Culture of Journalism

The course is organized into three parts. The first part addresses the fundamental elements of traditional journalism: the structure and tasks of an editorial office, news and the issues of newsworthiness, correct use of sources, how to write an article, different genres (from interviews to investigations, from reports to opinions), journalism ethics and deontology. The second part focuses on the transformations in information that have taken place in the last two decades, with a particular emphasis on two iconic newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and two websites, Vice and BuzzFeed, which have changed the rules of information and were considered the successful models of journalism in the 2010s. However, after the pandemic, Vice and BuzzFeed effectively shut down, while we witnessed a revival of the Times and the Post. What happened and how did it happen? The third part will provide insights into how algorithms and social media are changing our way of accessing and producing information. The course includes meetings with communication professionals.

The course aims to lead students to acquire the necessary knowledge to analyze and understand journalistic information in print, online, and on social media. The first module intends to provide students with the "toolbox" used in traditional journalism, enabling them to analyze, decode, and understand the underlying and unspoken interests of news, regardless of the medium through which it is conveyed. Another expected outcome is the learning of relational dynamics with a newspaper and, in general, with communicators, in order to disseminate significant news and events. Furthermore, students will develop a greater awareness of the information demands from readers.