The course aims to provide students with the fundamental tools to know and do news journalism today, from the role of the reporter to the contribution to investigations, up to research tools. Trainees will then be able to
- Learn how to construct an investigative enquiry
- Learning methods for researching sources, access to databases, relations with press offices, new media resources
- Compare the right and duty of freedom of information in Italy and in the major western countries
- Equip themselves with fact-checking tools in the age of disinformation and post-truths
- Challenge themselves with classroom exercises
- Meet reporters specialising in news (crime, legal, pink, sports, the evolution of reporting in emergencies, from terrorism to health and environmental crises).
- Learn how to construct an investigative enquiry
- Learning methods for researching sources, access to databases, relations with press offices, new media resources
- Compare the right and duty of freedom of information in Italy and in the major western countries
- Equip themselves with fact-checking tools in the age of disinformation and post-truths
- Challenge themselves with classroom exercises
- Meet reporters specialising in news (crime, legal, pink, sports, the evolution of reporting in emergencies, from terrorism to health and environmental crises).
teacher profile teaching materials
Stories of enquiries and reporters in Italy and abroad will be retraced, exploring the role of the investigative journalist today between limits, threats and new opportunities; the selection of sources; interlocutors and research tools on the ground and online, Italian and EU databases, rights of access to institutional data (Foia and similar).
We will discuss resources from datajournalism, social media, and the implications of artificial intelligence on content production and consumption, between the digital revolution and the crisis of journalism.
A focus will be devoted to the anomalous space reserved for news in Italian news, the function of these editorial choices, between audience and censorship, and the comparison with the choices and consumption of information in other advanced democracies. We will also analyse investigative journalism and big news in the perspective of our republican history: from the role of the mafias to the strategy of tension and the 'Italian mysteries', with the emphasis on memory between newsroom and civil conscience.
Elements will be provided on the communication of public institutions, major private companies and advertisers, the role of press offices, corporate communication and crisis management, up to indirect lobbying.
The interaction of news with religious denominations (from Vatican information to relations with the Jewish community, Islamic associations and other cults) will be examined, as well as the issue of secularism.
The evolution of the right to report news will be retraced: Italian deontological documents (minors, hate speech, migration, feminicides, gender equality) and EU regulations, protection of sources and whistleblowing, privacy and information rights, publication of wiretaps and press offences, threats to reporters, as well as some of the tools for verifying and debunking news, to test conspiracy and disinformation online.
The workshop will have the students directly measure themselves with reconstruction of case studies and with the writing of texts intended for the various media: from the big news to the evolution of breaking news (environmental emergencies, health, terrorism, climate change), up to current affairs pages (mafias, crime, white and constructive journalism, judicial, gossip, sport), examining styles, languages and stereotypes.
Randall, David, The Universal Journalist. London: Plutopress 2000
IN THIS SECTION ONE TITLE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS:
Alessandro Barbano, Manuale di giornalismo, Laterza, 2012
Alberto Papuzzi, Professione giornalista. Le tecniche, i media, le regole, Donzelli, Rome 2010 (5ª ed.)
Beppe Benvenuto- Filippo Maria Battaglia, Il giornalismo d'inchiesta nell'Italia del dopoguerra, Milan, 2008.
Caterina Malavenda, Le regole dei giornalisti, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012
Sergio Splendore, Giornalismo ibrido: come cambia la cultura giornalistica italiana, Carocci, Rome 2017
Angelo Agostini, Giornalismi. Media e giornalisti in Italia, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012.
(eds.) Marzia Antenore e Sergio Splendore, Datajournalism. Guida essenziale alle notizie fatte coi numeri, Mondadori, Milano 2017
(edited by Davide Bagnoli), La cronaca nera in Italia. Il perché della sua spettacolarizzazione, Temperino Rosso-Edizioni Fortini, Brescia 2016.
