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Introduction to Journalism
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:7.00
Study Course Accepted:29.08.2022 09:00:50
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | KSK_106 | LQF level: | Level 6 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 2.00 | ECTS: | 3.00 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Communication Sciences; Communication Theory | Target Audience: | Communication Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Anda Rožukalne | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Communication | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Riga, 16 Dzirciema Street, kfko rsu[pnkts]lv, +371 67409183 | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 6 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 12 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 6 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 12 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 24 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Not necessary. | ||||||||
| Objective: | To create in students understanding about reasons of emergence, main development stages of journalism, its place and tasks in the Latvian and global context, familiarising with functions and tasks of journalism, the place of this area in the state’s political, legal and economic system. The main task of the course is to familiarise students with various manifestations of journalism, building a foundation for mastering of practical journalism courses: to make an insight into problems of journalism; to create an understanding about the dynamic development of journalism and media environment, its reasons and processes; to analyse the interaction between journalism and audience. Students develop theoretically mastered skills to be able to work in different mass media. Special attention in this course is drawn to the analysis of journalism development processes and practices in Latvia, Baltic countries and Scandinavia, as well as evaluation of quality of information, sources of information and determination of the value of information. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | Tasks of journalism nowadays, nature, functions, mission. Challenges of journalism as a profession. Approaches of journalism, media system. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | Journalism in Latvia, its peculiarities and main development stages. Challenges of journalism as a profession. Freedom of press, freedom of expression. Freedom of press in journalism practice in Latvia and worldwide. Independence of media. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | Journalism as a profession, its different manifestations. Specifics of media and peculiarities of journalism: press, radio, television, news agencies, internet portals and digital networking platforms. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Journalism and state. Legal regulation of media and journalism, self-regulation in journalism. Public and commercial media. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Concept of dignity and respect in the context of freedom of press and freedom of expression. Foundations of journalist’s ethics. Codes of ethics and codes of conduct. Ethical dilemmas of journalism, ethical matters at different stages of journalist’s activity. Right to an image. Journalism and problem of respect for private life. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Development of Latvian media. Changes in the mass media system at the end of eighties of 20th century, emergence and development of a new media system in the nineties and the beginning of 21st century. Latvian journalism in the context of Baltic and Scandinavian countries. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | How does information occur? Where and how do journalists obtain information? How to find a source of information? How to evaluate it? | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | How to obtain publicly and politically important information? Preparation process and techniques. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | Information sources in journalism. Communication with the source of information, verification of its credibility. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Professional ethics: journalists answer the question what is and what is not ethical every day. How to find correct answers? Situation analysis. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Journalist’s profession. Its challenges nowadays. How do we know what professional journalism means? Where does professionalism in sports, business and show business journalism hide? What are current professionalism problems in journalism? | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | Journalist's work in various media: knowledge, skills, professional roles | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | 1. reading of literature; 2. submission of essays; 3. practical tasks. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | Student’s work will be evaluated as follows: 1. participation in lectures – 15%; 2. work at seminar classes – 25%; 3. essays – 15%; 4. individual and group works – 20%; 5. examination – 25%. | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | |||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | As a result of successful mastering the study course students obtain knowledge about: • functions and tasks of journalism; • ethics in journalism; • legal regulation of journalism; • specifics of a journalist’s profession. | ||||||||
