Description:
Mass communications and America's traditional self imagery. Critical analysis of the ways in which the American experience is now and has been interpreted by the mass media; the relationship of myth to reality.
Mass communications and America's traditional self imagery. Critical analysis of the ways in which the American experience is now and has been interpreted by the mass media; the relationship of myth to reality.
To introduce students to the specialized fields of science, health and technology writing.
Computer based writing for, designing and paginating newsletters, magazines, websites and newspapers.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Web pages as primary sites for distributing news content and to supplement other technologies for news transmission.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
This course examines what media are and what they do; how specific media technologies affect democratic discourse; how media shape narratives of class, race, ethnicity and gender; the long-running conflict between information and propaganda, and how media conglomerates came to wield such enormous power in modern society.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Media in the US have tended to present the Middle East in a negative light casting Muslim majority countries as static, violent, undemocratic and sexist. This course will critically analyze racial and religious stereotypes and caricatures by foregrounding the rich and complex history of interaction between the West and the Near East. While the course begins in 7th century, the emphasis will be on popular discourse in the United States over the last half century. We will study films, news media reports, television shows, video games and range of other outlets through which our understanding of the Middle East is mediated.
Note: Students who completed Islam, Media, and the Western Imagination (04:567:365) in prior years cannot enroll in this course for credit.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
The course is designed to expose students to many of the best known and classic American films about journalism, and to examine how American (U.S.) film has depicted the practice and societal impact of journalism. The course aims to deeply immerse students in a broad range of challenging and critical questions about journalistic practice in the United States, as represented in American film. Among the goals of the course is to have students consider whether popular, filmic depictions of American journalists are accurate and have bases in fact. Similarly, students consider whether the image, or the reality of journalistic practice, keeps changing in the United States, or whether, perhaps, there has been very little if any change in either, or at all, over the 75 years of film the course covers. And if there is change, or there is not change in reality or in film, how might we understand the forces behind change or stability.
Learning goals of this course:
To develop, through the analytic viewing of films, a deep and historically informed, understanding of the pressures on and the challenges facing U.S. journalists over the last 75 years.
To understand why many of these challenges and pressures have not changed over this time period.
To consider the best and worst of journalism practice as depicted in the films, i.e., for each students to develop a historically informed personal appraisal of the most noble and heroic acts of journalism, as well as the most corrupt and morally reprehensible.
To understand how the film image of journalism practice in the United States has changed over the past 75 years and how, in many respects, it has remained the same. Each student will personally assess whether they believe the image has improved or depreciated. Students will also learn how the filmic depictions track societal attitudes and levels of public trust in journalists.
Students will learn about the accuracy of the depiction of journalistic practice in each historical period. Are there current misconceptions about journalism in the public mind? If so, are they fostered by actual journalistic practice, or by distorted representation in other media, including filmic, televised, or web entertainment.
To understand that certain films have had direct impact, either on society, or on the practice of journalism itself.
Knowledge of and exposure to the best known and classic American films about journalism.
To gain increased knowledge of the relevant political, economic, and historical issues in the United States in each period in which each film was made.
To develop personal and historical understanding of the role of the news media in a democracy, and as depicted in film.
To understand the constant tension between journalistic ideals and commercial pressures.
To understanding how and why commercial and career pressures can affect the ethical conduct and judgment of journalists.
In examining the ethical dilemmas faced by reporters in the films, students are asked to weigh what they would do in a similar situation and how they might conduct themselves when working as a journalist.
For each student to consider the appropriate “position” of the journalist, i.e., what are each student’s thoughts and opinions about the reporters in the films who work to remain neutral and objective vs. those who bend the rules for personal gain or for what they believe is a good or necessary cause vs. those who actively and openly engage in "advocacy journalism."
To understand how economics, power, ideology, and news intersect, and how these intersections play out in the films viewed analyzed, discussed, and written about in assignments.
To gain an understanding of the motives of news media owners.
To understand the problems of news bias and slant as they are evinced in the films.
To gain increased understanding of civics and the U.S. political system.
To understand the problems and challenges of sexism in newsrooms. Has the often assumed improvement from the 1930s and 1940s to the 1970s to 2000 actually occurred, at least as depicted in these films, or in reality?
