Course Descriptions

197A  Journalism Success (Fox)

This one credit, five week seminar will introduce students to the traditions and expectations of the Journalism Program, as well as resources and opportunities that will help them as they move through the major. Through workshops and exercises, students will meet faculty, get to know campus media and career services staff, learn about the writing and academic expectations of the program.

201 Introduction to Journalism (Perkins)

Open to freshmen and sophomores only. In Introduction to Journalism we will study the principles and practices of journalism as well as journalism's role in a democratic society. We will explore journalism's impact on public policy, private lives, and the increasing role of citizens within the context of the contemporary convergence of multimedia. Class discussions will address the historical development and future of the field, including new technologies and changing strategies. Techniques, methods, and models guiding the contemporary practice of journalism will be given particular emphasis. We will cover news, feature, and profile writing, cultural commentary, op-ed, and narrative journalism. The fundamental skills of a journalist will be introduced, including research and interviewing, fact-checking and attribution, style and persona. Guest speakers may include journalists who can speak to specialized areas of journalism.

225 Readings in Journalism (Sibii)

Throughout this course, students will read works from journalists from a variety of genres to gain insight on how they gathered and reported news and information. From the drama of covering the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to covering Hillary Clinton's historic Senate race and the development of an entirely different type of journalism online in the form of blogging, students will examine the techniques and ethical mores utilized by those who gather, write, broadcast and post information.

300 Newswriting and Reporting (Carey, Sibii, Forcier, Perkins)

This course is required of all majors. It introduces students to the basics of reporting, including finding sources, interviewing, covering speeches, profiles, court reporting, and other assignments. Includes in-class and outside reporting assignments. Attendance is required. Fulfills Junior Year Writing requirement. Read the blog from Mary Carey's section of Journalism 300.

300H Newswriting and Reporting (Sims)

Honors-enriched, 5 credit class. Narrative in the news has received national attention since Paul Many wrote "Literary Journalism: Newspapers' Last, Best Hope" some 12 years ago. Since then the Nieman Center at Harvard has held annual conferences on narrative and papers such as The Oregonian have specialized in narrative newswriting. John Hartsock had an article in Prose Studies that catalogues the use of narrative approaches at several American newspapers. Many argue that narrative provides a way to attract readers back to the newspaper with something other than grocery coupons. This class will encourage students to adopt narrative approaches to newswriting whenever appropriate. Extra readings, such as the articles cited above, guest speakers, and research will give them a historical and theoretical background on the issues. The class also covers the standard forms of newswriting and explores issues of when to use narrative. This is an honors-enriched course open to junior and senior journalism majors, or sophomore journalism majors who are honors students.

301 Intermediate Reporting: Writing about Social Issues (Roche - Spring)

In this class, students build on the skills they learned in Journalism 300 to write more in-depth pieces in areas that affect the average American, including education, family issues, immigration, energy use and the gap between rich and poor. Students learn how to find government and advocacy group sources, and how to navigate the wealth of online sources available on these issues. Students gain experience and confidence in reporting, writing and revising longer news stories. Interest in public affairs and current events is required. Attendance is required.

301 Intermediate Reporting: Community Journalism Project (McBride - Fall)

The Community Journalism Project is an intermediate reporting class that sends students into ghettoes, barrios, and poor white and working class communities of Western Massachusetts. Journalists have become increasingly out of touch with the majority of the population. The working class, the poor, the minority often are overlooked by the mainstream media. This course will put you into the homeless shelters, food pantries, health clinics, community centers, public schools, and low wage job sites in hope of finding solutions and answers from the real experts. Intensive field work, substantial newswriting, and devotion to reading comprise the calculus of this course.

310 Press & the Third World (Muller)

The idea of a "Third World," a world in which at least 70% of the people of the world now live, was conceived in the West and remains largely a Western concept. The unity and most of the qualities assigned to the Third World have also been largely Western. In this course we will examine the ways in which the Third World is represented by Western media. And using an anthropological and political economy approach we will deconstruct the propaganda used to continue the imbalance in the flow of information between the West and the Third World.

