4-15 August 2025
60 classes, 3 ECTS credits
Course Description:
Debrecen Summer Course offers an academic course for foreigners interested in the world of media, including fake news and media manipulation related to Hungary and East-Central Europe. This course seeks to integrate communication and media studies, history, cultural studies, political science, and international relations. Students will develop an understanding of contemporary issues relating to media, journalism, society, and politics by exploring fake news and media manipulation in Hungary and in East Central Europe, more broadly. The course will also provide an insight into the history and culture of this multi-ethnic region through urban legends, fake news and examples of media manipulation. Students will explore the media coverage of the European refugee crisis as well as the mainstream and social media representations of minorities (e.g. the Roma) and subcultures in Hungary and in neighbouring countries. This course will culminate in student research presentations and will conclude with a review of the various types of fake news and methods of media manipulation established in other parts of the world.
Major Topics:
Media types, definition of fake news; History of fake news; Definitions of manipulation and media manipulation, the process of manipulation; The media as the “fourth power; The ethics of mainstream journalism; The brief history of Hungary and Hungarians; Urban legends in medieval and modern Hungary; Vampire legends from medieval Hungary in the international press and literature; Basics of media theory (e.g. The bullet theory, The two-step flow of communication, The Agenda setting theory, The gatekeeping role of the media, The Fake Balance theory, The Filter bubble/echo chamber effect; The Boomerang-effect; The Reciprocal effect); The Treaty of Trianon: the trauma of Hungary; Urban legends about the Treaty of Trianon; Hungary in the international press 1848-1956; Successful Romanian and Slovak propaganda against Hungary before the first World War; Hungarian international diplomacy and propaganda after the Treaty of Trianon; The role of American Radio Free Europe in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; Famous Hungarians in the international press; Media manipulation in subcultures of Hungary (homeless people, university students, alcoholic people, lifestyles of rich and poor); Media manipulation of the Roma in Hungary; Media manipulation on refugees in Hungary in the Hungarian and international press; Media manipulation of Hungary in today’s international media; Fake news on social media in Hungary and East Central Europe; Fake sweepstakes and phishing on Hungarian social media pages
Program Director:
Dr. Attila Kenyeres, Assistant Professor (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eger)
Structure of the Course:
– 3 blocks of classes (3 × 90 min) a day
– examination offered at the end of the course (ECTS credits)
Cultural Activities:
– opening ceremony
– guided tour in Debrecen
– weekend excursion
– Hungarian gastronomy and foodways
– folk dances and folk songs
– quiz
– farewell party
Leisure Activities:
– disco
– sports
EXTRA Programs:
– traditional handicrafts
– sightseeing tour by night
– visit to the Jewish Quarter
– Saturday night pub crawl
Dates & Reminders:
– registration: 3 August (Sunday), 14:00–18:00
– course starts: 4 August (Monday)
– daily schedule: 9:00–10:30; 11:00–12:30; 14:00–15:30
– tuition ends: 15 August (Friday)
– check-out time: 16 August (Saturday), before 10:00
Accommodation and Meals:
– accommodation: Kossuth Dormitory II or III (single, double- and three-bedded rooms)
– upon request, we can book a room in a hotel (please contact the Summer School staff)
– full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner)
To apply, please fill in the application form.
Please note that launching the course will require the registration of at least 6 participants.
| Course Fee*: | |
| tuition fee;
Saturday excursion; Debrecen sightseeing; evening cultural programs (including the farewell dinner) |
880EUR |
| Other fees: | |
| three-bedded room | 245EUR |
| double room | 345EUR |
| single room | 545EUR |
| Full board | 310EUR |
| EXTRA programs | 15 EUR/program |
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