Below is a lightly edited version of the syllabus for Political Communication Ethics in the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University for the Spring 23 semester. I’ve taken out some of the boilerplate GW language and also removed the names of the guest speakers.
DRAFT
Last updated 1-5-23
This is a DRAFT of the syllabus – it will change between now and when classes start, and then change more during the semester. The most likely changes are:
Names and dates of guest speakers (largely working political professionals) and I may add readings drawn from the popular press. The grading schema is unlikely to change.
Syllabus
Political Communication Ethics - SMPA 3348
Spring 2022
Mon and Weds 12:45p – 2:00p
MPA 307
Instructor: Peter Loge
ploge@gwu.edu
Office Hours:
Mon 11:00a - Noon
Weds 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Or by appointment.
I’ll probably be around a lot, drop by anytime.
I expect you to follow all of GW’s COVID rules. That means wearing a face mask in class until GW announces otherwise. If you don’t want to wear a mask in class, don’t take this class. I will treat COVID safety as I do plagiarism and cheating: follow the rules or fail the course.
"The world is still in want of clear-headed citizens, tempered by historical perspective, disciplined by rational thinking and moral compass, who speak well and write plainly."
- Prof. Lee Pelton, former President of Emerson College
This course will raise the question of what, if any, ethical responsibility those who work in political communication have, and to whom or what they have those responsibilities. The course will be a mix of theories about what counts as ethical communication in politics in the abstract, and specific situations in which you may find yourself in a career in politics.
You will be expected to do the readings, think about their connections to events in politics, and participate in class discussions. Quality of insight is better than quantity of words, and challenging questions and questioning of assumptions is always more interesting than just tagging along.
The success or failure of this class rests largely on you and your colleagues. If you listen closely to your peers, make unexpected connections, and take intellectual risks, the spring will be a very interesting conversation.
Learning Outcomes
As a result of completing this course you will have formed a coherent, defensible, ethical position as it applies to the practice of political communication. Students will specifically be able to:
● Ethically critique political claims and campaigns;
● Identify ethical challenges in political communication and navigate through those challenges; ● Write short, clear and concise essays that boil complex ideas down to their most relevant component parts.
Grading
Short essays: Six worth 10% each (total 60%)
Final paper: 20%
Final: 10%
Participation: 10%
Exams
You will have a take home final exam. The final will likely present an ethical challenge to which you will be asked to respond.
The final exam will be a take home worth 10% of your final grade. It will be due at the end of the scheduled final exam period for the class.
Papers
You will have six short essays as indicated in schedule below. Your essay should be in Word or written in Google docs, no pdfs.
The first essay has a limit of 750 words, including the prompts.
The next five essays should be no more than 500 words each – I will stop reading at the 500th word and grade you on the essay to that point. Essays should be emailed and are due by the start of the class period.
Each short essay will be worth 10% of your final grade
You will also have a final paper due by the start of class on April 21. I WILL NOT GRADE LATE PAPERS. For your final paper you should construct and defend an ethical foundation for your work – to what standard(s) will you hold yourself accountable in your career? Papers should be emailed.
Your final paper will be worth 20% of your final grade
There are a lot of tools to help you improve your writing. In addition GW’s Writing Center, you might find the Hemingway App or Grammarly helpful. Two terrific books worth spending time with are The Elements of Style (Strunk and White) and On Writing Well (William Zinsser).
Participation
You are expected to constructively add to the conversation, which means you should do, think about, and be prepared to talk about the readings. You are also expected to pay attention to the political world around you and think about it in terms of the course. You should have ideas and opinions and be able to defend them.
You will not be rewarded for just talking a lot.
Participation will be worth 10% of your final grade
Readings
Required:
Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice, ed. Peter Loge, Rowman & Littlefield 2020
Recommended:
On Writing Well by William Zinsser – a great about how to write well
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White – the go-to for writing
Watch The Good Place
Other readings are listed in the course schedule below, most are on Blackboard. In addition I may email articles or essays during the week that strike me as interesting and guest speakers may ask me to send around readings ahead of their discussions.
