Welcome to Journalism 505, the Journalism and Society Seminar for University of Montana’s School of Journalism graduate students.
- In this seminar, we will examine the fast-changing news media environment and the changing definitions of journalism and community; and we will ask the kinds of questions listed above. We will look for answers from traditional media experts, from those who believe that the old-style journalism is gone forever, and from members of the public, who are often the missing party in such conversations. As part of the seminar, students will help hold a community forum in Missoula on Oct. 25. This will be a forum for the Knight Commission, which is examining whether the information needs to American citizens and communities in the 21st century are being met. Part of this class also will focus on research methodology.
Updated Course Schedule
Hi all! Please find below the newly updated course schedule with assigned topic presentation dates.
Journalism 505 Course Schedule
Based on speaker availability and other events surrounding the Knight Commission forum, this will change and be filled in as we go. It will be updated on our web site.
Aug. 28: First Day of seminar. Introductions. From credibility to technology and news media trends today.
Assignment for following week:
· Read State of the News Media 2008
· Elements of Journalism: preface, introduction and chapters 1-2, pp ix-50
· We the Media: introductions, chapter 1, pp. xiii-22
· Knight Commission materials
Sept. 4: Credibility. Who has it, who doesn’t in the world of news media, why and what’s being done about it? Knight Commission.
Assignment for following week:
· Covering Community web site, especially pay attention to sections on:
o Know Your Community
o Improve Your Interviewing Skills
o Six Common Master Narratives
Web site is: http://www.coveringcommunities.org/
· Elements: chapters 3-4, pp 51-112
· We the Media: chapters 2-4, pp. 23-87
Sept. 11: Definitions of community. How we organize ourselves as people. Are we becoming more diverse in our communities, or less diverse?
Assignment for following week:
· Ethics book: first half of book CHAPTER 1 AND 2
“A New Model for News: Studying the Deep Structure of Young-Adult News Consumption,” a Research Report from The Associated Press and the Context-Based Research Group, June 2008 http://www.ap.org/newmodel.pdf
Sept. 18: Guest lecturer: Dr. Thomas Foor. An overview of research.
Assignment for following week:
· Ethics: second half
· Student readings for first presentation
Sept. 25: First student presentation, 11-noon: The future of video: less broadcast, more YouTube?, Laura Lundquist
12:30-1:15 p.m.: Mansfield Library is hosting a Welcome and Orientation for new graduate students today in the Theta Rho Room at the library.
Assignment for following week:
· We the Media: chapters 6-7
· Student readings for second presentation
Oct. 2: Student presentation: Ethics in today’s networked world of news and information, Becky Malewitz, Mike Webster
Assignment for following week:
· Student readings for third presentation
· Elements: chapters 5-6
Oct. 9: Student presentation: Entrepreneurs as journalists: the traits journalists need to succeed today, Cate Oliver, Drew Vetere
Assignment for following week:
· Elements: chapters 7-8
Oct. 16:
Assignment for following week:
Oct. 23:
Assignment for following week:
Saturday, Oct. 25: Knight Commission hearing
Oct. 30: Student presentation: Citizen journalism: future outlook (who’s a citizen journalist today, crowdsourcing, implications for msm), Will Grant, Will Melton
Assignment for following week:
Nov. 6: Your 5 Knight-related interviews are due at start of class.
Assignment for following week:
Nov. 13: Student presentation: Understanding the audience – or – “the people formerly known as the audience,” Melissa Jenson, Kelly Rothlisberger
Assignment for following week:
Nov. 20: Student presentation: Social networking and its role in journalism (My Space, Facebook, Ning and more), Adrienne Barnett, Kip Sikora
Knight Paper is due before Thanksgiving break.
Assignment:
Nov. 27: Thanksgiving.
Dec. 4: Last class.
Review the Knight Paper the class has produced.
Required Course Texts:
- 1. “We the media: grassroots journalism by the people, for the people,” by Dan Gillmor, O’Reilly, 2006 edition.
2. “The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect,” by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Three Rivers Press, 2007 edition.
3. “How Good People Make Tough Choices,” by Rushworth Kidder, Harper Collins, 2003 edition.
Outcomes
At the conclusion of this class you should:
- -Have a broad understanding of the challenges and changes facing U.S. news media today.
-Have a broad understanding of the underlying values of journalism.
-Better understand what it means when we say that “News is conversation.”
-Have had multiple opportunities to listen to members of the public discuss where they get their information and how communities work.
-Be able to express yourself formally and informally on these topics in a succinct, informed way.
-Have contributed to the public discussion (via our class website and by working with the Knight Commission) on these issues.
-Have a basic understanding of journalistic research.
