This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

Logo UAB

Communication Policies

Code: 103095 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Journalism OB 3

Contact

Name:
Carmina Crusafon Baques
Email:
carmina.crusafon@uab.cat

Teachers

Laura Cervi
Carmina Crusafon Baques
Carmen Padilla Pineda
Francesc Manuel López Chaves

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No previous knwoledge needed. 


Objectives and Contextualisation

1. Understand the foundations and evolution of media policy, and analyse their main actors, instruments, and fields of application within the Catalan, Spanish, European, and international contexts.

2. Contextualise media policy within current political, economic, social, technological, and cultural environments, with particular attention to digital transformation, media concentration, digital platform regulation, and the promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity.

3. Foster a critical and informed perspective on media policy, encouraging debate on key issues such as freedom of expression, the right to information, media sustainability, and the role of independent regulators.

4. Promote participatory learning through the use of analytical and discussion tools in the classroom that enable students to understand and engage with local and international media policy through case studies, applied research, and collaborative proposals.


Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Demonstrate adequate knowledge of Catalonia's socio-communicative reality in the Spanish, European and global context.
  • Differentiate the discipline's main theories, its fields, conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and approaches that underpin knowledge of the subject and its different areas and sub-areas, and acquire systematic knowledge of the media's structure.
  • Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
  • Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
  • Properly apply the scientific method, raising hypotheses regarding journalistic communication, validating and verifying ideas and concepts, and properly citing sources.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse a situation and identify its points for improvement.
  2. Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  3. Analyse the influence of the media on public opinion.
  4. Apply scientific methods in a cross-cutting manner in the analysis of the relations between technological change and media access.
  5. Apply theoretical principles to the analysis of audiovisual processes.
  6. Appraise the social impacts of technological mediation in modern communication.
  7. Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
  8. Describe Catalonia's socio-communicative reality in the Spanish and European context from the political point of view.
  9. Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
  10. Establish links between communicative knowledge and social, human and technological sciences in the process of implementing strategies and communication policies.
  11. Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
  12. Identify phenomena and consider theoretical problems regarding audiovisual communication.
  13. Identify situations in which a change or improvement is needed.
  14. Identify the fundamentals of theories and the history of communication.
  15. Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
  16. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one's own area of knowledge.
  17. Identify the theoretical principles of audiovisual production and consumption.
  18. Lay the foundations for modern semiotic trends and apply them to communication and journalism.
  19. Propose new methods or well-founded alternative solutions.
  20. Propose new ways to measure the success or failure of the implementation of innovative proposals or ideas.
  21. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  22. Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
  23. Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  24. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  25. Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  26. Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  27. Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
  28. Weigh up the risks and opportunities of both one's own and other people's proposals for improvement.

Content

SYLLABUS

Unit 1: Media Policy

  • Historical evolution of media policy
  • Definition, typology and methodological proposal
  • How is media policy implemented?

Unit 2: Regulation of Media Markets

  • How are media markets regulated?
  • Regulatory authorities: definition and typology
  • Analysis of regulators: United States and Europe

Unit 3: Public Service, Content, and Cultural Diversity

  • Public Service Media policies: the European perspective
  • Cultural Diversity: the instrument for protection and promotion of cultural content
  • Content policy frameworks

Unit 4: Policies for the Digital Society 

  • Technological transformation and its impact on media policy
  • The international agenda of digital policies
  • Digital policies in the European Union

Unit 5: Current challenges of media policy

  • Instruments to combat disinformation
  • European Union actions
  • The challenge of Artificial Intelligence deployment

The course content will be sensitive to gender perspective and the use of inclusive language. A detailed calendar of the content of each session will be presented on the first day of the course. It will also be posted on the Virtual Campus, where students will find a detailed description of assignments and activities, teaching materials, and any other relevant information to follow the course properly. In the event of a change in teaching modality due to force majeure, as determined by the competent authorities, the teaching staff will notify students of any adjustments to the course schedule and methodology.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 37.5 1.5 8, 10, 6
Seminars 15 0.6 4, 8, 6
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 7.5 0.3 9
Type: Autonomous      
Personal work 82.5 3.3 4

The subject will be developed through theoretical and practical sessions. The lectures will focus on the key concepts of media policies. The seminars will have the following modalities: case analysis, theme assignments, debates, and presentations. In some sessions, the inverted classroom methodology could be used. 

