Advanced Diploma in Media Education and Political Communication

CLASS 1: Why is media education necessary?

Teacher: Pablo Iglesias Turrión

In media-saturated societies, media power is the most relevant ideological, cultural, and political force. Media literacy is an essential set of skills for active citizenship. In this session, we will explore the keys to critical media analysis and work with the most important techniques of contemporary political communication.

CLASS 2: A Century of Mass Media and Political Effects: From 'Bullet Theory' to the Power of Audiences

Teacher: Asunción Bernárdez Rodal

Since the emergence of mass media in our societies, there has been a constant concern about its effects on social and personal life. In this session, we will explore various theories: from the Hypodermic Needle Theory to Cultural Studies, including Limited Effects Theory, Persuasion Theory, Functionalist Theory, and Uses and Gratifications Theory. These perspectives will allow us to reflect on the evolution of information practices and audience participation in public debate following the rise of the internet.

CLASS 3: Between political effects and affects: media, audiences/citizenships and battles for cultural sovereignty

Teacher: Daiana Bruzzone

Communication is one of the main strategic resources of communities, crucial for societies to achieve communication sovereignty. In the current context—adverse for the majority of the population—the logic of the media system relies on the economies of individualization and reputation. Within this framework, the political effects and impacts generated by media corporations and technological platforms manifest as polarization, hate speech, disinformation, public disinterest, and democratic erosion. In response, resistance from the cultural sphere, through popular, community, and public media, fosters experiences that generate and sustain shared projects by setting agendas that represent the interests of the majority, where community, art, and humor play a vital role.

CLASS 4: Seven impossible things before breakfast: challenges of media literacy in times of Bukelism.

Teacher: Amparo Marroquín Parducci

Alice laughed. "There's no point in trying," she said. "You can't believe in impossible things."

'I dare say you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age,

He always did it for half an hour a day.

Wow, sometimes I've believed up to six impossible things before breakfast.

- Lewis Carroll

For the past decade, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has positioned himself as one of the most successful practitioners of political communication manuals. In fact, five years into his presidency, his approval rating, according to polls, hovers between 80 and 90%, making him the most popular president in the Americas. Bukele's popularity strategy is based, among other things, on disseminating a series of narratives seasoned with false data, heavy emotional appeals, and rumors that are more wishful thinking than reality. How is it possible to cultivate media literacy in a country where a populist leader and his communications team constantly seek to seduce all audiences? Educating audiences in El Salvador has required us to make an effort to imagine the impossible, as the Queen told Alice. This session will present for discussion the concrete strategies—both successful and unsuccessful—that we have developed with a team of professors, researchers, and young students, in a country experiencing a highly successful media blitz.

CLASS 5: Strategies for analyzing media discourse

Teacher: Manu Levin

This class will consist of a practical application of different media discourse analysis techniques, both quantitative (content analysis) and qualitative (framework analysis, priming, agenda-setting, etc.), to specific examples of content present in Spanish and Latin American media.

CLASS 6: Cultural Battles and Wars Against Culture. The Right's Reaction Against 'Woke'

Teacher: Anita Fuentes

The English word 'woke' originates from African American vernacular and refers to someone who is informed, educated, and aware of social injustice and racial inequality. Although the term's use dates back to 1938 with the song "Scottsboro Boys," the expression crossed US borders with the rise of Black Lives Matter. However, what began as a rallying cry for the American anti-racist movement has ended up being co-opted by the right, the far right, and Silicon Valley tech companies to silence the denunciations and demands of oppressed groups. In this session, we analyze the backlash against so-called 'woke culture.' This rejection, which for years has focused on criticizing films and series accused of supposed 'forced inclusion,' has intensified with Trump's recent victory and is manifested in the dismantling of diversity and inclusion policies, under the argument of defending so-called "masculine energy."

CLASS 7: Soap operas and series as popular and pop sentimental education

Teacher: Omar Rincón

Soap operas are where Latin Americans tell their own stories; they reflect far more reality than news programs and have become the "university" of our emotional, ethical, and political education. New generations inhabit streaming series, and it is there that we are educated emotionally, politically, and ethically within pop capitalism, or rather, "yopitalism." In this essay-class, we will analyze the subjectivities, values, ethics, and politics inscribed in soap operas and series—something akin to the pre-modernities of rural life and the postmodernities of globalization.

CLASS 8: Transformative narratives in sport and the heart

Teacher: Irene Zugasti

Sports and social information and communication, respectively, are often treated as a specialized segment of the profession or dismissed as a minor branch within the field, and also within communication studies, media analysis, and content analysis. However, media outlets dedicated to such popular topics as sports—especially soccer—or social or celebrity gossip are not only a robust media and cultural industry, but also a powerful tool for politicization and the construction of discourses and identities. In this session, we will address the role and impact of the sports press and social commentary as communicative and political devices, and the strategies for creating and constructing counter-hegemonic narratives in these spaces.

CLASS 9: Digital Utopias: Challenging the Power of Silicon Valley.

Teacher: Ekaitz Cancela.

In the last decade, US technology corporations have renewed the modern promise of progress, reinforcing the system's cultural hegemony through a neoliberal utopia based on privatization, deregulation, and the commodification of all spheres of life. The power of these companies decisively influences the economy, politics, wars, and the climate crisis, placing them at the center of the analysis of contemporary capitalism. However, especially in the Global South, history offers numerous examples of countries, social movements, and civil society organizations that have experimented with alternative technologies to corporate ones, giving rise to non-market utopias based on democratic, sustainable, and solidarity-based practices. This session will focus, first, on the logics that allow capitalists to maintain their legitimacy and, subsequently, on experiences that have contributed to challenging it.

