JOURNALISM 100-01— “BEAT THE PRESS: QUESTIONING MEDIA,” FALL 2019
This course examines the important role that journalists play in society and the complex choices journalists and news organizations are required to make every day. We will be critiquing the press—its strengths, shortcomings, rationales and decision-making processes—from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Together we will identify the values that ought to guide journalists in their work, exploring issues such as: to whom do journalists owe their allegiance, the evolution of the news media in the United States, the protections and limitations of the First Amendment, the press as the “fourth branch” of government, objectivity and bias, the press’s role in wartime, the conflict between journalisms’ pursuit of the truth and individual rights, the value of diversity in the newsroom, and the future of journalistic practice. We will read texts and news stories, watch movies, and look at other sources to gain an overview of U.S. news media.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course satisfies the Individual and Society Pathways requirement, which means that students who complete the course successfully will be able to: Gather, interpret and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view. Evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically. Produce well-reasoned written and oral arguments using evidence to support their conclusions. Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the relationship between the individual and society. Articulate and assess ethical views and their underlying premises. Articulate ethical uses of date and other information resources to respond to problems and questions. Identify and engage with local, national or global trends or ideologies, and analyze their impact on individual or collective decision-making.
REQUIRED TEXTS (All are paperbacks and can be purchased cheaply online). A copy of each text is on reserve in the library.
THE ELEMENTS OF JOURNALISM, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel NOW THEY TELL US, Michael Massing THE JOURNALIST AND THE MURDERER, Janet Malcolm
Selected articles, a case study and several Supreme Court decisions will also be required reading.
FILMS we will watch include all or portions of: “Rashomon,” “Absence of Malice,” “Spotlight,” “The Press and the Military” (documentary), and “Shattered Glass.”
VIDEOS we will watch include the “Food Lion” story from ABC’s “Primetime,” an episode of the “To Catch a Predator” series from NBC’s “Dateline” and selected stories from Columbia University’s “The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity.”
*Because the materials used in the course include books and articles written by seasoned journalists, a case study of a notorious case of press overkill in covering an important news story, Supreme Court opinions about the protections the First Amendment affords journalists, six films that address important ethical issues affecting journalists, videos of televised news stories and an academic study on the impact of television news coverage on society’s perception of reality; and because for their term paper they are required to interview working journalists as well as journalism ethicists such as those affiliated with iMediaEthics and the Poynter Institute for Journalism Education, this course clearly requires students to “gather, interpret and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view.”
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
You are required to write a term paper for this course, but this is not primarily a writing course. It is primarily a course about ethics—about the moral principles that provide the foundation for the practice of good journalism, and that should guide journalists in their work. Because the success of the course depends on your active participation, and because we meet only once weekly, your attendance is required. Each class builds upon the preceding one, and if you miss a class there will be a gap in your understanding of the course. You are expected to do all the assigned reading prior to the class for which it is assigned and arrive prepared to discuss the reading and your response to it. You will also be required to do some in-class reports and to take part in a classroom debate.
Keeping up with the news. Since the kinds of ethical dilemmas that journalists face play out in the nation’s newsrooms every day, it’s important for you to stay abreast of the news by reading a daily newspaper in print or online, and by following the news on television, radio and the Internet.
Email: Since our main way of communicating outside of class will be via email, you must have an email address that you check regularly. All your written assignments, including your midterm, final exam and term paper, will be emailed to the instructor.
Learning is an active, not a passive, endeavor. What you get out of this course will depend on your willingness to do the assigned reading, think about the issues, participate in class discussions and work thoughtfully on your in-class presentations and writing assignments. The professor’s role is to guide the discussion, but all the actual learning will have to be done by you.
Plagiarism is not permitted and will be punished with a failing grade.
How Grades Are Determined: There will be a midterm and a final exam. You’ll also be required to write a six to eight-page research paper in which you identify an ethical issue that an individual journalist or news organization has had to grapple with during the previous 12 months. In your paper you will discuss what the ethical issue was, critique the decisions the journalist or news organization made, discuss whether they made the right decisions or not, and, if not, discuss how they should have handled the situation differently.
Or, in the alternative, you may analyze an ongoing trend in journalism that raises an ethical issue or issues, providing examples of this trend and exploring the impact this trend is having on press credibility and on citizens’ engagement with the news.
