COURSE DESCRIPTION
We live in a media-saturated world, at a moment of profound change: social media and online outlets have undermined traditional news sources, the economic model of newspapers is in crisis, cable news has degenerated into sensationalism and opinion theater, new outlets for gossip and entertainment multiply. We’re wrapped up in debates over bias in the news, confused by allegations of “fake news” directed at vaunted outlets of press and broadcast. We’ve come a long way from the hallowed promise of the press as the fourth estate, the check and balance to kings and governments. How shall we understand our news world? A little bit of history may help us to make sense of it.
This course serves two functions. It is, first of all, an introduction to the history of the news in Europe and the United States—from the newsbooks and ballads of the sixteenth century to the newspaper, broadcast news, the internet, and beyond. At the same time, this course is a practical introduction to the critical skills of the historian—including the analysis of primary sources, historiography, historical research and writing, and historical argumentation.
A series of questions will guide our studies: What, in different societies, has counted for news? How have news media changed? Who controls the news? And what is the impact of the news? We will explore these questions through classic works on the printing revolution, the history of the press, the sociology of culture, and media criticism, together with newspapers, films, newsreels, and fiction.
This course is a writing course. It fulfills, in part, the writing requirement for graduation. A series of papers will cultivate the varieties of writing that college-level history courses require. Students will learn: how to develop an interpretation out of a primary source; how to write about a secondary work of history; how to research a topic; how to write a short historical research paper. This course is also a discussion seminar. Aside from occasional short lectures and student presentations, the format for the course will be discussion.
LEARNING GOALS
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- describe key developments and turning points in the history of news media in Europe and the United States
- explain some of the important ways in which scholars have approached the study of news
- analyze primary sources critically
- examine secondary historical sources critically
- conduct historical research effectively
- formulate strong historical arguments