52661 Strategic Communication in Society

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Description

In this subject, students explore the landscape for professional strategic communication. They develop their understandings of the roles and major areas of communication practice in the public sphere. Students learn how strategic communication, public relations and advertising are conceptualised and practised in organisations from different sectors such as not-for-profit, commercial, and government. They consider issues of ethics and professionalism, listening and persuasion, and learn approaches to understanding publics, their motivations, cultures and communication preferences. They assess influence and representation in the construction of news and meaning in the public sphere and consider the consequences for society. Special attention is given to engaging responsibly with and for Indigenous Australian communities.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

• Apply theoretically informed understandings of communication industries to independent and collaborative projects across a range of media (1.2)
• Employ appropriate research and inquiry skills to independently gather, organise and analyse information across diverse platforms (2.1)
• Apply knowledge of Indigenous issues in professional practices and engage responsibly in communicating with and about Indigenous people and communities (4.1)
• Analyse and act ethically in the personal, political and professional contexts of civil society (5.1)
• Exemplify effective and appropriate communication in different communication industry contexts (6.1)

Teaching and learning strategies

Students explore debates in the academic literature and in the industry to develop their understanding of strategic communication practice. They engage with ideas and issues in a combination of pre-recorded lectures and face-to-face/online tutorial activities. They unpack weekly topics through guided class and online discussions on the assigned readings and other resources available on Canvas. Students participate in assessment workshops leading to deadlines. They apply concepts from the literature to public relations, advertising and strategic communication practice in a theory to practice report that requires them to examine the role of strategic communication practitioners in the public sphere. They learn how to develop a sample communication product for legacy and social media distribution for a mock organisation. Students use a range of online and open education resources from the UTS Library and other relevant databases for class discussion and assessment preparations. Students are given formative feedback on Assessment 1 before the census date.

Content (topics)

This subject provides an overview of strategic communication practice in society by exploring how stakeholders and publics influence organisations and social issues and by examining the role played by strategic communication in different sectors and professional contexts. Students learn about notions of the public sphere, persuasion, and theoretical perspectives informing communication practice such as agenda-setting, framing, and gatekeeping. They are introduced to various sectors of practice that employ communication practitioners. Students are introduced to the skillsets necessary for a communication practitioner to enact social change at an individual, organisational, or community level. Students learn about persuasion and ethics in strategic communication and become more critical message creators and consumers. They analyse and critique agendas in the public sphere by discussing how issues relating to indigenous Australian communities are represented, and communicated with, in strategic communication outputs. Students investigate contemporary social issues and questions that influence strategic communication practitioners.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Online post series

Assessment task 2: Quizzes

Assessment task 3: Theory to Practice Report and Sample Strategic Communication Product

Minimum requirements

Attendance in the weekly tutorial sessions (either online or on campus as prescribed) is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach that involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas with other students and the tutor to build capacities towards meeting the subject learning objectives. A roll will be taken at each class (whether on campus or online). Students who have more than two absences from class will be refused marking of their final assessment (see Rule 3.8)

Required texts

There are no required texts for this subject. Recommended readings will be available via UTS Library and through the subject site.

References

Aydin, B.O., Sahin, E., & Dugan, O. 2018, Public relations and advertising theories: concepts and practices, Peter Lang, Berlin.

Borchers, T.A. 2013, Persuasion in the media age, 3rd edn, Waveland Press, Long Grove, Ill.
Boros, D. & Glass, J.M. (eds) 2014, Re-imagining public space: The Frankfurt School in the 21st century, Palgrave
Macmillan, New York.

Botan. (2021). The Handbook of Strategic Communication. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Brunner, B.R. 2019, Public relations theory: Application and understanding, John Wiley & Sons, Newark.
Butsch, R. 2007, Media and public spheres, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK, New York.
Butsch, R. & Livingstone, S. 2014, Meanings of audiences: comparative discourses, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon &
New York.
Carayannis E., Campbell D., Efthymiopoulos M. (eds) 2017, Handbook of Cyber-Development, Cyber-Democracy, and
Cyber-Defense. Springer International Publishing, New York.

Carlson, & Frazer, R. (2020). “They Got Filters”: Indigenous Social Media, the Settler Gaze, and a Politics of Hope. Social Media + Society, 6(2), 205630512092526–. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120925261
Coleman, S. & Ross, K. 2010, The media and the public: 'Them' and 'us' in media discourse, Wiley-Blackwell, Malden,
MA.

Coombs, W.T., Falkheimer, J., Heide, M. & Young, P. 2016, Strategic communication, social media and democracy:
The challenge of the digital naturals, Routledge, London.
Courtright, J.L. & Smudde, P.M. (eds) 2007, Power and public relations, Hampton Press, Inc., Cresskill, NJ.
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Edwards, L. 2018, Understanding public relations: Theory, culture and society, SAGE, Los Angeles.
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Routledge, London & New York.
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New York.
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Hallahan, Holtzhausen, D., van Ruler, B., Ver?i?, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2007). Defining Strategic Communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 1(1), 3–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/15531180701285244
Heath, R.L. (ed.) 2010, The SAGE handbook of public relations, 2nd edn, SAGE, Los Angeles.
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Jenkins, H. 2008, Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York.
Johnston, J. 2018, Public relations and the public interest, Routledge, New York.

Meadows, M. & Avison, S. 2000, "Speaking and hearing: aboriginal newspapers and the public sphere in Canada and Australia", Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 347.

Moloney, K. 2020, Rethinking public relations: Persuasion, democracy and society, 3rd edn, Routledge, Abingdon,
Oxon, New York.
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N., Crawford, R., Brennan, L. & Spence-Stone, R. 2014, Advertising principles and practice, 3rd
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Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N., Wells, W. 2015, Advertising & IMC: Principles and practice, 10th edn, Pearson, Boston.
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communication, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Percy, L. & Rosenbaum-Elliott, R. 2016, Strategic advertising management, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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London.
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Rodgers, & Thorson, E. (2017). Digital advertising : theory and research (Third edition.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Sheehan, K.B. 2014, Controversies in contemporary advertising, 2nd edn, SAGE, Los Angeles.
Sinclair, J. 2012, Advertising, the media and globalisation: A world in motion, Routledge, London & New York.
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South-Western, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH.