News and Information in the Digital Age

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/S_NAIDA

Course Objective

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:
• order interpret and synthesise the current state of the art on scientific literature on agenda-building and news production processes;
• describe in theoretical terms how digitisation is changing the news media landscape and the dynamics in the news production processes;
• analyse the role of news production in public debates and formulate relevant research questions for the field of journalism and journalism studies;
• turn one's own analysis of a public debate into news productions (e.g. a blog post or explainer), tailored to a specific target group;
• to give an opinion, supported with arguments, about the consequences of news production for the journalistic quality of the news and of own news productions.

Course Content

'News and information in the digital age' is about the dynamics of the public debate in which social issues are
- often fiercely
- discussed. Debates may vary in impact (for instance war in Gaza or war in Ukrain versus Eurovision Song contest), scope (Municipality elections in the Netherlands versus Presidential elections in the USA), tone duration and so on and so forth. Public debate is always dynamic and often unpredictable. This course looks at different parties that try to influence the news: politicians, other stakeholders or news sources, journalists and the public. It analyzis how those different actors form the news and influences the dynamics in public debate. We try to get a grip on the dynamics of the news and the public debate through theory and research. Journalism plays a central role in public debate: as a platform for information exchange, as a setter of the public agenda and a framer of the debate. The journalistic ideology prescribes that information must be reliable, objective and truthful. But journalists normally do not take responsibility for facts themselves. They rely on sources. And those sources have their own agenda and try to operate strategically. In our networked society interest groups, organisations, companies and political parties and journalists compete with each other for attention, for what is true or false (think of fake news), what is important or what is related to what. This subject combines a theoretical elaboration of these themes with a study of journalistic practice. Students are challenged to apply the theoretical concepts and insights to journalistic stories. In this way, students themselves shape the public debate.

Teaching Methods

Lectures and tutorial.

Method of Assessment

Individual assignments and a group assignment. The weighting of the partial marks will be announced at the start of the course.

Literature

Reader of articles. The articles can be downloaded either electronically via the UBVU or are taken from the book: Wahl-Jorgensen, K. & Hanitz, T. (2020). The handbook of Journalism Studies. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. The book by Wahl-Jorgensen & Hanitz is available via the VU Bookstore (note, this must be the second edition).

Target Audience

Master students Communication Science: specialisation Political communication, digital media & public opinion

Additional Information

This course is taught in cooperation with the course 'Nieuwsproductie en burgerschap' of the master programme CIW: specialization Journalistiek (Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen). This is a bilingual course. The language of instruction in the tutorials is Dutch (provided enough students are enrolled to offer a Dutch and an English tutorial).The literature lectures will be in English. Assignments can be submitted in both Dutch and English.Attendance at the lectures and seminars is compulsory.