In this course students will learn the workflows associated with editing audio, video, graphics, and text. A strong emphasis is placed on demonstration and hands-on experience in this course. Students will become familiar with developing editing scripts, managing content, importing media, editing, and encoding for distribution across multiple platforms. Instructors will also discuss editing concepts which provide a thorough understanding of technique and theory used by professional editors. Exploring these concepts will provide a better understanding of how messages and stories are told through editing. Editing media will be provided for all exercises and projects.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
This course introduces students to the working principals of Electronic Field Production (EFP). Special attention is given to on-location creative and technical aspects of media production. Valuable EFP knowledge and skills will be gained through production exercises, projects and readings. Students will learn the constraints and benefits of shooting on-location while producing, directing and operating production equipment.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Fundamentals of television reporting and electronic news gathering.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Advanced television reporting and electronic news gathering with students assigned to various projects.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Examines who controls the media and how the media differentially serve the public and power holders. Attention to both news and entertainment media.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Looks at how past and present social movements (e.g., environmental, civil rights, labor movements) challenge dominant social, economic, and political structures and how they have been portrayed in the mass media. It also examines how social activists use media technologies to organize themselves and communicate their messages to wide audiences in order to achieve social change.
This 3-credit course takes students to Guatemala for 10 days to study the role of media in historic and contemporary struggles for democracy. The class meets with Guatemalan journalists, human rights activists, Indigenous associations, women’s collectives and other community groups. Students visit news agencies, community radio and TV stations and the office of the country’s first and only feminist magazine. Using Guatemala as a case study, students will learn about the regional effects of colonization, US military intervention and neoliberal economic policies in the Central American region, as well as the key role of media in local struggles for political autonomy, human rights and democracy.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Independent study in journalism and media studies topics under faculty supervision.
Learning objectives vary by student and faculty supervisor.
Independent study in journalism and media studies topics under faculty supervision.
Supervised field experience at professional media outlets.
Before registering, students must meet with the Internship Coordinator to determine eligibility and receive approval of the placement. Students must work at their site a minimum of 15 hours per week during the semester. Off-site (virtual) positions will not be accepted. Students will complete weekly journal and attend several in-class meetings during the semester.
Note: Students will be allowed to take both the 3 credit Internship and the 6 credit Internship, but are not allowed to take both of them in the same semester. Also note that students are limited to a maximum of 9 out-of-classroom credits in the major; the courses that fall under this heading are: Internship, Practicum, and Independent Study.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Supervised field experience at professional media outlets.
Note: Students will be allowed to take both the 3 credit internship and the 6 credit internship, but are not allowed to take both of them in the same semester. Also note that students are limited to a maximum of 9 out-of-classroom credits in the major; the courses that fall under this heading are: Internship, Practicum, and Independent Study.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Students will cover the game-changing stories of our time, from the widening gap between the rich and the poor to battles over immigration to the climate change wars that may determine our very survival. They will analyze groundbreaking journalism and have an opportunity to write and shoot commanding stories of their own.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
Magazine writing for publication, including consumer, trade and business magazines.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
This course analyzes great examples of nonfiction writing from the last century to appreciate what makes for enduring non-fiction writing— journalism that rises to the level of literature.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
This course will consider the intersections of science, media, and society. With a focus on both theory and practice, it explores the media's role in understanding and communicating about the most critical science and environmental issues of the day.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Analyzes global production, distribution and consumption of news. Issues include: global news flows, journalistic cultures and practices, international news coverage.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Examines laws and regulations governing U.S. mass media.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
In this course we will discuss one of the most powerful social, cultural, economic and political institutions of our day: intellectual property (IP). How did we arrive at the notion that creative works and ideas can be owned, bought and sold like tangible commodities? What impact does this concept have on the way we view the world? How does it help us achieve our social goals, and how does it present obstacles to reaching those goals? And, in the age of digitized information and networked communication, how can we understand the role of IP in light of the rapidly changing developments in the way culture is produced and consumed? In our efforts to better understand these issues, we will read both primary and secondary materials, covering subjects ranging from the birth of copyright to the latest developments in the global “copyfight” over information in the digital age, view relevant and interesting documentary films, and enjoy guest lectures from a variety of knowledgeable speakers.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: