The track "Political Communication" addresses issues at the core of our democracies. It provides an understanding of the role and significance of media, journalism and information in shaping public opinion.

Students of the Political Communication track study the following topics:

• How do the interactions between (non-)government actor, politicians, journalists and citizens take shape and what features and effects do they have?
• How do citizens use media to keep themselves informed and how is that changing?
• Who tries to influence the news?
• How does the ‘media's information offering' come into being?
• What effects are discernable on public opinion and political behaviour?

Important topics include the emergence of weblogs and citizen journalism, increasing globalisation, agenda-setting and the framing of socially relevant issues by stakeholders, politicians, spin doctors and media.

Studying Political Communication at the University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a fascinating, media-saturated environment. Studying in a major European centre for media research and development provides students with a network of contacts that helps them find work after graduation. Many of the programme's lecturers are researchers at the Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCOR) part of the UvA's Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. ASCOR is the largest Communication Science research institute in the Netherlands, and is among the largest worldwide. Its international English-taught PhD programme has more than 30 students.

Degree certificate

Political Communication is a track of the accredited degree programme Communication Science. After successful completion of this programme, you will receive a legally accredited Master’s degree in Communication Science and the title Master of Science (MSc).