312 Journalism and Law (List - Spring)

Students will become familiar with legal concepts underlying freedom of the press: censorship, obscenity, libel, privacy, free press/fair trial, contempt, access and other legal problems affecting the mass media. The case study approach generally is used, but emphasis is on the principles and philosophy underlying various aspects of communication law as these affect the daily work of journalists.

320 History of American Journalism (List - Fall)

This course begins with an assessment of the state of the media in America today and the principles--or lack of principles--that drive them. It then goes back to the 18th century to explore journalism’s beginnings and the development of press freedom under the First Amendment. We also explore the 19th century to see how press freedom developed in practice for both mainstream and alternative journalists. The final part of the course explores 20th century constraints that impact the media today. We also look at how the media on occasion have fought these constraints--and won.

345 Media Criticism (Whitehead, Sibii)

American journalism is going through what might be the greatest upheaval in its history. This course examines the causes of this upheaval -- technological, economic, cultural, ideological -- and their current and prospective impact. It also looks at some efforts to set standards for the performance of journalists.

360 Journalism Ethics (List, McBride)

This course will develop an understanding of the ethical questions raised by media coverage in a democratic society at a time of focus on profit over news values and on entertainment over substance.  Issues discussed will include: accuracy and fairness, diversity, conflicts of interest, privacy, deception, relationships with sources and photojournalism. We will also learn to identify news values--or lack of them--both as professionals and as consumers. Junior and senior Journalism majors only.

375 News Editing (Forcier)

A hands-on course that teaches through practice the theory and techniques of news editing. Focusing on the copy editor’s role, the course includes headline writing as well as review of basic language and research skills. Lectures and discussions cover the broader areas of editing responsibility such as news value, libel, and taste.

391B       Feedback Journalism (Brodeur)

The Readers React: Modern-Day Media Consumers Are a Part of the Story. Many of the earliest and most important news reports and  commentaries from American newspapers came in the form of letters. By the middle of the 18th century, letters to the editor in newspapers and other periodicals played a major role in shaping political and social discourse. Over time the importance and prominence of these letters began to erode. As newspapers and other forms of media became more powerful and far-reaching, the mainstream media institutions and the staffs who worked for them began to exist in more of a soundproof vacuum. That social dynamic is changing rapidly in recent years due to a number of seismic changes in the media landscape. Subjects of stories now have the ability to reply publicly and immediately to  what has been written about them. Readers are empowered to join meaningful, contextual conversations about the stories journalists write. As a result, readers are shaping both the stories that have been written and those that will be written. In this course, we will look at how feedback and reader reactions are fundamentally changing journalism for the better. We will look at the history of letters to the editor and other forms of reader reaction. We will monitor modern-day letters to the editor at  media outlets and compare them to other forms of reader reaction. We will search for reaction journalism and conversations in   newspapers, magazines, blogs, online forums, story comments,  "whiner lines," YouTube and other places. Students also will be asked to jump head-first into the feedback waters, supplying it to writers, inviting it from readers and analyzing it all in an  active blog they will keep for the course.

391JC      Journalism as Conversation   (Brodeur)
Journalism is a conversation, and new tools make it easier than ever for readers to become a central and vital part of that journalistic conversation. In this course, we turn journalism
 inside-out and look at how reader and viewer reactions, responses and comments are fundamentally changing the journalism landscape. We will look at letters to the editor, public forums and bulletin boards. We will also closely monitor online story comments and how they are helping to reshape journalism. We will listen to talk-radio callers, “whiner lines” and interactive TV shows. We will examine first-hand how Facebook, Twitter, Yelp,
 Reddit,Wikipedia,YouTube and other modern tools make it easier for readers to join the conversation. And we will see how mainstream journalists are dealing with all this immediate and diverse feedback.  Students will also be expected to dive head-first into the feedback waters, supplying it to their classmates and to professional journalists. They will also invite it from their own readers. Students will analyze the entire feedback loop in an active blog they will keep for the course.

