course 2012-2013

News Analysis Seminar (21331)

Degree/study: bachelor's degree in Journalism
Year: third
Term: second
Number of ECTS credits: 4
Hours of studi dedication: 100
Teaching language or languages: catalan
Teaching Staff: Guillamet, Llúcia Oliva, Carles Pont, Francesc Salgado

1. Presentation of the subject

A compulsory subject for students in the third year of the bachelor's degree programme in Journalism, News Analysis Seminar is primarily geared to analysis and discussion of the news and how it is reported in the press and on the radio, the television and internet portals.

The subject's content and goals are organized into three main sections:

The first section enables students to learn about and apply the different methods used in social sciences to study media output.

The second section consists of analyzing the criteria used to decide which current events to cover and how to report them. The work and reflection involved encompass various aspects of the reporting process, including how information is obtained, selected, prioritized and publicized, and how a medium's ideological and business-related characteristics influence its approach to its work.

The third and final section allows students to develop a critical attitude towards the news, involving continuous and comparative monitoring. Over the course of the term, they must demonstrate their ability to critically observe the news via the main media.

2. Competences to be attained

General:

1. Being able to back up personal opinions with sound arguments and to defend them in public.

2. Being able to work as part of a team, actively participating in assigned tasks and negotiating consensuses in the event of differences of opinion.

3. Developing the ability to think independently and critically about controversial topics or issues.

4. Accepting the diversity of points of view as a fundamental part of academic life and a condition inherent to contemporary society, and respecting differing opinions.

Specific to the degree

1. Being aware of information and communication processes, and the main theories that formalize and criticize them.

2. Being familiar with and able to apply the technologies and systems used for processing, preparing and transmitting information.

3. Being able to carry out the main tasks involved in journalism in different fields.

4. Being able to identify and analyze information products in any genre, language or format, with a view to engaging in critical study.

5. Being able to present ideas in a reasoned manner, drawing on the bases of rhetoric, new theories of argumentation and persuasive communication techniques.

Specific to the subject

1. Being able to analyze and reflect on professional conduct and how information is reported.

2. Developing personal initiative and a sense of responsibility.

3. Identifying the criteria used to select and appraise newsworthy events.

4. Distinguishing between journalistic genres and their respective characteristics.

5. Identifying the structure of the media, and distinguishing between a given medium's organization and internal hierarchy and those of others.

6. Understanding and being able to apply methods for analyzing mass media output.

7. Making connections between the different factors (professional, social, political, ideological, etc.) involved in the preparation of information.

8. Identifying journalism's main characteristics (models, companies, etc.).

3. Contents

Analysis and discussion of the news and how the media report it. The subject has three major units:

- Content unit 1

Analysis of news in the media: throughout the term, and in the form of a seminar, students analyze the front pages of the main daily publications and television news summaries on a day-to-day basis. Each student keeps a news diary and posts it online in the form of a blog.

- Content unit 2

Elements of professional praxis and media structure: this unit examines events' newsworthy elements, as well as how ideology and business ties influence the media's news coverage and published opinions. Students monitor the news via a particular medium (press or television) and give a brief presentation towards the end of the term. Additionally, they suggest topical issues to discuss and debate in lessons.

- Content unit 3

Introduction to media analysis: this unit (the first, chronologically speaking) provides students with the knowledge necessary for their media analysis work. They are equipped with the tools and theoretical content they require to undertake systematic media analysis.

More specifically, the subject's content is organized as follows:

1. NEWS ANALYSIS. Students are required to learn about, analyze and criticize ways of working; consider matters from the perspectives of an editorial board and media consumers; propose alternative views when analyzing media; familiarize themselves with the media, their aims and their interests; and compare media, to gain an insight into their similarities and differences.

1.1. DAILY ANALYSIS of front pages, news stories and sections

1.2. JOURNALISTIC CONTENT

1.3. TOPICAL ISSUES

1.4. MEDIA ANALYSIS

2. NEWS TEST

Over the course of the term, students take a total of four tests designed to assess how closely they are monitoring the news.

3. PERSONAL BLOG

Reflection on news analysis.

4. COMPARATIVE STUDY

A comparative study of how a recent topical issue or news story is reported by two or more media (press, radio, television), which students are free to choose, subject to prior consultation with the lecturer.

4. Assessment

The subject involves continuing assessment. Final grades are based on partial marks corresponding to the following activities:

1. News analysis (participation): 3 points (30%)

2. News tests: 1 point (10%)

3. Personal blog: 2 points (20%)

4. Comparative study: 4 points (at least 2 of which are necessary to pass the subject) (40%)

Students must attend at least 80% of the subject's face-to-face sessions to be eligible for continuing assessment. Those with an attendance rate of under 80% will be unable to successfully complete the subject in the June sitting, and will have to take an exam, in addition to handing in all assignments, in the September sitting.

5. Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

- Borrat, Hector. El periódico como actor político. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1989.

- Igartua, J. J.; Humanes, M. L. El mètode científic aplicat a la investigació en comunicació social. Barcelona: Portal de la Comunicació, UAB, 2004.

- Kientz, A. Para analizar los mass media: el análisis de contenido.Valencia: Fernando Torres editor, 1974.

- Ramonet, Ignacio. Geopolítica i comunicació de final de mil·lenni. Sabadell: Fundació Caixa de Sabadell, 1999a.

- Rodrigo, Miquel. La construcción de la noticia. Barcelona: Paidós Comunicación, 2005.

- Soriano, Jaume. L'ofici de comunicòleg. Mètodes per investigar la comunicació. Vic: Eumo Editorial, 2007.

