MC1578: Understanding Journalism Studies

School Cardiff School of Journalism, Media & Cult'l Stud
Department Code JOMEC
Module Code MC1578
External Subject Code 100442
Number of Credits 20
Level L4
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Professor Stuart Allan
Semester Spring Semester
Academic Year 2015/6

Outline Description of Module

This module introduces students to a series of key ideas, concepts, questions and issues central to the study of journalism, as well as significant scholarly and professional debates regarding the role of journalism in modern societies.

Students will consider, analyse and critically assess research into the forms, practices, institutions and audiences of journalism. They will compare and contrast scholarly and professional approaches to understanding the evolving nature of news in light of recent trends and developments. Theoretical frameworks will help them evaluate journalists' work and its perceived influence on our democracy. In this way, students will be encouraged to rethink what counts as journalism and how its public service commitments may be improved in the future.

 

Topics to be explored include: Historical debates over freedom of the press; the role of the press as a Fourth Estate in a democracy; the changing political economy of the news media; debates over whether journalists can be “objective” or “impartial” in their reporting; fake news, infotaintment and tabloidization; criticisms that the news media can be sexist in their representation of women, or racist with regard to ethnic minorities; the rise of citizen journalism and the challenges it poses for the future of journalism as a profession; the changing nature of war and conflict reporting; photojournalism and the digital manipulation of the truth; science journalism and the coverage of health issues; and questions regarding how social media (such as Facebook and Twitter) influence the ways news media cover global crises.

On completion of the module a student should be able to

Knowledge and Understanding

  1. An informed understanding of major theoretical perspectives relating to journalism, its forms, practices, institutions and audiences;
  2. A critical awareness of key ideas, concepts, questions and debates concerning the changing nature of news;
  3. The ability to appraise the technological and structural factors transforming the news industry;
  4. The capacity to evaluate the implications of these changes for journalism’s roles and responsibilities from a variety of perspectives;
  5. A solid grounding in various critiques of news reporting.

 

Intellectual Skills

1)Be able to analyse the factors shaping journalism and the challenges it faces today;

2)Engage in scholarly assessments of the role of journalism – past, present and future – in British society;

3)Critically assess competing conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of journalism.

 

Discipline Specific (including practical) skills

1. Analyse academic studies about journalism

2. Evaluate real-world evidence about how the news media operate in society

How the module will be delivered

Lectures and seminars.

Skills that will be practised and developed

The ability to: 

1. undertake independent study

2. develop and apply critical thinking to a variety of academic materials

3. précis and make well-organised notes

4. structure and present an academic argument based on evidence

5. manage personal research and writing time effectively

How the module will be assessed

Assessment is by coursework and unseen examination.

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 50 Mid Term Essay N/A
Exam - Spring Semester 50 Understanding Journalism Studies 2

Syllabus content

Specific lecture and/or seminar topics include: Freedom of the Press; Reporting News, Constructing Reality; Sexism, Racism and the News; Citizen Journalism; News and Popular Culture; War Reporting in a Digital Age; Visual Truths and Photojournalism; Journalism and the Moral Politics of Othering; Science Journalism in the Risk Society; and Global Crises and the News Media.

Essential Reading and Resource List

Zelizer, B. and Allan, S. (2010) Keywords in News and Journalism Studies. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Background Reading and Resource List

Allan, S.  (2010) News Culture, Third edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Allan, S. (ed) (2012) The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism Studies [Revised and expanded edition]. London: Routledge.

Beckett, C. (2008) SuperMedia: Saving journalism so it can save the world. Oxford: Blackwell.

Bell, E. (2015) Hugh Cudlipp lecture. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/28/emily-bells-2015-hugh-cudlipp-lecture-full-text?CMP=share_btn_link

Brevini, B., Hintz, A. and McCurdy, P. (eds) (2013) Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the future of communications, journalism and society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brock, G. (2013) Out of Print: Newspapers, Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital Age. London: Kogan.

Carter, C., Branston, G. and Allan, S. (eds) (1998) News, Gender and Power. London: Routledge.