391R Sem—Travel Writing & Photojournalism (Newton/Carey - Spring)

Travel Writing and Photojournalismin Sicily is a 3 credit course offered during the spring semester. Students accepted into the program meet twice weekly to study the fundamentals of travel writing and/or basic photography. They will be preparing for a 10 day travel experience to the Italian island of Sicily. During the week of Spring Break we will travel throughout the island (accompanied by professional guides) photographing and experiencing the people and the landscape. Students will also keep a reporters notebook to record their day to day impressions. Upon return, they will complete either a 10 to 15 page travel article or learn to use Adobe Photoshop to produce a portfolio of 15 photographs taken during the trip.Students must apply and be accepted into the course during the Fall semester. Applications are available at http://www.umass.edu/journal/sicilyprogram/

392M Sem—Intro to Nonfiction Writing (Sims)

This course introduces the practice of literary journalism, narrative writing, and the writing techniques that make it possible. Writing assignments include reviews, travel, and cultural reporting.  Your reports will have some profound differences from standard newspaper articles, chief among them that you will be a presence or an active participant in the text.  Your writing will attempt to provide more than information for readers. The readings provide models for nonfiction writing, introduce important writers, and give advice and guidance.  This course is a partial online blended class where some lectures, readings, and discussions will take place online through the Spark system.

392S Sem—Opinion Writing

This course will teach newspaper opinion writing, but its greater aim is to show students how to craft a persuasive argument for use in any medium. We'll practice letters to the editor, book reviews and columns. We'll pay particular attention to the highly influential newspaper editorial and the op-ed, one important way that outside voices get heard. Students will do a lot of writing and revising, will hear from professional writers and will read such essayists as Horace Greeley, William Allen White, H.L. Mencken, Maureen Dowd, Leonard Pitts and Christopher Buckley. Textbooks: "Writing Opinion for Impact," Conrad C. Fink, and "Outrage, Passion & Uncommon Sense," Michael Gartner and the Newseum.

392W Writing for the Web (Roche, Perkins, McDermott, Brodeur)

This is a basic class to introduce students to the technology and technique of telling stories on the web. Students will use the writing skills they've learned in Journalism 300 and one upper level writing course to write feature stories that will appear online. Students will be required to produce two-three major pieces and several shorter stories that incorporate various aspects of web publishing, including digital photos, links, blogs, podcasts and short audio files. Attendance is required.

393B Philosophy of Journalism (McBride )

Blends ancient wisdom with modern film in hopes of provoking original thoughts from students about the present and future for journalism and themselves. In this age, when cynicism rules, this course seeks to engender hope and solutions from the only place it can come from—you!

393F      Journalists in the Movies   (Katzenbach - Fall)

They can be heroes; they can be villains. They can be ruthless; they can be sympathetic. They can be right; they can be wrong – and perhaps sometimes a bit of both. Since the first film director yelled “Action!” on a studio back lot, journalists of all sorts – local reporters, television news crews, even foreign correspondents – have been staples of the Hollywood milieu. The movies that have emerged have done much to define how people view journalists and continue to inform those opinions – both positive and negative – today. In an examination of selected films from the 1930s to current times, this class will explore perceptions of reporters, and reporters’ choices through the prism of the big screen. Films to be seen will range from All The President’s Men to The Year of Living Dangerously. Readings likely to include such works as Schanberg: The Death and Life of Dith Pran; Caputo: Means of Escape.

393N Sem -- Radio Reporting and Podcasting (Cohen - Spring)

This course introduces students to writing and reporting for radio or podcasting. Students will practice pitching stories, arranging and  conducting interviews, as well as writing and mixing radio scripts.   The course explores how writing in broadcast journalism differs from print. Students will  practice writing in a conversational style that works for “the ear”.  This is a “hands-on” course that requires students to report, record and write several stories on deadline. It’s designed to give students  the confidence to pursue audio stories for broadcast or the web.

