COMM 387: Draft goals and objectives

A. Goals Students will understand the historical development of professional journalism in England and the United States; appraise ethics, principles and craftsmanship in authors who made the transition from journalism to literature; assess the professional ethics, attitudes and craft agenda of professional journalists writing today; and reflect on how these principles and practices can inform their own professional writing.

B. Student Learning Objectives. Upon completion of the course, students will be able:

To discuss the development of journalism in the English-speaking world, from 18th-century magazines to the 19th-century penny press, "yellow journalism," muckraking and professional mass-market news media during the 19th to 21st centuries

To formulate a set of journalistic ethical standards and values, including such principles as accuracy, the verification of fact, objectivity, serving as a watchdog and exposing wrongdoing in powerful institutions; and to compare these values to commonly accepted benchmarks of literary value

To discuss and evaluate common stereotypes of journalists, including those of Ben Hecht [as reflected in His Girl Friday (1940) starring Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant]; Hunter Thompson; and Carl Hiassen, novelist and Miami Herald columnist.

To evaluate the work of literary figures including Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway in terms of values, principles and rhetorical strategies they may have acquired as journalists

To evaluate the work of journalists including Richard Harding Davis, Ernie Pyle, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Mike Royko and Robert Fisk in light of both journalistic and literary standards and rhetorical strategies

To reflect on how the values, principles and work product of journalists from 18th-century London coffeehouses to creative nonfiction markets today can help in the formation of their own personal and professional values and principles; and how some of the techniques studied might (or might not) be reflected in their own professional writing