(This course was previously titled "The New Economics of Journalism.")

 

This course will place students in the middle of the debate about how to reinvent American journalism, as news organizations grapple with financial pressures and competition for audience while at the same time trying to establish themselves as meaningful players in a universe of expanding choices for news and information. The roles of traditional and new media as well as emerging technologies and newsroom strategies will be recurring themes throughout this course.

 

This course is intended to provide students with an understanding of news consumption, news preferences and the importance of technology and the financial bottom line in 21st Century journalism. Students will learn why news distribution is becoming increasingly Internet-­based and mobile, and why news organizations once supported profitably by advertising alone now are scrambling to find new sources of revenue, forge partnerships and cut costs in attempts to survive. Students will discover why some organizations have turned to opinion and audience-­driven content in place of factual reporting, and why apparently easy decisions like charging for news content on the Web aren’t easy decisions at all. Students also will explore social media, citizen journalism, nonprofit models and even government subsidies as possible solutions to journalism’s woes. In their written assignments and/or projects for this course, students will be placed in the roles of problem-­solvers and analysts with the intent of better preparing them for careers in newsrooms of the future where strategic thinking and concerns about cost increasingly will intersect with reporting the news.