Journalism and Society
Code: 103086 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501933 Journalism | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Ana Isabel Fernandez Viso
- Email:
- Ana.Fernandez.Viso@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Other comments on languages
Since half of the evaluation assignments involves writing journalistic texts, a very high level of either Catalan or Spanish is required.Prerequisites
Since this is a course that follows a practical teaching methodology and a continuous evaluation system, students must attend, al least, 80% of classes to be evaluated and thus to pass the course.
A prior knowledge or previous courses of research methodology, journalistic writing and social structure are highly recommended.
Objectives and Contextualisation
-
To introduce students to the study and knowledge of the social question in the advanced capitalist societies.
-
To qualify students to journalistically detect, document and assess social fractures, as well as the different inequalities that exist in our societies (economic, class, gender, ethnic, etc.)
-
To qualify students to create journalistic texts with a social sensitivity perspective.
Competences
- Abide by ethics and the canons of journalism, as well as the regulatory framework governing information.
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Demonstrate ethical awareness as well as empathy with the entourage.
- Differentiate the discipline’s main theories, its fields, conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and approaches that underpin knowledge of the subject and its different areas and sub-areas, and acquire systematic knowledge of the media’s structure.
- Generate innovative and competitive ideas in research and professional practice.
- Relay journalistic information in the language characteristic of each communication medium, in its combined modern forms or on digital media, and apply the genres and different journalistic procedures.
- Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
Learning Outcomes
- Conceptualise the theories and techniques of specialised journalism.
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Demonstrate ethical awareness and empathy with the entourage.
- Demonstrate practical knowledge of specialised journalism.
- Generate innovative and competitive ideas in research and professional practice.
- Incorporate the principles of professional ethics in developing narrative journalism specialised in reporting on various events and everyday life.
- Relay in the language specific to each communication medium narrative journalism specialised in reporting on various events and everyday life.
- Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Use interactive communication resources to process, produce and relay information in the production of specialised information.
Content
Social inequality is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon which presents itself in multiple ways, mainly through the existence of socially created and maintained differences between human beings (economic, class, gender, ethnic, etc.). Its study has become one of the most important areas of sociology, because the resources available to people determine their life opportunities. The global crisis that broke out in 2008 and 2020 have deepened the social fractures and inequalities inherent to the post-industrial, financial and globalized capitalism. Social journalism, or journalism with social sensitivity, focuses on these dynamics that generate inequality and social exclusion, as well as on the intolerance and the lack of acknowledgement towards the right to difference. It is first and foremost a work attitude and perspective, that poses the social question as a central one for the journalistic assessment of reality. In this sense, journalism has an unavoidable commitment to the voiceless of our societies, to the ones unable to articulate their interests, their problems, their values and their experiences through the media.
Following this approach to social journalism, the syllabus covers the following main themes:
- Introduction to social journalism.
- Introduction to the social question and to social change.
- Dynamics of creation and maintenance of inequalities.
- Agenda, sources and actors of social journalism.
- Narrative construction of social problems and phenomena in social journalism.
Methodology
The eminently practical approach of the course requires class attendance. Learning resources, tools and activities include: lectures; readings and group debates on the topics covered in the syllabus; assignments based on the use of statistical databases to document different forms of inequality; group analysis of journalistic texts, projects and products; and other practical assignments, such as writing journalistic texts.
The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation activities may undergo some modifications depending on the health authorities' attendance restrictions. In case of a change of teaching modality for health reasons, teachers will make readjustments in the schedule and methodologies.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 15 | 0.6 | 8, 1, 3, 2, 5, 9 |
| Reading and debate workshops plus other practical assignments | 20.5 | 0.82 | 8, 1, 2, 5, 9 |
| Statistical data analysis workshops | 22 | 0.88 | 8, 4, 2, 5, 6, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Academic tutoring | 10 | 0.4 | 8, 7, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Student's work | 70 | 2.8 | 8, 7, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 |
Assessment
The course follows a continuous evaluation system which consists of the following activities:
- Reading and debate workshops, 10% on the final grade.
- Statistical data analysis exercises, 20% on the final grade.