Que tal, y’all?
I just wanted to drop a quick response to one of the points of discussion made during the second half of Thursday’s class. I think there is a lot to the idea that the notion of a one- way media is rapidly changing, and want to expound on one point in particular. Whereas the ‘one to many’ approach is giving way to a structure better defined as ‘many to many’, I couldn’t help but try to conceive how this structure will continue to evolve. Media consumption habits are evolving, and the nature of this new trend is evident in the impulsive ‘surfing’ so aptly described in the book ‘If It Catches My Eye’, whose title seems to suggest the short attention span of many web users.
Given the ubiquitous influence of Google and their relentless efforts to analyze, classify and disseminate information based on complex algorithms I cannot hope to understand, I am intrigued by the idea of ‘many to one’. What I mean is that, based upon individual surfing habits, in this case referring to the blogs and information sites each person visits on a routine basis, is it not possible that the ‘many’ sources of the web could be altered and refined to suit individual tastes? And in the wake of this specialized content is it not reasonable to assume that advertising could be tailored to each user? Such a mix of commerce and truth just might force me to reconsider my position on the threat/liberation continuum.
Hello all…
Please excuse my lack of experience here, as this is my first time ever posting anything, anywhere. I feel quite out of my element. I feel like I’ve been asleep for the past ten years or so, not garnering much knowledge about blogs, etc. I just focused day to day on my job, which at the time had little to do with any of this (or so it seemed) and I am now trailing somewhere in the midst.
I spent time this weekend reading from the two books, ‘We the Media’ and ‘The Elements of Journalism.’ So far, I struggle a bit with both for some of the references to television news. Maybe that medium is a side note because the authors are mostly from a print background. And maybe as I read more, there will be more discussion relevant to that which I am most familiar. But I take offense to one of only a few remarks about television news in ‘We Media.’ Gillmor says “Big Media, in any event, treated the news as a lecture. You bought it or you didn’t. You might write us a letter; we might print it. (If we were television and you complained, we ignored you entirely unless the complaint arrived on a libel lawyer’s letterhead.) ”
As someone who has spent a decade working in television news, (albeit small market) I feel it a gross misinterpretation to classify it as a lecture. And it is most certainly offensive to believe that there isn’t an ongoing discussion with the audience when it comes to coverage, whether that be positive or negative. I took my fair share of complaint e-mails, calls, visits, etc in my day and I did my best to listen to every one of them and take something away from it. And I don’t think there is a newsroom out there that believes the audience reaction is of no value. Its the reaction and the insight from those who see the product, as the product, that can help expand where we go from day to day. And certainly, especially in small markets, it is the viewer who helps bring us those stories. I see that from a more traditional viewpoint of phone calls and faxes, e-mails and face to face meetings at the grocery store. I’m learning to figure out how that plays into the greater scheme of the internet and how those postings and perceptions really do figure into it all.
I find “The Elements of Journalism” speaks to me a bit more, although it still contains little insight into the television market. It speaks briefly in regard to television stations use of the internet to be lacking. They state, “Local TV news, for instance, does not appear to be building a future online the way network news is.” That is also the furthest from the truth. The demand for online content means daily reporters who are responsible for the majority of the on-air story content are on double-duty to create content for the website. That means a version of the story typed out, extra content not seen on the newscast, sidebar stories that draw viewers to the web, etc. The difference between local tv news and network news capability when it comes to the internet is the same as it is when it comes to any other facet of the operation… finances and manpower. Local stations are doing what they can, with what they have at their disposal and trying to do it all as quickly as they can in order to stay competitive with those entities that are already there. But they still have to put that newscast on every day, several times a day.
Alrighty, you have already stopped reading! I have a comfort zone and I’m going to try to break out of it… but at the same time I want to bring what I know of the tv news business to you. So here’s what I’ve got today: it’s an article I found a link to on http://www.rtnda.org This is the Radio-Television News Directors Association website. This particular article (if I can figure out how to attach it!) speaks to what I mentioned in class the other day about who is seen as a trustworthy source of news, who do people turn to for their information in this day and age.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003839873
Hello Melissa,
You make some great points. Both of those books are written by folks who came from print media, and their background (print bias) may be slipping through. I’m wondering what you thought about the section on television news in “The State of the News Media” report.
As I read your comments, I think that Gillmor is making a key point, that journalism traditionally has been pretty much a one-way conversation: delivery of news from journalist to audience. I don’t think he’d say that journalists in newsroom didn’t talk to the public, answer calls, reply to complaints, etc., but that the focus of how we did things was for the journalist to gather and disseminate the news; and that the public’s involvement was limited. That has changed in many ways in recent years. – pkuhr