Module 5 (Spring): Researching Journalism

This course aims to explore a range of scholarly debates that address news organisations, journalism practices as well as the consumption of news with the aim of understanding how various implications of journalism are interlinked with wider processes of society. Based on this theoretical foundation the course progresses to make students capable of formulating relevant research questions in relation to contemporary journalism. By implementing a range of the methodologies introduced in the preceding course – Social Science Methods for Journalists – the students transform selected questions into actual group projects that are integrated into the course. Throughout, it will be discussed how the implications of journalism theory and research are related to professional practices.

Classes will be a mixture of lectures, group assignments, presentations and discussions.

1. Knowledge:
   • The main research-based approaches to journalism (from political science, sociology, history, etc.) and how these contribute to the public construction of journalism
   • Key methodological and theoretical issues linked to the expansion and transformation of journalism in digital media
     
     
2. Understanding:
   • Understand that best practice perceptions and the teaching of journalism skills derive from specific locations as well as wider perceptions of society
   • Understand how theoretical perspectives on journalism interact with journalistic practices as well as wider public perceptions of journalism and journalists
     
     
3. Discipline-specific:
   • The ability to critically evaluate various theories in relation to concrete empirical examples as well as other theories
   • Able to formulate relevant research questions based on these theories as well as empirical results
   • Able to transform such questions into methodologically appropriate research designs as well as to implement such designs

In order to be able to hand in the final essay students must have been participating in the course (student presentations, smaller written assignments etc.). The final grade is based on the final essay, which is a ten-page essay (4000 words) based on a set question. The student gets 7 days to write this essay.

The following journals and newsletters are relevant and worth keeping an eye on:

American Journalism Review (online), Journalism and Mass Communications Quarterly, Journalism: Theory Practice and Criticism, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Australian Journalism Review, Australian Studies in Journalism, Colombia Journalism Review, Communications Law Bulletin, Media, Culture and Society, European Journal of Communication, Media International Australia, Asia Pacific Media Educator

The following books contain a range of useful articles for various sections of the course:

1. Benson, R. and Neveu, E. 2004: Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field, Polity, Oxford
2. Castells, M. 1996: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society, Blackwell
3. Curran, J., Morley, D. and Walkerdine, V. (eds), 1996: Cultural Studies and Communication, Edward Arnold
4. Curran, J. and Gurevitch, M. (eds.), 2000: Mass Media and Society, 3rd edition, Edward Arnold
5. Ericson, R. et al. 1989: Negotiating Control, University of Toronto Press, Toronto
6. Please contact the University for more sources