General provisions

This course is part of the Bachelor program in Media and Communication and Journalism studies. The course may be given in English or Swedish.

Entry requirements

15 credits in media and communication studies

Learning outcomes

After the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• account for and through that demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of the main theories and academic debates in the field of Journalism Studies,
• account for and through that demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of journalism practices, the societal roles of journalism and the main challenges for journalism in the contemporary digital media environment.

Competence and skills

• seek, collect, evaluate and critically interpret relevant information in the scientific field of Journalism Studies,
• critically reflect on the main theoretical debates in the field of Journalism Studies,
• critically reflect on the professional, ideological and ethical challenges, as well as the broader social context of journalism,
• critically present and analyse, in oral and text-based forms, theoretically driven accounts of the above debates, challenges and phenomena, in the field of Journalism Studies.

Judgement and approach

• make assessments pertaining to scientific, professional, political and social aspects of journalism,
• develop arguments that demonstrate an understanding of the importance of the ethical and legal implications of journalistic practice,
• develop arguments that demonstrate insight into the importance of investigative journalism for citizens and society.

Content

This course provides the foundations for understanding the main theories, discourses and academic debates within Journalism Studies. The course also elaborates on the roles and challenges for journalism in a globalized and changing digital media environment. Based on overviews of recent research in the area selected themes as these are studied: i. journalistic production (i.e. professional identity and newsroom culture, news values and news selection, journalistic sources, investigative journalism), ii. content and audiences of journalism (i.e. agenda setting, news frames, news and ideology, narratology of news, news audiences), iii. journalism and society (i.e. journalism and democracy, social, cultural, political and economic environment of media and journalism), iv. contemporary trends in journalism (i.e. global media, digital media, social media, algorithms, AI-applications and alternative media), v. ethical and legal aspects of journalism.

Instruction

Lectures, seminars and workshops are combined with individual and group work activities and assignments.

Assessment

The course is examined through active participation in compulsory activities, assignments and exam.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator or a decision by the department's working group for study matters.