- Practical assignments consisting of documenting, analyzing, explaining to the rest of the class, discussing and/or writing journalistic pieces of information, projects or products, 10% on the final grade.
- A final journalistic report done in small groups, 50% on the final grade.
- A group report on the elaboration process of the final journalistic report, which will be done gradually throughout the course, 10% on the final grade.
To apply the above-mentioned percentages and thus to pass the course, students must attend, at least, 80% of classes, submit both the final journalistic report and its elaboration process report and have a grade equal or superior to 4 in the final journalistic report. The topic and the approach of the final journalistic report must be agreed with the professor during the first month of classes. She will supervise its elaboration throughout the course. There is no final exam and there won’t be any exception in this sense with students who enroll this course for the second or third time.
The student who performs any irregularity (copy, plagiarism, identity theft, etc.) leading to a significant variation of the qualification of an evaluation assignment, will automatically fail the course with a final grade of 0.
The course schedule will be presented on the first day of classes and it will also be uploaded to the Virtual Campus, where students will be able to find a detailed description of evaluation assignments, teaching materials and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the course.
The professor will explain in the class the grade review process of each evaluation assignment.
Students will be entitled to the reevaluation of the subject only if they have been evaluated of a set of assignments the weight of which equals a minimum of two thirds (66%) of the total grade of the course. The reevaluation will consist of redoing the final journalistic report (following the indications given by the professor during the grade review of this assignment) and it will still be worth 50% of the final grade of the course. Due to its particularly practical nature and the impossibility to reproduce the situation in which they were performed, the rest of the assignments are excluded from the revaluation process.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A final journalistic report done in small groups | 50% | 5 | 0.2 | 8, 7, 1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 |
| Group report on the elaboration process of the final journalistic report | 10% | 1 | 0.04 | 8, 1, 3, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 |
| Participation in other practical assignments of the course | 10% | 1 | 0.04 | 8, 7, 1, 3, 4, 2, 6, 9, 10 |
| Reading and debate workshops | 10% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 8, 1, 3, 2, 5, 6, 9 |
| Statistical data analysis workshops | 20% | 3 | 0.12 | 8, 1, 4, 2, 5, 6, 10 |
Bibliography
Reference bibliography
-Alba Rico, Santiago; Appadurai, Arjun; Bauman, Zygmunt; della Porta, Donatella; et. al. (2017) El gran retroceso, Barcelona: Seix Barral.
-Butler, Judith (2017) Cuerpos aliados y lucha política, Barcelona: Paidós.
-Caparrós, Martín (2015) El Hambre, Barcelona: Anagrama.
-Castel, Robert (1997) Las metamorfosis de la cuestión social: una crónica del salariado, Barcelona: Paidós.
-Cortina, Adela (2018) Aporofobia, el rechazo al pobre: un desafío para la democracia, Barcelona: Paidós.
-Ehrenreich, Barbara (2003) Por cuatro duros: cómo(no) apañárselas en Estados Unidos, Barcelona: RBA.
-Klein, Naomi (2015) Esto lo cambia todo: el capitalismo contra el clima, Barcelona: Paidós.
-McGarvey, Darren (2019) Safari en la pobreza, Madrid: Capitán Swing.
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-Piketty, Thomas (2019) Capital e ideología, Barcelona: Ediciones Deusto.
-Sassen, Saskia (2015) Expulsiones: brutalidad y complejidad en la economía global, Madrid: Katz Editores.
-Standing, Guy (2013) El precariado: una nueva clase social, Barcelona: Ediciones Pasado & Presente.
-Stiglitz, Joseph (2012) El precio de la desigualdad: el 1% de la población tiene lo que el 99% necesita. Madrid: Taurus.
-Varela, Núria (2013) Feminismo para principiantes, Barcelona: Penguin Random House.
-Wilkinson, Richard; and Pickett, Kate (2019) Igualdad: Cómo las sociedades más igualitarias mejoran el bienestar colectivo, Madrid: Capitán Swing.
-Zeller, Carlos (2001) "Los medios y la formación de la voz en una sociedad democrática", in Revista Anàlisi, nº 26, Bellaterra, UAB.