94081 - GIORNALISMO DIGITALE

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students:

- know the main theories related to digital journalism;

- can discuss the current transformations of newsmaking, news delivery and news consumption resulting from the increasing centrality of digital platforms;

- identify the functions performed by the multiple and heterogeneous actors that inhabit contemporary information ecosystems;

- are aware of ethical implications related to digital newsmaking practices;

- are familiar with multiple case histories related news organizations which, at different stages of their professional history, have taken processes of digitalization.

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

In the first section of the course we will address the main theories related to the transformations of the journalistic field within the current hybrid information systems. We will adopt an ecological approach aimed at considering the different perspectives of citizens, new organizations, individual journalists, and all the other actors producing and circulating news.

The second section of the course, developed around seminar sessions, is based on presentations and discussions of case histories, analysis of materials and documents related to an highly diverse plethora of initiatives in digital journalism. Relevant empirical research and theoretical contributions will also be discussed.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Attending Students:

Il testo di riferimento per la prima sezione del corso è:

Splendore, S. (2017). Giornalismo ibrido: come cambia la cultura giornalistica italiana. Carocci.

The full list of readings and material for the second section of the course will be circulated on the first day of class.Non-attending students.

1) Splendore, S. (2017). Giornalismo ibrido: come cambia la cultura giornalistica italiana. Carocci.

2) Peters, C., & Broersma, M. (Eds.). (2016). Rethinking journalism again: Societal role and public relevance in a digital age. Taylor & Francis.

3) Chadwick, A. (2017). The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford University Press. (Capitoli 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10)

N.B. Non attending students are requested to write the course instructor at least three weeks before taking the exam.

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, class presentations

Assessment methods

Attending Students

Class presentation and participation (30% of the final grade)

Final written exam (70% of the final grade)

Non Attending Students

Final written exam for Non attending students (100% of the final grade)

N.B. Non attending students are requested to write the course instructor at least three weeks before taking the exam.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations, web videos, data visualizations, and practical exercises (a more specific list of teaching tools will be defined in coherence with the number of students attending the course)

Office hours

See the website of Augusto Valeriani