Time Schedule:
Randal A Beam
COM 597
Seattle Campus
Class description
“Journalists not only report reality but create it. [But] to say that journalists construct reality in producing the news is not to say they do so without constraints.” – Michael Schudson, from “The Sociology of News”
This research seminar explores the constraints to which Schudson refers. We’ll examine these constraints at four levels of analysis:
--The social characteristics of the journalists who make news. --The needs of the news organizations that manufacture and distribute news. --The values and role expectations of journalists as an occupation group. --The social, political, cultural and economic systems within which journalists and their news organizations operate.
For this term, I’m particularly interested in how public service expectations or obligations affect what journalists and their news organizations decide to tell their audiences.
The course requirements consist of readings, short response papers and a longer seminar paper. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail me: rabeam@u.washington.edu
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
