COLOMINA SALO Carme - Rethinking Strategic EU Communication in Times of Information Disorder and AI (25h)
The objective of this optional course is to analyse and understand how the EU institutions manage their communications strategies and practices, while defining the challenges and opportunities posed by the consecutive ‘crisis’ situation (e.g. euro, migration, Brexit, Covid 19, the wars in Ukraine or Gaza, and the transatlantic drift) and the uniqueness of the European environment. We are witnessing a new hybridity of communications, with new power players and new media logics and organisational forms. The use of AI has accelerated even more this technologically driven change. At the same time, it is difficult to find a moment in the EU’s history when the reputation of its institutions and policies has been more severely challenged. The course will address the potential and the weaknesses of communications strategies, looking at their evolution, daily practices and their adaptation to the current and future challenges. Among the key areas of study will be the foundations of communications in the EU; reputation and crisis management; engagement with different audiences; the organisation and practices of actors and stakeholders; emotionality and influence techniques; as well as the challenges of technology and disinformation. This course offers theoretical foundations and a hands-on approach to build a solid European perspective on strategic communications.
Professor: Carme COLOMINA SALO