the media in influencing national (social/cultural/political/ economic) identity.
Country Assigned: South Korea Purpose: The purpose of the assignment is to discuss theories (e.g. electronic colonialism theory) and critically evaluate the role of the media in influencing national (social/cultural/political/ economic) identity. Before you start working on this assignment, be sure to read theories discussed in the course: MacPhail, 2014:1-46 Wilkins et al, 2014, chapter 3 Castells, 2011 Your task for this assignment is the following: • To analyze the role of media in creating national identity (social/ cultural/ political/ economic) within the context of an assigned country; • To identify and prioritize examples of how media production within and outside the country is used to shape the nation’s identity; • To make the linkages between media’s practice within the assigned country and the wider global media industry, and how these linkages influence socio-political and economic change. Process and Format: In your assignment, please consider the following general question: How and why do the media within and outside a nation, become essential to shaping its social, cultural, political and economic identity? Be sure to address the following points: • What is the topic or problem on which you want to focus? Some examples would be media regulation and information rights, influence of global media on local culture and tradition, role of social media in political mobilization, internet and social media in promoting local tourism, role of media in shaping political and ideological stance of a country in relation to global problems (e.g. terrorism, information privacy, poverty) etc. •What are the media (e.g. newspaper, radio, broadcasting media, social media etc.) on which you want to focus? •What are relevant cases or examples (national or global media) to analyze the role of media? It is expected that you select at least three examples/cases. •What are relevant theories and concepts that are helpful to analyze the cases/examples? It is expected that you select at least two theories/concepts from the course.
