{"id":15705,"date":"2021-03-15T14:03:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T18:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?page_id=15705"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:52:18","slug":"coms-special-topics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":5100,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327 | School of Journalism and Communication<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327 | School of Journalism and Communication\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Journalism and Communication\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T19:52:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/\",\"name\":\"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327 | School of Journalism and Communication\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-15T18:03:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-30T19:52:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Communication\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/\",\"name\":\"School of Journalism and Communication\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327 | School of Journalism and Communication","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327 | School of Journalism and Communication","og_url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/","og_site_name":"School of Journalism and Communication","article_modified_time":"2026-06-30T19:52:18+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/","name":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327 | School of Journalism and Communication","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-15T18:03:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-30T19:52:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/coms-special-topics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Communication","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/communication\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/","name":"School of Journalism and Communication","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"acf":{"banner_style":"image","banner_lines":"two","banner_title_one":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327","banner_title_two":"Course Descriptions","banner_title_style":"none","banner_text_options":{"banner_lines":"two","banner_title":"","banner_title_one":"COMS Special Topics 2026\u201327","banner_title_two":"Course Descriptions","banner_title_style":"none"},"banner_type":"text","banner_image_options":{"banner_type":"text","upload_banner":false,"hosted_banner":"","banner_position":"center","banner_opacity":"dark"},"banner_add_buttons":"no","content_blocks":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text_columns","add_icons":"no","columns":[{"column_title":"","icon_list":false,"column_content":"<h3>Fall Term 2026<\/h3>\n<h3>Media and Misinformation<br \/>\nCOMS 4800C (Weds 08:35-11:25) \/\/ Fall<\/h3>\n<p><em>Taught by Chris Russill<\/em><\/p>\n<p>How do false and misleading claims spread, stick, and shape our lives? This course examines the production, circulation, and consequences of mis- and disinformation across media systems old and new. We pay particular attention to elections, extreme events, and emergencies \u2013 not because these are the only domains where misinformation thrives, but because they reveal with unusual clarity how public trust can be undermined by strategic communication, platform incentives, and the political economy of attention. Students will engage with scholarship on propaganda, epistemic crisis, algorithmic amplification and AI. We ask not just how misinformation works, but why it works, and for whom.<\/p>\n<h3>The YouTube Effect<br \/>\nCOMS 4800A (Fri 11:35-14:25) \/\/ Fall<\/h3>\n<p><em>Taught by Ira Wagman<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Television didn\u2019t die, it migrated. This course traces the transformation of screen-based storytelling and programming from broadcast schedules to streaming queues to algorithmic feeds. While\u00a0YouTube\u00a0serves as a useful provocation\u2014a platform that reshaped what \u201cwatching TV\u201d means\u2014the course is really about the longer arc of how moving images are produced, distributed, monetized, and watched, and what changes when the infrastructure underneath shifts.\u00a0It explores a range of viewing platforms &#8211; from Netflix and Crave to Apple+ and PlutoTV \u2014 to consider the cultural and economic value of different kinds of television content.\u00a0Professor\u00a0Wagman\u00a0brings two decades of research on television history, cultural policy, and the entertainment industries to bear on questions about binge culture, creator economies, platform governance, and the persistence of old television logics in the digital age. If you\u2019ve ever wondered why streaming feels both radically new and strangely familiar, this is the course for you..<\/p>\n<h3>Winter Term 2027<\/h3>\n<h3>Media and Radicalization<br \/>\nCOMS 4800B (Tue 14:25 -17:35) \/\/ Winter<\/h3>\n<p><em>Taught by Sandra Robinson<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What role do media play in turning grievance into extremism? This course examines the relationship between communication systems and political radicalization, from historical propaganda to contemporary online pipeline dynamics. Drawing on Professor Robinson\u2019s SSHRC-funded research on populism, far-right narratives, and disinformation in the Canadian social media landscape, we explore how individuals and communities move from mainstream discourse toward radical positions\u2014and how platform architectures, algorithmic cultures, and surveillance infrastructures enable, accelerate, or sometimes interrupt that process. Case studies span right-wing extremism, incel subcultures, and networked misogyny, treated not as simple stories of vulnerable people encountering bad content but as processes embedded in media structures and political communication.<\/p>\n<h3>Parallel Publics: Media Fragmentation and Canadian Democracy<br \/>\nCOMS 4800D (Weds 11:35-14:25) \/\/ Winter<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>Taught by Andr\u00e9 Turcotte<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What happens to a country\u2019s politics when its citizens no longer share the same screens, feeds, or audio streams? How do people imagine their communities when everyone is viewing, reading, and listening to different things, in different places, at different times? This course examines how fragmented, regionally distinct media systems shape political identity and democratic life across Canada. Moving beyond the idea of a single national media, it explores how Quebec, Western, Atlantic, Northern, and Indigenous media ecosystems produce different political narratives.\u00a0 Grounded in opinion research and media analysis, students learn how audiences are measured, how trust and legitimacy are formed, and how media operates in an increasingly polarized environment. Professor Turcotte brings decades of experience in media analysis. opinion research, and strategic communication to a question that is as much about media as it is about Canada. He approaches this course from a strong theoretical background grounded in practical and real-world cases.<\/p>\n"}],"text_columns_background":"white","custom_block_title":""}],"add_thumbnail":"no"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15705"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24159,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15705\/revisions\/24159"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}