Analising Digital Journalism (22195)

Degree/study: Bachelor's Degree in Journalism
Year: Third & Fourth
Term: 1
Number of ECTS credits: 4 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 100 hours
Teaching language or languages: English
Teaching Staff: Núria Almirón

1. Introduction to the subject

The nature of technology and journalism is in permanent change. Digitalization has not change the core principles that underlie journalism, yet it has allowed a terrific shift in terms of habits, capacities and expectations of news production and news consumption-and of course of business models-. In this context, working on and checking the set of structures, activities, principals, themes, norms, and routines that appear to aid journalists (or be missing) in their pursuit of digital excellence is a truly meaningful task for students of journalism.

This course is mainly a practical workshop aimed at assessing the quality of digital media in Internet. Quality in online journalism is therefore the core issue in this course. Theoretical content is also provided in order to build practice on it. Hence, students will look for the best practices in international news coverage online through three main levels: company, messages, and user interaction. These levels of analyse will be checked in a number of online outlets.

The course is divided in two parts: first three weeks are devoted to review the theoretical framework and conduct an interview with an expert or professional to gain insight on concepts and ideas; the remaining seven weeks of the course is devoted to apply knowledge from part 1 to a topic of analysis.

 

 

2. Competences to be attained

Multidisciplinary skills:

• Being able to work and communicate in the English language
• Being able to skilfully use basic hardware and software tools
• Being able to work in group, contributing with opinions and achieving consensus
• Critical appraisal and reflection skills
• Being able to embrace diversity of views and to respect dissenting views as a fundamental ingredient of academic life
• Being able to develop a sense of curiosity and the desire to know what is ignored, essential in any learning process and throughout professional activity
• Being able to apply and adapt the knowledge acquired in new contexts and situations in a flexible and creative way
• Being able to progress in continuous learning and training processes

 

Degree specific skills

• Knowledge and application of technologies and systems used to process and transmit information
• Knowledge of English as a form of professional expression in the media
• Knowledge of the state of the world and its recent historical development
• Knowledge of the structure of the media and its main formats, as expressions of lifestyles and cultures, in relation to social contexts and their changes
• Knowledge of ethics and professional ethics of journalism and the communication's laws
• Knowledge of the social impact of the information technologies
• Knowledge of the main media debates and events
• Knowledge of research techniques applied to the field of social communication, and especially those relating to the analysis of media content
• Knowledge of the fundamentals and methods of scientific disciplines that can contribute to a better understanding of the world
• Ability to read and analyze texts and specialized papers on any relevant subject
• Ability to understand basic information production or communicative, written or visual, in standard English
• Capacity and ability to use computer systems and resources and interactive.

 

  

  

Specific skills:

• Ability to assess the journalistic quality of online media outlets
• Ability to define criteria for analyzing journalistic content and to critically apply these criteria to media coverage
• Recognition of cultural diversity and international journalistic traditions
• Ability to networking through the available digital tools

3. Course contents

Introduction: what is quality in online journalism?

Theoretical framework and reality. Reviewing existing literature.

  

Quality and media accountability

What is media accountability and how can it help improve quality in journalism. Transparency and responsibility. The role of digitalization regarding media accountability.

  

Corporate analysis: the political economy of the digital media

Theoretical framework. Ownership, business model and ideology. Their influence in the level of independence of journalists and in the quality of their job online. Best practices.

  

Newsroom analysis: producing digital news

Theoretical framework. Actor transparency, production transparency and responsiveness. Best practices.

  

Users interaction analysis: feedback and interrelation

Theoretical framework. Users comments and social media use by online outlets. Best practices.

4. Assessment

• Interview (30%)
• Topic analysis (60%)
• Individual progress (10%)

A second-chance assessment will take place within the time period specified by the Faculty of Communication. To qualify for a second chance assessment students must have uploaded group (in pairs) presentations and the final individual essay within the allotted time. The second examination will consist in a resubmission of the final individual essay.

5. Bibliography

·         Ess, Charles (2009): Digital Media Ethics. Cambridge: Polity Press.

·         Fortner, Robert S. & Fackler, Mark P. (eds.) (2011): The Handbook of Global Communication and Media Ethics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

·         Muller, Denis (2014): Journalism Ethics for the Digital Age: London: Scribe.

·         Rohumaa, Liisa & Bradshaw, Paul (2011): The Online Journalism Handbook. New York: Pearson.

·         Rosenauer, Kenneth L. & Filak, Vincent F. (eds.) (2011): The Journalists' Handbook for Online Editing. New York: Pearson.

·         Siapera, Eugenia & Eglis, Andreas (eds.) (2012): The Handbook of Global Online Journalism. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

  

Paper readings and other resources are provided in Moodle.

 

6. Methodology

This course is organized as an online workshop and therefore there aren't classroom master classes. Work will be carried out online by students through the methodology below:

·         Face-to-face & online individual tutoring sessions

·         Lectures & readings in Moodle

·         Personal enquiry, individual research and readings

·         Conceptual and applied work

There will be a face-to-face meeting the first week of the course in order to introduce each other and the subject and a tuition session during the fourth week of the course.

 

7. Planning of activities

Week	Activity	Type
1	Face-to-face meeting: presentation Individual work: theory	Classroom & Online
2	Individual work: theory Preparation of the interview	Online
3	Interview Individual work: writing a report Interview report deadline	Online
4	Individual work: analysis	Online
5	Individual work: analysis	Online
6	Individual work: analysis	Online
7	Individual work: analysis	Online
8	Individual work: analysis	Online
9	Individual work: analysis	Online
10	Individual work: writing the report Analysis report deadline	Online