For your paper you are required to contact in person, by phone or by email at least two primary sources: They can be one or more of the actual journalists (reporters, editors, publishers, photographers, producers, etc.) who had to deal with the issue or trend you are writing about, or journalism ethicists such as journalism professors at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, journalism ethicists at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and iMediaEthics, and others who think and write about these issues. YOU MAY NOT USE ANOTHER QUEENS COLLEGE JOURNALISM PROFESSOR AS A SOURCE FOR YOUR PAPER. The professor of this course must approve your topic in advance.
Your grade in the course will be based on your classroom participation and homework assignments (20%); your midterm exam (20%); your term paper (30%); and your final exam (30%). You will also be required to participate in an in-class debate based on the book “The Journalist and the Murderer, and failure to participate in the debate will result in your being marked down by a third of a grade point.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Class #1—The Difficulty of Getting at the Truth Discuss the Central Park Jogger news stories. How did the journalists who covered the case get it so wrong? How could they have avoided their mistakes? Watch and discuss a portion of “Rashomon.” What does the movie tell us about the difficulty of getting at the truth? *In this classroom session, where students read and discuss the inflammatory press coverage about an infamous crime in New York City and how the press got the story wrong, and where they also watch a classic Japanese film that raises the issue of how difficult it is to ascertain the truth about events, they are required to “gather, interpret and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view”. Because the class stresses the necessity of verifying the information that journalists gather about the events they cover—the most fundamental concept in the discipline of journalism—they are required to “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the relationship between the individual and society.” Homework: 1) Fill out student information form and attach a small (wallet size or smaller) photo of yourself. Bring to next class. 2) Read Chapters 1 and 2 of “The Elements of Journalism” 3) Pick a subject that has received considerable news coverage in recent days. Read two versions of the same story that appeared on the same day by two different news organizations, for example, The New York Times, The Daily News, The New York Post, the Associated Press, CNN.com, or some other news website. Write a one-page memo describing the difference in how the two stories covered the subject. Which story did you like better, and why? In your view, what are the elements of a good news story?
Class #2-- The role of the press in a democratic society Review syllabus.
Discuss your news story critiques. What are the elements of a good news story? What do we mean when we talk about journalists? What role do journalists play in a democratic society? Do different media play different roles? Do all the media give us news?
Play and discuss the beginning of “Absence of Malice” Was the way Meghan and her editors handling the Michael Gallagher story ethical? If not, what should they have done differently? *In this class session students are given a working definition of what journalism is and of the role that journalists play in a democratic society. Because they are asked to examine a particular (fictional) reporter’s handling of a news story and whether it meets the standards of good journalism, they are required to ”identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field, exploring the relationship between the individual and society.”
Homework: 1) Read Chapters 3 and 4 of “The Elements of Journalism” 2) Read U.S. Supreme Court opinions in Near v. Minnesota, NY Times v. U.S. and NY Times v. Sullivan. For each opinion, be prepared to discuss: What was the conflict that led to the court case? What did the Supreme Court decide? What rationale did the court give for its decision? Was there any memorable language in the opinion?
Class #3—The Press and the First Amendment
Read the text of the First Amendment. Discuss the Supreme Court opinions in Near v. Minnesota, NY Times v. U.S. and NY Times v. Sullivan. What kinds of activity does the First Amendment protect and what kinds of activity does it not protect? Why did the framers of the Constitution feel it was important to give the press so much freedom? How is journalism different from other professions? What do Kovach & Rosenstiel have to say about the journalism of verification? About objectivity?
*In this class session students learn the kinds of protections the First Amendment provides to citizens in general and to journalists. By reading and discussing the Supreme Court decisions in three landmark cases dealing with the conduct of journalists, and by discussing the reasoning and constitutional basis behind the court’s decisions, they are required to “evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically.”