Chambers, D. Steiner, L. and Fleming, C. (2004) Women and Journalism. London: Routledge.

Conboy, M. (2012) Journalism Studies: The Basics. London: Routledge.

Cottle, S. (2006) Mediatized Conflict. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Coward, R. (2013). Speaking Personally: The Rise of Subjective and Confessional Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan.

Curran, J. and Myung-Jin, P. (eds) (2000) De-Westernizing Media Studies. London: Routledge.

Cushion, S. (2015) News and Politics: The rise of live and interpretive journalism. London: Routledge.

Davies, N. (2008) Flat Earth News. London: Chatto and Windus.

Davies, N. (2014) Hack Attack: How the Truth caught up with Rupert Murdoch. London:

Vintage Publishing

De Burgh, H. (2008) Investigative Journalism, Second Edition. London: Routledge.

Dencik, L. (2012) Media and global civil society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fenton, N. (ed) (2011) New Media, Old News: Journalism and democracy in the digital age. London: Sage.

Franklin, B. et al. (2005) Key Concepts in Journalism. London: Sage.

Franks, S. (2013) Women and Journalism. London: IB Taurus.

Gillmor, D. (2006) We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media.

Harrison, J. (2006) News. London: Routledge.

Herman, E, and Chomsky, N. (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, London: Vintage.

Holmes, T.A.D. and Nice, L. (2012) Magazine Journalism. London: Sage.

Hoskins, A. and O’Loughlin, B. (2010) War and Media: The emergence of diffused war. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hoyer, S. and Pottker, H. (2005) Diffusion of the News Paradigm 1850-2000. Gothenburg: Nordicom.

Kennedy, L. and Patrick, C. (eds) (2014) The Violence of the Image: Photography and international conflict. London and New York: I.B. Taurus.

 

Leveson Inquiry (2011) http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/ the Report is available at

http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/about/the-report/

Lester, L. (2010) Media and environment: Conflict, politics and the news. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Lewis, J., Inthorn, S. and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2005) Citizens or Consumers: The Media and the Decline of Political Participation. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Matheson, D. and Allan, S. (2009) Digital War Reporting. Cambridge: Polity.

McNair, B. (2009) News and Journalism in the UK. London: Routledge.

Meikle, G. (2009) Interpreting the News. London: Palgrave.

Mair, J. and Keeble, R.L. (eds) (2011) Investigative Journalism: Dead or Alive? Bury St Edmunds: Arima.

Newkirk, P. (2000) Within the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media. New York: NYU Press.

Owen J. and Purdey, H. (eds) (2009) International News Reporting. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Peters, C. and Broersma, M. (eds) (2012) Rethinking Journalism: Trust and participation in a transformed media landscape. London and New York: Routledge.

Preston, P. (2008) Making the News. London: Routledge.

Rantanen, T. (2009) When News was New. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Russell, A. (2011) Networked: A contemporary history of news in transition. Cambridge: Polity.

Sambrook, R.J., Terrington, S. and Levy, D. A.L. (2013) The Public Appetite for Foreign News. Project Report. [Online]. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Available at: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/Publications/Working_Papers/The_Public_appetite_for_foreign_news_on_TV.pdf

Schudson, M. (2008) Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press. Cambridge: Polity.

Singer, J.B., et al. (eds) (2011) Participatory Journalism: Guarding open gates at online newspapers. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Society of Editors (2004) Diversity in the Newsroom: Employment of Minority Ethnic Journalists in Newspapers. http://www.societyofeditors.co.uk/userfiles/file/Diversity%20in%20the%20Newsroom%20Report%20PDF.pdf

Sontag, S. (2003) Regarding the Pain of Others. London: Penguin.

Thorsen, E. and Allan, S. (eds) (2014) Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives, Volume Two. New York: Peter Lang.

Thussu, D.K. (2007) News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment. London: Sage.

Tumber, H. (ed.) (1999) News: A Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Hanitzsch, T. (eds) (2009) The Handbook of Journalism Studies. London: Routledge.

Winston, B. (2005) Messages: Free Expression, Media and the West from Gutenberg to Google. London: Routledge.

 

 

 


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