CLASS 10. How to create a left-wing digital newspaper. 

Teacher: Pablo Echenique

This class will cover the political, editorial and practical aspects that must be taken into account to create and maintain a digital newspaper with a left-wing editorial line, without large economic resources and with the desire to be part of a broader transformative political project than the media tool itself.

CLASS 11. News programs and discussions to question power.

Teacher: Laura Arroyo

In media-saturated societies, political disputes take place in the media. If anything has become clear with the systematic rise of the far right, which forms part of the reactionary international, it is that they have understood the moment and have been effective in this cultural battle from their stronghold: the media. They do so through their own media ecosystem (reactionary media power), as well as by placing their desired issues on the public agenda, using both their affiliated media outlets and gaining access to media outlets that supposedly oppose them but which, in reality, yield ground to the discursive strategies of the current far right. In this context, we on the left have a duty to develop discursive and performative strategies that are capable not only of breaking through from within the media power structure but also of constructing discourses that resonate with the prevailing common sense.

In this session we will discuss possible discursive and performative strategies to use in audiovisual debate spaces, based on practical examples.

CLASS 12: Storytelling. Creating informative and news analysis videos

Teacher: Inna Afinogenova

In this session, we will address three key issues for producing informative analysis videos. First, we will explore ways to deliver audiovisual information that depart from the dominant discourse of the press. mainstreamSecond, we will analyze the advantages and limitations of using irony and humor in counter-hegemonic news videos. Finally, we will discuss the importance of rigorous reporting, documentation, and critical thinking in the face of any news event.

CLASS 13: Feminist and anti-war journalism

Teacher: Daniela Pastrana

In this session, we will analyze how feminist and anti-war journalism can act as a vaccine against contemporary forms of war and violence. This approach contrasts with traditional journalism, heir to the 19th-century Anglo-Saxon school, which still predominates in most media outlets and remains the model taught in many schools in the Americas. In contrast to this tradition, examples like Canal Red's journalism offer a renewed perspective adapted to the challenges of the 21st century.

CLASS 14: The podcast as a voice of resistance

Teacher: Anita Fuentes

The rise of podcasts in recent decades has redefined the dynamics of public debate, establishing itself as a fully-fledged political and cultural tool. In this session, we will explore the potential of podcasts as a means of resistance in the face of the current rise of the right wing and the emergence of the manosphere, a phenomenon that has made use of the podcasters as key players in the dissemination of reactionary ideas. In this session, we will analyze the tensions arising from the platformization of the medium, from its co-optation by market forces to the impact of image integration, and we will reflect on how podcasts can document everyday life as a political act. Finally, we will discuss how this format can continue to be a space for collective empowerment, resisting the dynamics of exclusion and commodification to prioritize the building of engaged communities.

CLASS 15. Television for social networks.

Teacher: Nacho Ramos.

In this class we will address the importance of thinking about television formats also with an eye on social networks, since X, Tiktok, Instagram, Telegram or Whatsapp are the windows that viralize content and amplify messages to the population.

CLASS 16: Closing Meeting

Teacher: Coordination and tutoring teams.

You must be registered in the CLACSO Single Registration System (SUIC) and enter your username and password. If you are not registered, click here. hereTo access the registration form, you must click the "Register" button on the webpage of the Diploma you are interested in.

Upon completion of the registration process, you will receive a confirmation in your email.

Classes will begin in April and will conclude in July 2025.

Del 9 al 13 de junio de 2025 Our X Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Social Sciences in Bogotá, Colombia. #CLACSO2025 (more information here). In order to ensure everyone's participation, we have planned a break from training activities during that week.

All registered participants will receive, on the first day of activities, the necessary instructions to access the classes, bibliography, and discussion forums through the CLACSO Virtual Training Space.

Accessing and navigating the Virtual Learning Environment is very simple and user-friendly. In any case, a technical and academic support team will always be available. For inquiries, you can write to [email protected] 

 You must write an email with the request to [email protected] We will send you the requested certificate as soon as possible.

Exceptional criteria: In exceptional cases and within the first 20 days of starting the Higher Diploma, the student may write to [email protected] Requesting withdrawal and stating the reasons. After the case is evaluated, a response will be sent to the request. If approved, the student may resume the Higher Diploma program if a new cohort is offered the following year. After that period of time has elapsed since the start of the course, no requests will be accepted.

Money paid will only be refunded in cases where the organizing institutions decide to cancel the activity. 

Yes, the advanced diploma is certified by CLACSO. The diploma will be sent digitally and is completely free of charge.

Payment can be made in one installment, by credit card or bank transfer. We also offer the option of paying in 3 installments.

Yes. There will be discounts for students belonging to CLACSO Member Centers and CLACSO Associated Centers, for CLACSO Associate Researchers, and for all those who pay within the discount period.

You can check if you belong to a member center here: 

https://www.clacso.org/institucional/centros-asociados/

The Advanced Diploma program integrates a dynamic of asynchronous and synchronous classes. Classes are primarily asynchronous. The schedule for synchronous sessions will be communicated by the Diploma coordinator at the beginning of the program, and participation in these sessions is not a prerequisite for passing the program.