Homework: 1) Read Chapters 5-6
2) Watch a TV news show. It can be a local half hour news show---in New York City the local shows come on at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on CBS2-, NBC-4, and ABC-7 and other local stations, or watch a half hour national news show such as The CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, or NBC Nightly News (which all come on at 6:30), or a non-network news show such as The News Hour on Channel 13. There are also local news shows that air at noon and at 11 p.m. Fox News local news show airs at 10 p.m. You should watch an actual news show that offers videotaped news segments about recent events, not a show that primarily features opinion givers and “talking heads,” such as The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Connell, Morning Joe, Fox and Friends, Hannity, or Anderson Cooper 360. It should be a show that offers videotaped news segments about recent events. Write a brief (1-2 page, double-spaced) critique of the show you watched, describing the kinds of stories it chose to cover, the order in which the stories were presented, what kinds of stories got more airtime than others, the newsworthiness of the stories, how well the subjects were covered, what you liked and disliked about the show. If you were the show’s producer, what, if anything, would you have done differently? Come to class prepared to discuss your critique.
Class #4—The Impact of Television News on Society’s Perception of Events Discuss their TV news show critiques
What kinds of stories does TV cover best? Discuss how television reports on crime. How does television news distort our perception of reality? Discuss Chapters 5 and 6, and any previously undiscussed chapters. *In this class students learn about the outsized impact that television news reporting has on citizens’ views of people and events nationally and locally, and how the way information is presented on television news shows can distort reality. Students are also exposed to academic research that shows how television news can distort reality. They therefore learn to distinguish and “articulate ethical uses of data and other information resources” from the unethical uses of data and other information sources “in response to problems and questions.”
Homework: Read “How the Boston Globe Exposed the Abuse Scandal that Rocked the Catholic Church,” by Jon Henley in “The Guardian.”
Class #5——The Press at a High Point Watch and discuss “Spotlight.” What does the Spotlight team’s handling of the sex scandal in the Boston Archdiocese teach us about the qualities that are required of reporters and editors to do a major investigative story? What does the team’s investigation tell us about the role that the press plays in our society? *In this class students examine how reporters and editors at The Boston Globe uncovered the huge dimensions of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the Boston archdiocese and the church’s efforts to cover it up. By examining the methods the journalists used to report the story—including obtaining information from a variety of human sources, using the court system to obtain important documents, and employing creativity in identifying the culprits, they are required to “articulate ethical uses of data and other information resources to respond to problems and questions.”
Homework: Read “Richard Jewell and The Olympic Bombing: Case Study” by Ron Ostrow.
Class #6---The Press at a Low Point Discuss Term Paper Assignment. Discuss Richard Jewell case study. What does the press’s handling of the Richard Jewell story teach us about how not to cover a big story? Applying the standard laid down in New York Times v. Sullivan, if Jewell had lived, would he have won his libel suit against The Atlanta-Journal Constitution? *In this class students learn about a low point in the history of journalism by examining a case study of how journalists damaged the reputation of an innocent man in their pursuit of a sensational story. Because they are asked to apply not only moral, but legal judgements in assessing the journalists’ behavior, they have to “evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically”; and they must “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of the discipline of journalism, exploring the relationship between the individual and society.”
Homework: Read Chapters 7-8 of “The Elements of Journalism.”
Class #7—MIDTERM (Will be done online) * In their midterm exam, which consists of 4-5 essay questions about real or hypothetical situations in which the behavior of journalists or news organizations raised issues about whether their actions met the ethical standards required of journalists, students are required to “articulate and assess ethical views and their underlying premises,” to “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline exploring the relationship between the individual and society” and to “produce well-reasoned written arguments using evidence and arguments critically or analytically.”
Homework: Bring in an example of a story from the past year that consider to be fake news. Be prepared to discuss it in class.
Class #8—Masquerading and Going Undercover in Pursuit of the Truth/Fake News Discuss answers to midterm exam. Watch and discuss “Food Lion” story from ABC’s “Prime Time.” In what circumstances is it ethical for the press to engage in masquerading in pursuit of the truth? Discuss their “fake news” picks. How can we protect ourselves from being taken-in by bogus news stories?
*In this class students explore whether and when it is ethical for journalists to masquerade and go undercover in the pursuit of a news story. They study two instances where journalists employed masquerading and going undercover, and debate whether the information that was obtained and made available to the public justified the use of such tactics, and whether the way journalists went about their undercover reporting met the standards that thoughtful and seasoned journalists have determined to be acceptable. Once again, they are required to “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of the discipline of journalism, exploring the relationship between the individual and society.”
Homework: 1) Read “Now They Tell Us” by Michael Massing.