393S Sem - Sports Journalism (Fox)

A hands-on course aimed at how to write, edit and cover sports stories.  Interviewing skills will be honed in this class, and you will need a flexible schedule in order to cover games outside of classes.  Students will learn to write a variety of stories ranging from straight game stories to previews to features and breaking news.  Students will read and analyze successful writing styles from sportswriters in all mediums, including broadcast and the Web.

Journal 394C      Community Journalism Project (4 cr.)      McBride

394W Web Design for Journalists (McDermott)
Not long ago a journalist could get by with little more than a notebook, a pen, and his or her wits. Today, the new media demands a broader knowledge, and this class will teach students an assortment of web skills. By the end of the semester students will be able to build a website using Dreamweaver, create a simple project in Flash, navigate HTML and JavaScript, understand the principles of graphic design, and have studied different approaches to presenting journalism online. Besides reporting original stories, assignments will include experimenting with sharing those stories using social networking, conceptually designing an iPhone application, understanding a story’s target audience, and developing an entrepreneurial business plan for their websites. Prerequisite: Journalism 392W, Writing for the Web, or consent of the instructor.

395N Broadcast News Reporting (Madsen)

The is a hands on course where students will produce television news stories for broadcast on UVC 19. Students will be divided into groups that will be given news assignments to research, produce and edit for broadcast. Training will include the basics of putting a television news story together from conception to actual production. videography and editing with Final Cut Pro. There is no textbook, but a five dollar reading packet. Each student will need an external hard drive for use with Final Cut.

397EJ Sem - Entrepreneurial Journalism (Roche)

The Entrepreneurial Journalist: Surviving and Thriving in the Gig Economy.  Today’s journalism students are heading into a field that‚s changing every day: economically, technologically and socially. Today‚s student will spend spend at least part of her career not as an employee, but as an entrepreneur or independent freelancer. This course will examine the Gig Economy, how it works for people with journalism skills, and how to find and create opportunities. Students will assess their skills and determine and develop new ones they need to succeed in their fields of interest. These might include:  idea strategizing and
development, new media skills, basic web page design,  and time and business management. In addition, students will learn about other areas to use their journalistic skills, and how to network in those fields. These nuts and bolts skills will include: how to find clients, what to charge for your work, and how to manage your small business as a writer. Two major projects will include a case study of an independent, profit-making journalistic websites, and the development of a site of their own, from concept to business plan. Several other shorter projects will also be required. Attendance in the classroom is required.

397G Multimedia Reporting: Convergence Journalism (Fox)

What's convergence?  This class will focus on ways to merge the traditional methods of storytelling and present them on the Web.  Students will create basic Web pages while being introduced to Web-editing; photo-editing and audio-editing tools.  Students will enhance their skills in site structure and navigation, headline and link writing and will discuss the business and ethical implication of publishing online.

397L Documentary Tradition in Literature & Film (Blais)

This course offers an in depth exploration of the artistic and journalistic impulse to capture in words and images what the Irish call the “music of what happens.” The thesis of this class is that in recent years documentary film has come into its own as an art form and as an expression of social consciousness, not unlike the rise of the New Journalism in the late sixties and early seventies. Why this is so is a matter for conjecture: is it a failure of vision, or precisely the opposite? Does it take even greater imagination to process the world around us because reality has outstripped fantasy as a source of the outlandish? If this class has one central theme, it is the question of what it means to be a journalist in today’s world, in print or on film . Sample pairings include “Fog of War” shown in conjunction with the James Carroll’s memoir, American Requiem: God, My Father and the War That Came Between Us, “Grizzly Man” with John Krakauer’s , Into the Wild, “When we were Kings,” with Norman Mailer’s The Fight and “The War Room” with Marjorie Williams’ The Woman in the Washington Zoo. We will examine the strengths and weaknesses of varying approaches to what amounts to the same material, with a special emphasis on how the author/director honors truth and fact simultaneously. Honors component available.

