The Political Communication Focus Program provides UNC Hussman undergraduates with hands-on experience creating digital ads, designing campaign logos, developing communication plans and organizing events such as press conferences. Students will have multiple opportunities to meet with and learn from political practitioners and political journalists.
Overview
The focus program in political communication offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience, expert guidance and invaluable connections in the field of political communication for those interested in electoral campaigns, issue advocacy, public affairs or political journalism.
Learn how electoral campaigns work to persuade voters, how organizations advocate for policies, how legislators build support for their proposals and how agencies communicate their work to the public.
Join the extensive network of Tar Heel alumni and friends working in political communication in Washington, D.C. and beyond to find opportunities, mentorship, and friendship.
Spend a semester working in D.C. as a communications intern and taking courses in political communication and public policy.
Courses Offered
This course provides an overview of the various actors, institutions, and processes involved in political communication. Students learn that political communication spans everything from political journalism and public relations to advertising and marketing. And, that it takes place on social media and television, as well as the webpages of new journalism startups and print pages of newspapers. At the end of the course, students have gained a deep understanding of political communication across various fields and platforms.
Through case studies, this course analyzes the actors, technologies, and forms of communication that together constitute public debate. The course focuses closely on processes of political communication, with an eye to how the state, press, political parties, civil society organizations, social movements, campaigns, and the public interact to shape public life and produce political culture.
While formally titled “Public Information Strategies,” this course is informally known as “Press Secretaries 101.” If you’ve ever watched a press secretary or public information officer hold a press briefing at the White House, a federal or state agency or a city hall and thought, “That looks like fun,” this class is for you. “Public Information Strategies” examines the role of public relations professionals within government at all levels. How do you break down complex policies into concepts that the average citizen can understand and support? What are the practical and ethical considerations for PR practitioners who must represent a boss with a specific policy agenda, while also keeping the public accurately informed? What does it mean when the words we speak can affect how democracy functions? We’ll examine these questions and more through a mix of lectures, case studies and interactive role-playing.
“Navigating Threats to Media and Expressive Freedom” is a conceptual course designed to provide students with a deep, practice-based understanding of contemporary political threats to the expressive freedoms of individuals, publics and communications professions. This course will involve students in a deep engagement with research on democratic backsliding, the politics of media, threats to communicative freedom, and journalism, public relations, and advertising practice and ethics. It does so with an eye towards students applying this knowledge to contemporary, real world scenarios involving threats to media and expressive freedom from various actors. Students will adopt the perspective of various communications professionals and take up questions about such things as platform content moderation and claims of censorship, how journalists should cover contemporary political events, how companies navigate political pressure and consumer polarization, how health professionals account for politics, and speech on university campuses.
Students enrolled in the Washington D.C. in-residence semester work as political communications interns. The internship is accompanied by seminars in political communication and public policy. Students apply through Honors Carolina.
The Washington Experience is an intensive, semester-long course that introduces students to careers in journalism and political communication and D.C.-based organizations and people. This course provides students with a deep dive into the state of U.S. media and politics. The hallmark of this capstone course is a campaign simulation where students are responsible for running political candidates or covering those candidates. Students also make a trip to Washington D.C. over UNC’s fall break and visit various media and political organizations and meet UNC alumni, as well as learn professionalization skills.
Application process
To finish this optional program within the media and journalism major, students need to complete any four courses from the offerings listed above. Once they have completed all four courses or are in the process of doing so (i.e.: enrolled in the required courses), students must apply by February 1 of their senior year to have the political communication focus noted on their transcript.
Hear From a PolComm Alumnus
“Washington Experience was easily the best class I took at UNC.
The course helped me sharpen my political writing skills and gave me a deeper understanding of the intersection between politics, public relations and journalism. The class group projects really challenge you to think creatively and allow you to put what you learn into practice. The final portfolio we had to prepare for the end of the course was a great product I could be proud of.
Beyond the coursework, I also learned essential networking skills and tips, which were crucial in my post-grad job search. Meeting with numerous Tar Heels in D.C. really helped me get important perspectives and insight into the journalism field. The advice I received from the UNC alums we met on the D.C. trip was extraordinarily valuable in my job search.
Enroll in the Washington Experience!”
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