News and Journalism

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Course Description

  • Course Name

    News and Journalism

  • Host University

    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  • Location

    Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  • Area of Study

    Journalism

  • Language Level

    Taught In English

  • Course Level Recommendations

    Lower

    ISA offers course level recommendations in an effort to facilitate the determination of course levels by credential evaluators.We advice each institution to have their own credentials evaluator make the final decision regrading course levels.

    Hours & Credits

  • ECTS Credits

    6
  • Recommended U.S. Semester Credits
    3
  • Recommended U.S. Quarter Units
    4
  • Overview

    COURSE OBJECTIVE
    After completion of this course, the student is able to ...
    • describe and explain the developments in journalism (as an institution) in the modern democratic society;
    • reproduce and apply different theoretical perspectives on selection and presentation of the news as an explanatory model of current news
    examples;
    • explain how news influences attitudes of news consumers;
    • describe the media environment in a comparative perspective;
    • reflect critically on the (difficult) relationship between journalists, (organizational) sources and the public.

    COURSE CONTENT
    This course is about understanding the significance and impact of journalism in society. Journalism is key for a well-functioning democratic society: It provides the public with information of general interest. The quality of the news, therefore, largely determines the quality of the public debate. The quality of the news depends of many factors, since it is not only about public information provision. News is also a commercial product that is produced in an almost industrial way and must be sold to news consumers. Who are those news consumers and how have news consumption patterns changed over the course of history? How do journalists select the relevant news events? How do they employ journalistic values ​​such as objectivity, impartiality, professionalism, news values? How biased (fake?) is the news? To guarantee daily news, journalists highly depend on access to elite sources, but who has the real power? In short, in this course you learn to understand and analyze what news looks like, why it looks like this and how news consumers utilize news. Furthermore, we place the study of journalism in a historical and comparative context as well as address the challenges faced by a digital society.

    TEACHING METHODS
    Lectures, Knowledge Clip Lectures, and Seminars

    TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
    A written exam and an assignment portfolio

Course Disclaimer

Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences 

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