| Skills: | As a result of successful mastering the study course students obtain skills: • to differentiate types of journalism and their quality, functions, behaviour; • to evaluate ethical and non-ethical professional action; • to evaluate information, its feasibility, sources of information. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | As a result of successful mastering of the course students understand the nature of media and foundations of journalism, its regulation, professional ethics and dilemmas. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | O’Neill, D. & Harcup, T. (2020). News Values and News Selection. In T. Hanitzsch & K. Wahl-Jorgensen (Eds.), The Handbook of Journalism Studies, 2nd edition. New York, NY: Routledge. | ||||||||
| 2 | Karlsson, M., & Clerwall, C. (2019). Cornerstones in Journalism: According to citizens. Journalism Studies, 20(8), 1184–1199. | ||||||||
| 3 | Kreiss, D. (2019). The Social Identity of Journalists. Journalism, 20(1), 27–31. | ||||||||
| 4 | Waisbord, S. (2018). Truth is What Happens to News: On Journalism, Fake News, and Post-Truth. Journalism Studies, 19(13), 1866-1878. | ||||||||
| 5 | Matamoros-Fernández, Ariadna, and Johan Farkas. 2021. “Racism, Hate Speech, and Social Media: A Systematic Review and Critique.” Television & New Media 22 (2): 205–24. | ||||||||
| 6 | Rožukalne, A. (2020). Self-censorship in Latvian journalism: A research note. European Journal of Communication, 35(1), 60–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323119897799 | ||||||||
| 7 | Niklas Luhmann, The Reality of the Mass Media, London, Polity Press, 2002, p.130. | ||||||||
| 8 | Baltic Media in Transition, Ed. by Peeter Vihalemm, Tartu, Tartu University Press, 2002, p.305. | ||||||||
| 9 | Development of the Media in Latvia in the 1990s, Baltic Media in Transition, Ed. by Peeter Vihalemm, Tartu, Tartu University Press, 2002, pp.65.-71. | ||||||||
| 10 | Latvijas Mediju analīze. Komunikācijas pētījumu sērija, Daudzveidība III, Rīga: LU Komunikācijas studiju nodaļa, 2001. 70. lpp. | ||||||||
| 11 | Deuze, M., What is Journalism?, Journalism, Vol. 6 (4), 2005, pp. 442. – 446. | ||||||||
| 12 | Šulmane, 2., Neatrastās Identitātes? Latvijas Dienas Laikrakstu Žurnālisti Politikas, Ekonomikas un Kultūras Lauku Ietekmē, 2011. (fails: identitātes) Rīga: Latvijas universitāte. | ||||||||
| 13 | O’Neill, O. (2002). A question of trust. Reith Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | ||||||||
| 14 | Lasmane, Skaidrīte (2011) Komunikācijas ētika. Rīga: Latvijas universitāte (5.nodaļa “Mediju un žurnālistu ētika”). | ||||||||
| 15 | Jan Fredrik Hovden, Gunnar Nygren & Henrika Zilliacus-Tikkanen (eds.) (2016) Becoming a journalist. Nordicom. (fails: becoming_a_journalist, no 51 – 70.lpp.) | ||||||||
| 16 | Šulmane, I. Latvijas žurnālisti gadsimta beigās. Latvijas Mediju analīze. Komunikācijas pētījumu sērija, Daudzveidība II, Rīga: LU Komunikācijas studiju nodaļa, 2001. 62.-69.lpp. | ||||||||
| 17 | Šulmane, I. Profesionālais diskurss latviešu un krievu presē: salīdzinošā analīze. Daudzveidība, Rīga, LU, 2002. 158.lpp. | ||||||||
| 18 | Development of the Media in Latvia in the 1990s, Baltic Media in Transition, Ed. by Peeter Vihalemm, Tartu, Tartu University Press, 2002, pp.65.-71. | ||||||||
| 19 | Singer, J., Who are These Guys?, Journalism, Vol. 4 (2), pp. 139. -163. | ||||||||
| 20 | Franks, S. (2013). Women and Journalism. London: I.B.Tauris. | ||||||||
| Additional Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Lewis, S. C., Zamith, R., & Coddington, M. (2020). Online Harassment and Its Implications for the Journalist–Audience Relationship. Digital Journalism, 8(8), 1047–1067. | ||||||||
| 2 | Denis McQuail, Karen Siune, New Media Politics, The Function of the Mass Media. New Media Politics., 1999 | ||||||||
| 3 | Latvijas Mediju analīze. Komunikācijas pētījumu sērija, Daudzveidība II, Rīga: LU Komunikācijas studiju nodaļa, 2001. 162.lpp. | ||||||||
| 4 | Komunikācija. Latvijas Universitātes Raksti 648, Rīga, Zinātne, 2002, 127. – 196. lpp. | ||||||||
| Other Information Sources | |||||||||
| 1 | Eiropas Žurnālistikas observatorija | ||||||||
| 2 | International Federation of Journalists | ||||||||
| 3 | Latvijas žurnālistu asociācija | ||||||||
