Journalistic Interview across Language and Culture - SOJC J483

Students study interview techniques in the classroom and engage in field work with news-making interviewees. Guests with specific types of interviewing experiences may join the class during the term. Guest lecturers who use the interview in their work periodically may speak to the class. Three interviews are assigned, as is a fourth feature story final project.

Social Media for Journalists

Social Media has changed the way that both journalists - and audiences - find and share the news. How are these changes affecting journalistic practice? And what are the social media skills that journalists need today? This class will explore the social media strategies of major news media outlets and journalists, exploring different social platforms and how to use them effectively. It will also teach you how to use social media to verify and manage content from different sources, as well as explore best practice in develop relationships with communities through online channels.

Global Culture

Culture surrounds us. The movies we watch, the clothes we wear, the stories we tell, and the music we listen to all contribute to our individual and collective identities. For much of human history, culture has been shaped by our local environments, but today we live in a time in which commodities, bodies, and information flow easily across borders.

Global Strategy

For much of the past century, strategic communications have largely reflected local sensibilities. Radio and television disseminated local knowledge while advertising encouraged consumers to buy national products. Today, this process has become more global in nature. Advertising and PR practitioners play an active role in re-defining community based less on fixed spatial concepts and more on global patterns of consumption. In such a diverse landscape, advertisers and public relations practitioners must craft a range of messages intended to reach audiences living in diverse parts of the world.

Global Campaign Strategies

Today, advertising, public relations, and media professionals play an active role in creating messages intended to reach audiences living in diverse parts of the world. In this class, we will learn how to construct strategic campaigns intended for global audiences. In the first part of the class, we focus on cultural considerations and the shared values that may unite audiences. In the second part of the class we focus on messaging and creative strategy, finding ways to unite audiences while respecting local values and traditions.

Visual Journalism

This course combines intensely practical sessions covering the skills and techniques necessary for producing broadcast standard visual journalism with discussion and debate on the shifting tectonic plates in the industry. Students will hear from – and be able to question - leading figures from major TV and online news organisations and they will have the opportunity to spend time in the TV News studios at the headquarters of the BBC. By the end of the course, they will have created their own TV programme.