Handbook

Journalism is facing challenges on multiple fronts. Even prestigious outlets are accused of disseminating ‘fake news’ and grossly biased coverage, as the very notion of ‘factual’ reporting is questioned. Individuals implicated in alleged scandals turn to the courts to prevent exposure or to win large payouts for defamation. Journalism in the public interest risks being overwhelmed by ‘click-bait’ and the sensationalist coverage of celebrity lives. In this course you will track, analyse, and produce your own journalism about such issues and controversies. You will deal with debates around the laws applying to news coverage, journalistic ethical values and journalism’s social role, rights, and responsibilities. In the multimedia journalistic pieces you produce, you will have the opportunity to explore issues around diversity in who is given a voice in news coverage, whose issues, concerns and experiences are deemed worthy of attention, and whose views and perspectives journalists choose to report. Through a deeper understanding of voices and values, you will also learn how ‘accountable’ journalism has been meeting these types of challenges and how journalism as a 'public good' may thrive into the future.