- Wimmer, R. D.; Dominick, J. R. La investigación científica de los medios de comunicación: introducción a sus métodos. Barcelona: Bosch, 1996.

6. Metodology

1. NEWS ANALYSIS

1.1. DAILY ANALYSIS of front pages, news stories and sections

Media preferably to be monitored:

· El Punt Avui

El Periódico de Catalunya
La Vanguardia
El País
El Mundo
ABC

· Público

· Ara

La Razón
TV3
TVE
Antena 3
Cuatro
Tele5
La Sexta
Ràdio (Catalunya Ràdio, SER, Cope, RAC 1...)

Approximately the first hour of each session will be devoted to analyzing the front pages and news summaries of the media listed above, with input from students and the lecturer alike.

Students will work in pairs. Each pair will be assigned to monitor a particular medium from the above list.

In lessons, the day's editions of the daily newspapers and the previous evening's television news programmes will be examined in depth.

1.2. JOURNALISTIC CONTENT

Each pair of students assigned to monitor a daily newspaper must bring the day's edition of the relevant publication to lessons. Similarly, each pair assigned to monitor a television channel must bring a recording of the previous evening's news summary.

1.3. TOPICAL ISSUES

Each session will include a debate on issues currently featuring or soon to appear in the news, or matters related to how news is being reported.

The lecturer may ask the pairs of students referred to in the previous point to prepare topics. In that case, they must give a brief introductory presentation to stimulate group debate, which should preferably focus on how the media are reporting the corresponding issue, rather than on the issue itself.

If they wish, each pair may invite someone related to the corresponding issue to participate in their presentation and the subsequent debate.

Such presentations will be appraised, as will students' ability to nurture rich debate related to the subject's goals.

1.4. MEDIA ANALYSIS

In the first lecture, each of the aforementioned pairs of students will be instructed to analyze the general news coverage policies of the medium assigned to them in point 1.1. Students must take the medium's ownership structure (or status as part of a media group) and political affinities into account in their analysis.

In lectures in the final weeks of the course, each pair of students must give an oral presentation on the conclusions they have reached.

2. NEWS TEST

Students must take a fortnightly test consisting of ten questions on various issues currently in the news. In total, five such tests will count towards students' final grades.

3. PERSONAL BLOG

In the first week of lectures, each student must create a blog (unless they already have one and want to use it for the subject) and provide the lecturer with its URL, to be passed on to the rest of the group.

Students must post regular blog entries over the course of the term, in the form of a diary, which absolutely has to be focused on the news, although various approaches may be taken:

Comments on how news is reported in the media.
Personal experiences of the news, based on information received.
Impressions of and reflections on newsworthy events (even if not covered by the media).

If the lecturer asks them to do so, students must read sections of their blog aloud in lectures.

Blogs may include comments written by third parties. Each student shall be responsible for moderating comments on their own blog.

At the end of the term, each student must select the best comments published on their blog, print them out and hand them in to the lecturer. The printed document must be at least 10 pages long and contain no fewer than 20 entries.

4. COMPARATIVE STUDY

Working in pairs of their own choosing, students must produce a comparative study on a broadly news-related topic.

Students must discuss topic selection, their approach to their work and its progress with the lecturer, not only privately but also publicly in classrooms, so that all students can benefit from the advice given to others.

There are three stages in this task's schedule:

a) Report (one to two pages in length). The report must specify the object of analysis, the methodology to be used, the corpus to be analyzed and the study's main hypothesis. It must be submitted in the third week of the term.

b) Public presentation. Each pair of students must publicly present their study's results in lectures. Each presentation must last approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Presentations are to be given in the last three weeks of the term.

c) Completed study. The final version of the study is to be handed in on the day of the last lecture or of the exam, depending on when presentations take place and the lecturer's instructions.

Students are required to analyze seven different publications or programmes. The study they hand in must comprise at least 15 30-line pages, plus a separate medium information sheet.

Study sections:

- Extent of coverage:

- Days of coverage

- Space devoted to topic, in terms of pages and columns

- Presence on front and inner pages and in sections

- Appraisal criteria used

- Content of coverage:

- Information sources

- Journalistic genres

- Graphic resources

- Authors

- Appraisal of own contribution

- Conclusions

- Descriptive medium information sheet

- Bibliography and electronic sources

Medium information sheet

1. Name of medium

2. Place published / broadcast

3. Periodicity

4. Language

5. Date of establishment

6. Orientation of editorial staff and content

7. Political orientation

8. Parent company and address

9. Director

10. Editorial staff structure

11. Name(s) of editor(s) of section related to topic analyzed

12. Format, number of pages and columns / Time slot and duration of news programmes

13. Price

13. Form of financing

14. Circulation and readership / audience

7. Planning of activities

Week

Monday 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm

Wednesday 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm

Session 1

Subject presentation / News test / Explanation of comparative study

Session 2

Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections

Session 3

Test / Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Tutorial

Session 4

Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Journalistic content: foreign media

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Session 5

Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Journalistic content: election blogs

(comparative study report to be handed in)

Session 6

Test / Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Topical issues: ELECTIONS

Session 7

Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Topical issues: ELECTIONS

Session 8

Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Topical issues: ELECTIONS

Session 9

Tutorial

Session 10

Test / Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Topical issues: ELECTIONS

Session 11

Daily analysis of front pages, news stories and sections / Topical issues: ELECTIONS

Session 12

Topical issues: ELECTIONS (single group, classroom 52.223)

Session 13

Tutorial

Session 14