 

 

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Assignment - Theme 3 10 1 0.04 7, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 16, 15, 13, 28, 19, 20, 22, 26, 25, 23, 24, 6
Assignment - Theme 4 10 1 0.04 7, 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 16, 13, 28, 19, 20, 21, 26, 25, 23, 24, 6
Assignment - Theme 5 10 1 0.04 7, 3, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 12, 16, 15, 13, 28, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 23, 24, 6, 27
Case analysis 1 10 1 0.04 7, 3, 1, 10, 11, 12, 14, 13, 28, 20, 21, 25, 23, 24, 6, 27
Case analysis 2 10 1 0.04 7, 3, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 15, 13, 28, 19, 20, 25, 23, 24, 6, 27
Inclass participation 20 1.5 0.06 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 26, 25, 23, 24, 6
Test 30 1 0.04 7, 3, 8, 10, 11, 18, 14, 24, 6

 

Assessment is summative and based on continuous monitoring of student participation and submission of activities. To receive a final grade,  students must complete all evaluation activities and achieve a minimum of 10 points in the content test

Assessment breakdown:

  • 2 Case analyses: 20 points (10 + 10)

  • 3 Seminar activities: 30 points (10 + 10 + 10)

  • Content test: 30 points

  • Participation in large group sessions: 20 points

Attendance at all assessment activities is mandatory. Exceptions may be granted in duly justified cases (illness, surgery, death of a close family member, etc.), which must be documented with an official certificate and communicated to the instructor via the Virtual Campus.

Participation in large group dynamics:
To obtain the corresponding score, students must attend at least 80% of the sessions. If attendance is below this threshold, the activity will be considered completed (for continuous assessment), but no score will be awarded.

Missed activities due to justified reasons:
Activities not completed for justified reasons will not be rescheduled during the semester but may be recovered in June 2026. The recovery date will be announced on the first day of class.

Submission and grading of assignments:
All assignments must be submitted within the established deadlines and follow the formal guidelines provided in the activity sheets. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Publication and review of grades:
Grades will be published on the Virtual Campus. Students will have a period of 10 calendar days to request reviews or raise concerns regarding their grades.

Tutorials:
Each instructor will provide specific office hours for academic guidance and feedback.

Attendance tracking:
Attendance will be recorded in lectures using a signature sheet to calculate the participation percentage required for the large group activity evaluation.

Recovery Assessment

Two recovery pathways are established:

Recoveryof the theoretical component (content test):
Students who do not reach 10 points in the content test must sit a make-up exam in June 2026, covering the entire course syllabus. The final grade will combine the result of this exam with the previously obtained seminar activities grade (which represents 50% of the final grade).

Global recovery of the course: Students whose total grade in continuous assessment is below the passing mark (5/10) but above 3.5 may sit a comprehensive make-up test. This test will consist of:

A theoretical part (comprehensive content test) + A practical part (based on seminar activities). The result of this test will replace the previous grade and be considered the final course grade.

Plagiarism:  Any act of academic misconduct (plagiarism, copying, identity fraud, etc.) will result in a zero grade for the affected activity. In cases of repeated infractions, the final grade for the course will be 0.

Use of Artificial Intelligence:

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted only for support tasks, such as bibliographic or factual searches, text revision, translation, or in activities explicitly authorized by the teaching staff.
Students must indicate which parts of their work were generated using AI, specify the tools used, and provide a critical reflection on how these tools influenced the process and outcome. Failure to disclose AI use will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in partial or total penalties in grading or more serious sanctions in cases of severe misconduct.

Second Enrollment: Students who enrol in the course for a second time may take a single synthesis exam, which will include a content test and practical exercises. The final grade will correspond to the result of this synthesis exam.
Students wishing to follow this option must notify the course coordinator in writing.

Single Assessment:  Students opting for a single assessment will be evaluated as follows:

  • 50% Written test on theoretical content

  • 30% Case-based written exam (3 practical cases)

  • 20% Oral presentation commenting on and analysing a selected communication policy

The final grade will be the weighted result of the three components. Dates will be published in the course calendar at the beginning of the semester.

Recovery exam for single assessment:
Students who sit the single assessment and obtain a grade of at least 3.5/10 will be eligible for a synthesis make-up test, which will include a multiple-choice content section, case resolution, and an oral component. The date will be announced at the beginning of the course.


Bibliography

 

ALBORNOZ, Luis Alberto i GARCÍA LEIVA, Mª Trinidad (eds.) (2017) Diversidad e industria audiovisual. El desafío cultural del siglo XXI. México: Fondo de cultura económica. 

DONDERS, Karen (2021). Public Service Media in Europe. Law, Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

DONDERS, Karen; PAUWELS, Caroline i LOISEN, Jan (eds.) (2014). The Palgrave Handbook of European Media Policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

MANSELL, Robin i RABOY, Marc (2011). The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy. Londres: Blackwell.

PICARD, Robert (2020). Media and Communications Policy Making. New York: PalgraveMacmillan. 

RANAIVOSON, Heritiana, Sally BROUGHTON MICOVA, Tim RAATS (eds.) (2023) European Audiovisual Policy in Transition. London: Palgrave 

VAN CUILENBURG, Jan and MCQUAIL, Denis (2003) “Media Policy Paradigm Shifts: towards a New Communications Policy”, European Journal of Communication, vol. 18, 181-207.


Software

There is no specific software.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(SEM) Seminars 11 Spanish second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 12 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 13 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 21 Spanish second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 22 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 23 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 Catalan second semester morning-mixed