Outline of Journalism Study

Code：110001

Name：Journalism Study

Credits：2

Period：36 hours

Objects：Undergraduates, Foreign Postgraduates in China

Ⅰ. Course Description: This course is intended for students who are interested in exploring the broad field of journalism and mass communication. Journalism is partly a field of inquiry, partly of exposition. As a class, we will discover a working definition, skills, theories, and business of journalism and reporting as we explore the parts that make up the whole.

Ⅱ. Aim and requirements: The course is the further study of journalism education. Students will learn the basic mechanics of news: the structure of stories, the structure of the news business, the theories of journalism and mass communication as they learn to construct news stories in a variety of formats for a variety of audiences. Moreover, students will analyze and compare the various media outlets, target audiences, and methods used by today’s reporters.

Ⅲ. Emphasis and Difficulty:

The difference of Chinese and foreign mass communication, journalism ideas, and communication.

Ⅳ. Textbooks:

1. The Sociology of News, Schudson Michael，Norton & Co.

2. McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory, McQuail Denis, SAGE Publications Ltd. (2010)

Ⅴ. Contents

Unit 1: Define journalism

Unit 2: Normative theories of the press

Unit 3: Education of journalism and communication

Unit 4: Convergence journalism

Unit 5: Is Newspaper Important?

Unit 6: The rise and fall of mass communications

Unit 7: Newspapers: more than writing news

Unit 8: Comparative Journalism: Similarities and differences

Unit 9: Modern Chinese press: origin and political history

Unit 10: Media Ethics and the Law

Unit 11: Audience study

Unit 12: Communication effects analysis