COMM 168American Journalism: Values, Traditions, and Practices

3 credits · Communications · Penn State

This course is designed to give students an overview of American journalism's traditions, principles and values. It examines the historic role of journalism in a democracy and how that is often under economic, legal and political pressure. Students learn the different forms of journalism (print, electronic, internet, and converged.) They gain an understanding of what the forms share in common and how they differ. They also learn to identify the practices of responsible, ethical journalism, and irresponsible, unethical journalism. The goal is to help students understand the nature of journalism ¿ why it is the way it is, how it got to be that way, and what changes are likely in store ¿ so that they can be to be sophisticated consumers of the news.