397P Introduction to Photojournalism (Vandal)

This is an introductory level course for students who wish to acquire a working knowledge of the field of photojournalism and the various tools used in modern image processing for both print and on-line media. Covered topics will include: basic camera, flash, and lens techniques; film and exposure issues; composition; digital image processing; news, feature, and sports photography; ethics, and credibility in the age of the digital image. Text: "Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach" by Ken Kobre. Focal Press/Elsevier Fifth Edition. Students must have a 35mm or digital camera and flash.

397R Business of Broadcast Media (Berman)

This course will provide a detailed examination of the current state of the radio broadcast industry and how students can best prepare themselves for entry level employment and/or internship opportunities. Emphasis will be given to understanding the internal operating structure and business model of commercial radio stations with an eye towards matching individual student interests with identified career opportunities in the radio broadcast industry. There will be guest speakers throughout the semester.

397TG Investigative Journalism and the Web (Fox)
In this class, students will be introduced to basic investigative techniques.  Students will learn first-hand how to scan police records, court records, land records and such.  We will study some of the great investigative stories of our time and the techniques reporters  used during their investigations.  This will be a hands-on class where students will learn the basics of computer-assisted reporting, database reporting and mapping the results of your investigations.  This will be a project-oriented class with students in the class reporting and investigating a topic for the majority of the semester. 

450 Freedom of the Press (Sims)

Historical and philosophical foundations of the idea of freedom of the press.  Writings by Milton, Locke, Jefferson and Mill on classical liberal ideas that shaped the First Amendment; and neo-liberal challenges from the 20th century, including works by Dewey, Lippmann, the Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press.  Why the original ideas behind the First Amendment were altered over time; how those ideas hold up today. This is taught as a blended class (mostly online with several face to face class meetings held throughout the semester)

491A Sem—Writing about Performing Arts in a Digital Age (Perkins)

If you think the performing arts are as exciting as a hurricane or an election—if you like to meet artists and find out how they prepare and what makes them tick—if you care about the future of orchestras, theater and dance companies, clubs, and performing arts series--if you enjoy comedy clubs, improv, street theater and jazz--and if you are interested in how digital technology is changing how the performing arts are made and marketed in the age of YouTube and itunes—then this course is for you.   We will learn to write the basic story formats used in performing arts coverage: previews,  reviews, profiles, features/trend stories. Those who are interested will use basic multimedia skills to create a podcast or audio-slideshow--to preview an opening, profile an artist, or capture the preparation a new production. (Note: In this course, performing arts does not include film.)   By the way, learning how to cover drama will also help you cover a presidential election or a hurricane.

491C Sem - Writing About Popular Culture (Whitehead)

This is a writing course. It consists chiefly of weekly individual conferences with the teacher.  The topics for most for the writing assignments are chosen by the individual students themselves, and can be drawn from the popular culture.

492M Magazine Writing (Allen, Abel)

This class will help you learn what makes magazine journalism different from newspaper journalism. Unlike newspaper writing, magazines often demand that a journalist bring both authority and a point of view to the work. We workshop each student's paper, so each student is expected to think as an editor as well as a writer.  There is substantial reading required from magazine anthologies, plus your fellow students' work. We will learn how to do the type of research necessary to produce a magazine article, and work hard to improve writing and analytical skills.  Three major assignments.

493H Literary Journalism in the 20th Century (Sims)

Our goal in this honors seminar will be to study innovations and practices in journalistic narrative and literature between the late 1800s and today. We will read landmark works of literary journalism, some fiction, and several scholarly articles about particular authors and books. In the first weeks of the course, we will discuss the nature of contemporary literary journalism, its origins in the intellectual culture of our time, and how it fits with traditional forms of reporting. Additional time will be spent on the intersection of journalism and literature and on critical standards for understanding and judging the production of literary journalism. Our study will take into account the historical and cultural forces at play when a work was created.

493LJ Literary Journalism in the 20th Century (Sims)
Our goal in this seminar will be to study innovations and practices in journalistic narrative and literature between the late 1800s and today. We will read landmark works of literary journalism and several scholarly articles about particular authors and books. In the first weeks of the course, we will discuss the nature of contemporary literary journalism, its origins in the intellectual culture of our time, and how it fits with traditional forms of reporting. Our study will take into account historical and cultural forces at play when a work was created and critical standards for understanding and judging the production of literary journalism. This course is a partial online blended class where some lectures, readings, and discussions will take place online through the Spark system.