Attendance
You are expected to come to class and participate in class discussions.
Course Ethics
You have several ethical responsibilities in this course. This is a small group, in a small space, for several hours at a time. For this to work for all of us, each of us needs to do the readings and think about them. We must respect each other’s positions on the readings, and honor intellectual experiments (the “what if….” positions); that means people should be willing and able to change their minds, to defend their positions, and challenge the positions of others. Critically, one should never confuse an argument with the person making the argument – positions are not people. This means you should not attack people, only their claims and you should do so based on reasoning. Similarly, you should defend your positions as if they were ideas to be kicked around, not children to be protected.
Cheating and plagiarizing are not acceptable. They will be punished to the greatest extent permitted by The George Washington University policy. All exams, papers, and other work products are to be completed in conformance with The George Washington University Code of Academic Integrity.
Misc
I work from the premise that you are all adults. You are responsible for everything that happens in class. If you miss a session, you should find a colleague from whom to get notes, readings, etc.
COVID
First, be kind. Second, don’t be stupid.
My COVID policy is the same as my other policies – follow the rules and stay home if you feel sick. If you miss class because of COVID, or for any other reason, get the notes from a colleague. You choose to be at GW and in SMPA. How you spend your time here is also your choice. You know that choices have consequences, and that you are responsible for those consequences.
Important Note about Guest Speakers: As you can see below, we have a number of guest speakers throughout the semester. These speakers are coming in to talk to us – and only us. Unless the speaker explicitly and clearly says otherwise, all of the conversations are off the record. The goal of these conversations is to have honest and frank conversations in the classroom. These are opportunities to learn. These are not opportunities to try to break news, embarrass people, or show off.
Each of the speakers is a of friend mine. They are coming in to talk to you because I asked them to. Any violation of the expectations of a keeping this conversation in the room violates a trust my friends and I have developed over a number of years.
Schedule
Jan 23 Introductions and discussion
Jan 25 Where we are
Read:
Yes, We Must Do Better (But It’s Not as Bad as You Think), Edward Brookover Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
“The Ethical Responsibility of Consultants in this Moment” Oren Shur and Susan Del Percio Campaigns & Elections Dec. 14, 2020
Jan 30 First essay due:
Answer the Five Questions about Ethics in Political Communication. Answers should be short and concise – you have a 750 word cap, including the text of the questions.
These debates are very old
Read:
Ancient Democracy and Ethical Persuasion, Kenneth R. Chase in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
Ethics and the Ends of Rhetoric, Janet M. Atwill in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
Feb 1 The room where it happened
Read:
Federalist 1, the US Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. The Federalist Papers are here https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers.
I trust you have copies of the Declaration and Constitution.
Feb 6 Good trouble
Read:
Letter From a Birmingham Jail, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., available here and elsewhere:
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/letter-birmingham-jail
Bring in and be prepared to discuss another foundational American document (i.e., Washington’s inaugural addresses or farewell address, Lincoln’s inaugural addresses, Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream,” the Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments,” etc).
Feb 8 The Conversation Continued
Read:
The Rhetoric and Ethics of Political Communication: Freedom Summer as a Case Study in Moral Leadership, Mark L. McPhail in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
Feb 13 Rhetoric is truth plus its artful presentation
Read
“The Phaedrus” and the Nature of Rhetoric by Richard Weaver in The Ethics of Rhetoric by Richard Weaver, Echo Point Books and Media, 1953
Second Essay Due:
Discuss something in the news that ancients would agree or disagree with.
Discuss Essays
Feb 15 Guest Speaker - Nationally recognized public relations ethics expert
Feb 20 NO CLASS: Presidents Day
Feb 22 Guest Speaker - Senior Republican Senate communications staffer
Feb 27 A flexible disposition
Read:
Communication Ethics in Machiavelli, Alexander S. Duff in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
March 1 In defense of the indefensible
Read:
Politics and the English Language – available here and elsewhere - https://faculty.washington.edu/rsoder/EDLPS579/HonorsOrwellPoliticsEnglishLanguage.pdf
March 6 Third Essay Due:
Use Orwell to explain why a piece of contemporary political rhetoric is or is not ethical.