Class #9---The Role of the Press in Wartime Watch “The Press and the Military” What is the role of the press in wartime? How did the press blow the coverage of the Iraq War? How could it have done a better job covering the run-up to the war and the war itself? *In this class students learn how the press’s relationship with the military has evolved over the years by examining how that relationship differed during various international conflicts. They learn how the American press mishandled coverage of the buildup to the second Iraq War and its coverage of the war itself. Students examine why the American press’s war coverage was seriously flawed compared to the coverage by the international press, thereby requiring them to “identify and engage with local, national and global trends or ideologies, and analyze their impact on individual or collective decision-making.”
Homework: Read selected articles by Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair.
Class #10—Plagiarism and Fraud Watch “Shattered Glass” Discuss Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass cases. Why are plagiarism and fabrication bad for journalism? How did Blair and Glass get away with plagiarizing and fabricating for so long? How could it have been prevented? *In this class students learn how plagiarism and fabrication by journalists undermines press integrity and credibility among citizens, why it could happen at two prestigious news organizations. They will also discuss how it might have been prevented. Thus, they will be called on to “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of the discipline” of journalism to these two situations, “exploring the relationship between the individual and society.”
Homework: Read the Journalist and the Murderer Come to class prepared to participate in a debate over whether Joe McGinnis’s treatment of Jeffrey McDonald was ethical or not.
Class #11—"The Journalist and the Murderer” McDonald-McGinnis debate *During an in-class debate, where half of the class will be asked to argue that book author Joe McGinnis’ use of deception in reporting on Jeffrey McDonald’s murder case was unethical, and the other half of the class will be asked to argue that his treatment of McDonald was within the bounds of journalism’s standards, they will be required to “evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically” and to “produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support their conclusions”
Homework: Finish reading “The Elements of Journalism” Work on your term paper.
Class #12—Diversity in the Newsroom Watch and discuss “The Color Line and the Bus Line” and another diversity story from “The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity,” Columbia University Press. Why is it important to have racial diversity in the newsroom? What other types of diversity is it also important to have among those who cover the news?
*During this class, after viewing two televised news stories dealing with racial issues, students will discuss how the presence or absence of a diversity of racially and ethnically diverse perspectives in the newsroom can affect the kinds of stories that get told. Through this exercise they will be required to “gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view” and to “articulate ethical uses of data and other information resources to respond to problems and questions.”
Homework: 1. Read “Does Journalism Have a Future?” by Jill Lepore, “The New Yorker, Jan. 28, 2019” and “Journalism That Stands Apart: The Report of the (New York Times) 2020 Group, Jan. 2017. 2. Work on your term paper
Class #13—The Future of Journalism Watch “The Guardian’s” “Three Little Pigs” video Discuss the New Yorker article and the New York Times report. Does journalism have a future? If so, how different is it likely to be from journalism as it stands now? *In this class students examine strategies articulated by a British newspaper and by an American newspaper for surviving in a future where journalism will be increasingly dominated by the internet and by the participation of non-traditional “citizen” journalists. Therefore, they will be required to “identity and engage with local, national and global trends, and analyze their impact on individual or collective decision-making.”
Homework: Work on term paper, due by midnight, Friday, Dec. 6.
Class #14--Term Paper Presentations in Class Students will give 5-10-minute presentations on the issues they wrote about in their term papers and discuss the conclusions they came to about how well or poorly the journalists behaved in these situations. *In their term papers, students are required to identify an recent incident or trend involving an individual journalist or news organization, which raised an ethical issue or issues about their conduct, and to analyze whether the journalist’s or news organization’s conduct lived up to the ethical standards that should guide journalists in their work. Students must interview several sources, including journalists who were directly involved in the incident or trend, and others who study, teach and write about the behavior of journalists. This assignment requires them to “gather, interpret and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view” and to “produce well-reasoned written arguments using evidence to support their conclusions.” Final Exam---Exam will be done online, and answers will be due during exam period. *In their final exam, which will consist of 4-5 essay questions about real or hypothetical situations involving journalists or news organizations, students are required to “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the relationship between the individual and society,” to “articulate and assess ethical views and their underlying premises” and to “produce well-reasoned written arguments using evidence and arguments critically or analytically.”