497AP Advanced Photojournalism (McDermott)
Students in this class will spend the semester photographing their own documentary project and augmenting it with multimedia elements like video, audio, web design, and writing. In the process students will study outlets that publish or exhibit multimedia photojournalism and pitch their stories accordingly. We will study the documentary work of noted photojournalists like Sebastião Salgado, Lauren Greenfield, and Eugene Smith, and consider the medium’s social and economic future. Students must own or have access to a digital camera with manual functions. Pre-requisite: Journalism 397P, Introduction to Photojournalism, or the consent of the instructor.

497H Gender, Journalism and Cultural Context (Griffin)

Women typically fill two-thirds of the slots in university journalism programs, but men hold more than two-thirds of the jobs in most newsrooms, editorial positions, and professorships. Fewer than 25% of news stories have women as their subjects, yet in advertising more than half of the images are of women in sexually provocative poses. What does this tell us about gender, journalism, the media, and cultural context? In Gender, Journalism, and Cultural Context we will examine how cultural constructions of gender shape media, film, advertising, and news production and consumption in the United States. We will trace historical developments and explore how emerging technologies, as well as online social networking are providing access to platforms that previously excluded women. Students will participate in collaborative projects, give a multimedia presentation, and develop a semester-long media portfolio.   

497B Diaries, Memoirs & Journals (Blais)

The class will read from a variety of memoirs and subsequently write a personal history that combines rigorous emotional honesty with high literary standards. Readings may include the works of Mary McCarthy, Tobias and Geoffrey Woolf, Russell Baker, George Orwell, John Wideman, Mary Carr, Vladimir Nabokov, Harry Crewes, Reeve Morrow Lindbergh, Mary Gordon, David Eggers, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Sebold, Wendy Mnookin and others. (Fulfills advanced writing requirement)

497G      Journalism Launchpad (Roche - Spring)

One credit, five week seminar. Juniors and seniors face lots of decisions as they start to plan for life beyond UMass. In this course, we’ll look at some of those issues, focusing on the decision-making process, and career exploration and development. We’ll explore the career possibilities for journalism majors, and through exercises and readings, students will develop a career plan and build a resume and online portfolio that highlights their strengths and interests. We’ll also look at some areas like budgeting and interviewing and negotiating skills. 

497M The Art of the Profile (Blais)

Using writers such as Joseph Mitchell, Lillian Ross, Susan Sheehan,
Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, John Hersey, Susan Orlean, Joan Didion, and others as models, students will study what goes into successful profile writing for major literary magazines and other journalism outlets. After combining the various readings with a series of short writing exercises, they will embark on their own projects, selecting people outside their normal orbit who will challenge students to think creatively about how to capture these subjects in the round. The class will stress interviewing techniques, verbal finesse, possible publishing venues, and the necessity for fact-checking and complete accuracy while also honoring excellence in writing. Honors component. Juniors and Seniors only.

497P The Politician and the Journalist (Neal)

The relationships among reporters, publishers, and politicians, and how each uses the media. Using historical biographies and other texts, the class will examine past strategies by politicians and media figures. Topics include campaign strategies, Washington politics, day-to-day effectiveness in office, making arguments through the media, and how those not elected use the media. Taught by Congressman Richard Neal of the Second District, Massachusetts, the class offers an opportunity for students to hear how elected officials work with the press. Visiting reporters and editors will add to the seminar discussions.

497R Sp. Topic—Covering Race (McBride)

Racial issues continue to dominate our psychic and social reality. They generate more fear and fireworks than any other topic in life. By taking a hard look at history, Covering Race will endeavor to reveal the complexity, nuance, and ugliness which is the legacy of racism, colonialism, and slavery. That history serves as a foundation for understanding ourselves and for a journalistic prose that both elevates discourse and enlightens readers. This course requires substantial readings and writings.