Civil Religion
Read:
“Losing Our Civil Religion” John D. Carlson, Religion & Politics, Sept 26, 2017 http://religionandpolitics.org/2017/09/26/losing-our-civil-religion/
Optional reading - “Civil Religion as a Foundation for Political Communication” Peter Loge in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
March 8 Should you be civil?
Read:
“Civility and its Critics” Andy Smarick, The Bulwark, Jan 2, 2020 https://thebulwark.com/civility-and-its-critics/
“Civility is Overrated” Adam Serwer The Atlantic Dec 2019 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/adam-serwer-civility/600784/
March 13 No Class - Spring Break
March 15 No Class - Spring Break
March 20 Guest Speaker - SMPA and Ethics class alum
March 22 Fourth Essay Due:
Norms
Read:
“Norms Matter” Brendan Nyhan, Politco Sept/Oct 2017
“How the GOP Prompted the Decay of Political Norms” EJ Dionne, Norm Ornstein, and Thomas Mann, The Atlantic Sept 19, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/gop-decay-of-political-norms/540165/
“Does elite rhetoric undermine democratic norms?” Katherine Clayton, Nicholas T. Davis, Brendan Nyhan, Ethan Porter, Timothy J. Ryan and Thomas J. Wood https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/democratic-norms.pdf
March 27 Fifth Essay Due:
Write an essay attacking a candidate or elected official in ways that are substantive, strong, and that strengthen democratic norms or values.
TBD
March 29 TBD
April 3 Framing and agenda setting
Read:
Goalposts and Guardrails: A Mixed-Metaphor Guide to Ethics in Advocacy Campaigns, Elisa Massimino in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
April 5 Guest speaker - SMPA Terker Fellow
April 10 Digital Ethics
Read:
Overview of Digital Political Communication and Marketing
Jennifer Lees-Marshment and Vincent Raynauld in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
Identity Crisis: The Blurred Lines for Consumers and Producers of Digital Content, Cheryl Contee and Rosalyn Lemieux in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
April 12 Guest Speaker - Digital comms leader at a national advocacy organization
April 17 Lobbying
Read:
“Lobbying as a Legislative Subsidy” by Richard Hall and Alan Deardorff American Political Science Review Vol 100 No 1
The Ethics of Lobbying, Matthew L. Johnson and Israel S. Klein in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
“Who’s Helping Who in the Lobbying Game?” Case study at https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2020/10/27/whos-helping-who-in-the-game-of-lobbying/
April 19 Wash Your Hands
Read:
“Civic Responsibility or Self-Interest?” by Dale E. Miller and Stephen K. Medvic in Shades of Gray: Perspectives on Campaign Ethics ed. Candice J. Nelson, David A. Dulio and Stephen K. Medvic, Brookings Institution Press, 2002
April 24 Sixth Essay Due:
Make a case against one of the guest speakers
The limits of the law
Read:
Instructions Not Included: The Limited Function of Laws, Norms, and Political Incentives in Political Communications Ethics, Kip F. Wainscott in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
April 26 Paging Cyrano de Bergerac
Guest Speaker - Speechwriter who as written for top Republican officials
Read:
The Ethical Implications of the Presidential Speechwriter’s Metaphors: Michael Gerson’s “The First Sign of a Smoking Gun Might be a Mushroom Cloud” David A. Frank in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
Ethics in Political Speechwriting, Rachel Wallace in Political Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice
May 1 Codes of conduct
A number of business, professional, political and communications organizations have codes of ethics. Identify one such code and be prepared to discuss and critique it in class. Organizations with codes include:
The American Association of Political Consultants https://theaapc.org/
The Public Relations Society of America https://www.prsa.org/ethics/code-of-ethics/
Accenture https://www.accenture.com/us-en/company-ethics-code
The Society for Professional Journalists https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
There are many, many others as well.
May 3 FINAL PAPER DUE: I WILL NOT GRADE LATE PAPERS