Penn State Greater Allegheny
Department of Communications
Spring 2014 COM 409
News Media Ethics
Instructor: Michael Vicaro
Email:
Office: 106A Main
Office hours: M 9:30am-12:00pm and W 9:30am-12:00 pm and by appointment
Class Meetings: Wednesday: 1:00-3:45
Class Room: Crawford 102
This course seeks to critically engage contemporary and historical news journalism. The course begins from the assumption that a strong, independent, and at times adversarial press is essential to a healthy, participatory democracy. Often, however, the press fails to provide a critical voice challenging corporate and political power. And when the press fails, democracy suffers. The course will focus on the way print, radio, television, and online news media report on and in turn shape the events of day. Each class will feature a comparative analysis of mainstream commercial and alternative news sources. The course will also include special units focused on investigative journalism, news coverage of warfare, state secrets, and the rise of news parody and “infotainment.”
Goals
Upon successful completion, each student will have:
1) Gained a deeper awareness of the journalistic process and its significance for democracy
2) Developed skills to become a more ethically attuned participant-consumer of news
3) Developed strong critiques of various unethical and dysfunctional news media practices
4) Engaged with alternative news media that challenge the mainstream approach
5) Engaged with non-U.S. and non-Western news media
6) Followed and critically analyzed one major news story across a variety of media for the duration of the semester.
Texts
You are not required to buy a book for this course. I will provide a number of articles and handouts to be posted on our course website. I will also place several books on reserve at the library.
Requirements/Assignments:
1. Midterm (20%): The midterm will be comprised of a combination of short answer and essay questions designed to test your understanding of course concepts derived from readings and class discussion.
2. Final project (35%): Each student will choose one broad issue to focus on for the duration of the course—following a wide range of stories across an array of media. A list of potential topics will be provided. The final project will include a paper and presentation based on your study of how journalists in these various media cover—or fail to cover—the important public questions your issue entails.
3. “News of the Week” Critiques (15%): Each student will be responsible for three brief presentations in which you summarize and analyze a specific news story from the previous week and then lead a brief discussion about your findings. One of the three should specifically focus on a piece of “photojournalism.”
4. Homework and class participation (20%):
a. Students will be asked to produce short essays (2-3 pages) focused on the week’s readings and discussion topics. Topics will include comparative analyses of various news media, a report on a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, analyses of how media ownership affects content, and more. We’ll use your analyses as part of the discussion material for each class meeting.
b. Each student is personally responsible for the quality of discourse in our class and failure to participate productively on a daily basis will result in a quantitatively poor participation grade as well as a qualitatively poor class experience.
5. Webpage (10%): Each student will be responsible for making and maintaining a webpage that collects and comments on various news media stories. The underlying rationale for this assignment is the notion that digital media allow us to be participant/curators of news, rather than simply consumers of it. A list of requirements and a basic web-design tutorial will be included.
Attendance:
· Active attendance is crucial for your personal success in this course and a responsibility you have to your fellow students. Students who miss a course meeting will not receive credit for in class participation or any other associated assignment.
· Students that arrive late or leave early will not receive full attendance credit for that day.
Students with Special Needs
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact your instructor and Victoria Garwood (Frable 102, ), the campus’ Disability Contact Liaison. Please do so at the very start of the semester so that we can provide appropriate support.
Academic Integrity
Students in this course will be expected to comply with Penn State’s Policy on Academic Integrity. Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner.
Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, the University's Code of Conduct states that all students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts.
Academic integrity includes a commitment by all members of the University community not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others. Any student suspected of violating this obligation will be required to participate in the disciplinary processes outlined in the guidelines on Academic Integrity. www.psu.edu/dept/ufs/policies/47-00.html#49-20
Tentative Schedule of Course Topics
Week 1: Introduction to News Ethics: Models and Media
Week 2: Journalism, Democracy, and Corporate Power
Week 3: Print Journalism: Twenty-first century challenges
Week 4: Radio News: Clear Channel, Pundits, and Alternatives
Week 5: TV News: Broadcast, 24/7, and the problem of Infotainment
Week 6: Americanism and Global Alternatives: Comparative Media Critique
Week 7: Midterm Exam
Week 8: Spring Break
Week 9: Focus on Investigative Journalism
Week 10: Focus on Investigative Journalism
Week 11: Focus on Journalism at War
Week 12: Focus on Journalism at War
Week 13: Focus on State Secrets
Week 14: Focus on Digital Privacy and Surveillance
Week 15: Focus on Net Neutrality
Week 16: Course conclusions and review
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