Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Communication Structure

Communication Structure
3
10076
3
Second semester
OB
Main language of instruction: Spanish

Teaching staff


Dra. VICTORIA MAS, María - mvictoria@uic.es

Meetings with professors will be fixed on-demand.

Introduction

In the event that the health authorities announce a new period of confinement due to the evolution of the health crisis caused by COVID-19, the teaching staff will promptly communicate how this may effect the teaching methodologies and activities as well as the assessment.


In this course students will learn how the media market is organized; the main subjects, companies and institutions involved in trade and communication relations and political-legal, technological, socio-cultural and economic circumstances that influence entrepreneurial activities will be identified. That reality will be analyzed both from an external perspective as from an internal perspective of the media companies. Thus, students will understand the relationship between structural factors of the media industry and the decisions made in the management and organization of media companies.

The contents of the course will be structured in four blocks. In the first, the main theoretical foundations on media economics and structure of the media system will be reviewed. In the other three blocks, the trends that continue to exist in the external environment of each of the main sectors: publishing, digital and audiovisual, will be discussed. For each market, the influence of the structural position in the value chain of the companies will be analyzed and, therefore, its different activities: production, distribution, marketing and consumption.

Pre-course requirements

None.

Objectives

  • Understanding the media ecosystem, its network of value and fundamentals of the economy of care.
  • Understand the uniqueness of different media sectors.
  • Knowing the parameters and key metrics in the industry.
  • Meeting the 'disruptive' factors of media industry and new entrants.
  • Knowing the Spanish market with a certain depth (actors, audience and environment).
  • Knowing the major global players in the industry of media and entertainment.

Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme

  • 08 CG - The ability to reflect and memorize.
  • 19 CE - The ability to elaborate a budget for a journalistic project.
  • 20 CE - The ability to plan and carry out journalistic projects
  • 23 CE - The ability to contextualize and critically analyze mass media products
  • 27 CE - The ability to understand and work with different agents of the journalistic profession
  • 33 CE - Knowledge and mastery of financing systems of different communication media

Learning outcomes of the subject

The students:

  1. Will know the elements which configure the news organizations, as well as its economic structure.
  2. Will understand the microeconomic and macroeconomic environment of media companies.
  3. They will develop an entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skills.
  4. They will develop their creativity and their ability to be innovative in developing products and journalistic or communication projects.

Syllabus

1. Economy and media structure: fundamental concepts
2. The publishing market

               a. Regulation of property: concentration and pluralism

               b. Communication groups

               c. Digitalization and convergence

               d. Cultural change in journalism

               e. Social changes affecting consumption

               f. The advertising crisis and the expiration of the business model

               g. Value creation in traditional companies: quality and credibility

3. The digital market

               a. The disappearance of barriers to entry: regulation and technology

               b. New models of content production

               c. New demands of the audience

               d. New business models

               h. The challenge of creating value

4. The audiovisual market: radio and television

               a. Public / private key differences model

               b. The large media corporations

               c. The broadcasting regulatory bodies

               d. Technological evolution: cable, satellite, DTT

               e. The producers and service outsourcing

               f. The audience measurement and its impact on programming policies

               g. New patterns of consumption and production patterns

Teaching and learning activities

In person



(See attached schedule in the 'Materials' section of the course)

The contents of the course will be taught by:

16 hours of lectures in which the theoretical content of each subject will be taught.
8 hours of seminars in which, by working groups, issues of today's media system worked on each topic will be discussed.
2 hours of Meeting points with professionals.
4 hours of Coaching in which students will be oriented on the progress of work.

TRAINING ACTIVITYECTS CREDITS
Coaching. Monitoring how students learn the content of the subject, either individually or in groups. In the coaching sessions, mistakes will be corrected, queries answered, and exercises and activities to achieve the established objectives will be suggested.
0,4
Meeting Point. Meetings will be organised with notable people from the professional and scientific fields or the international field, and students. These sessions will take the form of conferences, work sessions, discussions, or interviews, etc.
0,2
Lectures. In lectures, lecturers/professors not only transmit content or knowledge, but also, and above all else, attitudes, motivation, skills and values, etc. They also ensure that participants can express their opinions and arguments to the other students.
1,6
Seminar. This activity will consist of taking an in-depth look at specific up-to-date topics in a monographic manner-in some cases these topics will have been debated socially-, via active work in small groups.
0,8

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person



  • Seminarios, evaluación continua (60%)
  • Trabajo en grupo (40%)

* En todas las actividades de evaluación se aplicará la normativa ortográfica y de asistencia de la Facultad.

** Para aprobar la primera convocatoria es necesario entregar todas las actividades de evaluación.

*** Para aprobar la segunda o siguientes convocatorias será necesario realizar un trabajo individual que contará el 100%. Solo en el caso de haber aprobado la evaluación continua en 1ª convocatoria, el trabajo entregado en la 2ª, hará media con la nota de los seminarios y contará el 40 %. 

Bibliography and resources

ALMIRON, N. (2011). Estructura de propiedad y composición de los consejos de administración de los principales grupos de comunicación europeos en 2009. Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, vol.5 - nº1 (2011), 227-244.

BAS et al. (2011). Políticas de comunicación y protección del pluralismo en la Unión Europea y Estados Unidos. Comunicación y Sociedad, 24(2), 41-75.

BUSTAMANTE, Enrique (coord.) (2003) Hacia un nuevo sistema mundial de comunicación. Las industrias culturales en la era digital. Barcelona: Gedisa.

DOYLE, G. (2002). Understanding media economics. London: SAGE Publications.

HALLIN, D.C. y MANCINI, P. Sistemas mediáticos comparados. Tres modelos de relación entre los medios de comunicación y la política; Hacer editorial, Madrid, 2008

INSTITUT DE LA COMUNICACIÓ (In-Com UAB). Informe de la comunicació a Catalunya 2011-2012.

JONES, D. (2005). Aproximación teórica a la estructura de la comunicación social. Sphera pública, 5, 19-39.

MEDINA, M. (2011, 2002). Estructura y gestión de empresas audiovisuales. Navarra: EUNSA.

NIETO, A.; IGLESIAS, F. (2000). Empresa Informativa. Barcelona: Ariel.

PÉREZ-LATRE, F.J., SÁNCHEZ-TABERNERO, A. (2012). Innovación en los medios. La ruta del cambio. Pamplona: Eunsa.

PICARD, R. (2011). The economics and financing of media companies. New York: Forham University Press.

SÁNCHEZ-TABERNERO, A (2003). Estructura y actividades de las empresas de comunicación, en BEL-MALLÉN, I. y CORREDOIRO, L.  Derecho de la información.

Teaching and learning material



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