Class Journalism and Media

This course aims to offer an overview of some of the most significant lines of academic research on journalism. Since journalism is a complex phenomenon, these theoretical lines of investigation are anchored in or convene multidisciplinary theoretical fields. Studies on journalism focus on three main areas: the emergence of an autonomous field and the insertion of journalists in institutional environments; professional journalists and their codes and cultures; society as an instance of reception of and involvement in the news. It is also important to understand how journalists and news contribute to knowledge about the world, and how the materiality of technologies has an impact on the ways in which information is produced, distributed and received.

1. The emergence of journalism as an autonomous discourse and practice:
1.1. historical, political and sociological perspectives. Journalistic institutions.
1.2. Economic groups and journalistic activity. Problematization of the phenomenon of ownership concentration.
2. Journalistic agents:
2.1. Journalists and the main devices and strategies of the information production process.
2.2. Professional and organizational cultures.
2.3. The role of sources.
2.4. Traditional participants and new participants in the information process.
3. Reception:
3.1. Audiences and audiences. The normative models.
3.2. Information consumption
4. Discourses and knowledge
4.1. Journalism and the media as an expression and platform of citizenship(s). The paradigm of the Chicago School.
4.2. Journalism as a construction of reality.
4.3. Deconstruct journalistic discourses; analysis paradigms
5. Technologies
5.1. Digital technologies, the transformation of information production and consumption.

Classes include lectures; debates around proposed articles; discussion and debates about the issues addressed and cases; presentation of readings and empirical assignments by students.

Bourdieu, P. (1997). Sobre a televisão. Celta Editores.
Correia, F., & Baptista, C. (2007). Jornalistas: Do ofício à profissão. Editorial Caminho.
Garcia, J. L. (coord.) (2020). O Choque Tecno-Liberal, os media e o jornalismo. Estudos críticos sobre a realidade portuguesa. Edições Almedina.
Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (2010). Sistemas de Media. Estudo Comparativo. Três Modelos de Comunicação e Política. Livros Horizonte.
Neveu, É. (2005). Sociologia do Jornalismo. Porto Editora.
Traquina, N. (org.) (1993). Jornalismo: Questões, Teorias e «Estórias». Vega.
Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. (org.) (2009). The Handbook of Journalism Studies. Routledge.
Witschge, T., Anderson, C. W., Domingo, D., & Hermida, A. (Eds.). (2016). The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism. Sage.
Zelizer, B. (2004). Taking Journalism Seriously. News and the Academy. Sage Publications.