Francesca Rizzuto, La società dell'orrore. Terrorismo e comuicazione nell’età del giornalismo emotivo, Pisa University Press 2018 (also available in e-book, e.g. in the Biblioteche di Roma network https://www.bibliotechediroma.it/opac/resource/la-societa-dellorrore-terrorismo-e-comunicazione-nellera-del-giornalismo-emotivo/ML_0000150254086?tabDoc=tabcata )
METHODS OF READING FACTS
Leonardo Sciascia, Opere 1971-1983, Bompiani, Milano 1989 (from this book we will read La scomparsa di Majorana, Il teatro della memoria, I pugnalatori)
Leonardo Sciascia, To Each Its Own, NYRB Classics, 2000
Leonardo Sciascia, The Moro Affair, NYRB Classics, 2004
Leonardo Sciascia, Equal Danger, NYRB Classics,
Leonardo Sciascia, The Day of the Owl, NYRB, 2003
Marc Bloch, Reflections of a Historian on the False News of the War (available on line: https://www.miwsr.com/2013/downloads/2013-051.pdf and among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)
THE ITALY CASE (THE ITALIAN EXCEPTION)
IN THIS SECTION TWO TITLES TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS:
Enrico Deaglio, Il raccolto rosso 1982-2010, Il Saggiatore, Milan 2010
Enrico Deaglio, La bomba. 50 anni di Piazza Fontana, Feltrinelli 2019
Rita Di Giovacchino, Il libro nero della Prima Repubblica, Fazi editore, Rome 2005
Giovanni Vignali, L'uomo nero e le stragi, Paper First, Rome 2021
Giovanni Fasanella-José Cereghino, Le menti del doppio Stato, Chiarelettere, Rome 2020
Giovanni Tizian, Il silenzio. Italia 1992-2022, Laterza, Bari 2022
ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL HISTORY
IN THIS SECTION ONE TITLE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS:
Paul Ginsborg, Italy and its discontents : family, civil society, state, 1980-2001, New York : Palgrave/Macmillan., 2003
Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth , Boston: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series., 2018
Vanni Codeluppi, La vetrinizzazione sociale. Il processo di spettacolarizzazione degli individui e della società, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2007
Byung-Chul Han, The Expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication today, Cambridge: Polity Press., 2018
Byung-Chul Han, Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2022
MEDIA
IN THIS SECTION ONE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PAPERS OR BOOKS:
Mario Morcellini, Digital media absolute sovereigns? How do they affect politics and society, 20 January 2022, in Agendadigitale.eu (available in pdf among the course materials on Moodle and Teams)
Brittany Kaiser, Targeted: The Cambridge Analityca Whistleblower’s Inside Story of how Big Data, Trump, and Facebook Broke Democracy and how it Can Happen Again, New York: Harper Collins Publishers., 2019
Christian Salmon, Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind, New York: Verso., 2017
Christian Salmon, La tyrannie des bouffons. Sur le pouvoir grotesque, ed. Les liens que libèrent, Paris 2020
IDEAS /
IN THIS SECTION ONE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PAPERS OR BOOKS:
Lilian Thuram, White Thinking: Behind The Mask of Racial Identity, London: Hero Publishers c/o University of Buckingham., 2021
F. Gatti, Bilal. Il mio viaggio clandestino nel mercato dei nuovi schiavi, Milano, 2007
Fabio Deotto, L'altro mondo. La vita in un pianeta che cambia, Bompiani, Milan 2021
Luciano Canfora, Fermare l’odio, Laterza, Bari 2019
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Establishes Knowledge and Why it Matters, Oxford University Press., 2018
Tom Stafford, Why Bad News Dominates The Headlines, in BBC Future, 29 July 2014 (available online: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad)
Bryson Hull, Journalistic objectivity is fiction - and that's just fine, in Center for Digital Ethics & Policy, Loyola University- Chicago IL, 23 January 2017 (available online: http://digitalethics.org/essays/journalistic-objectivity-fiction/ and among the course materials on Moodle and Teams)
ETHICAL CHARTERS
Testo Unico dei doveri del giornalista: https://www.odg.toscana.it/allegati_leggi/Testo%20unico%20dei%20doveri%20del%20giornalista%20-%202021.pdf
(also available among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)
The Venice Manifesto: how to report on feminicide https://www.lauradebenedetti.it/manifesto-venezia-testo-completo/
(also available among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)
Programme
The course aims to examine the history and present of news journalism today, its role in shaping public opinion, against the backdrop of a publishing market in crisis, more exposed to the pressures of audience and journalistic storytelling, in the name of infotainment.Stories of enquiries and reporters in Italy and abroad will be retraced, exploring the role of the investigative journalist today between limits, threats and new opportunities; the selection of sources; interlocutors and research tools on the ground and online, Italian and EU databases, rights of access to institutional data (Foia and similar).
We will discuss resources from datajournalism, social media, and the implications of artificial intelligence on content production and consumption, between the digital revolution and the crisis of journalism.
A focus will be devoted to the anomalous space reserved for news in Italian news, the function of these editorial choices, between audience and censorship, and the comparison with the choices and consumption of information in other advanced democracies. We will also analyse investigative journalism and big news in the perspective of our republican history: from the role of the mafias to the strategy of tension and the 'Italian mysteries', with the emphasis on memory between newsroom and civil conscience.
Elements will be provided on the communication of public institutions, major private companies and advertisers, the role of press offices, corporate communication and crisis management, up to indirect lobbying.
The interaction of news with religious denominations (from Vatican information to relations with the Jewish community, Islamic associations and other cults) will be examined, as well as the issue of secularism.
The evolution of the right to report news will be retraced: Italian deontological documents (minors, hate speech, migration, feminicides, gender equality) and EU regulations, protection of sources and whistleblowing, privacy and information rights, publication of wiretaps and press offences, threats to reporters, as well as some of the tools for verifying and debunking news, to test conspiracy and disinformation online.
The workshop will have the students directly measure themselves with reconstruction of case studies and with the writing of texts intended for the various media: from the big news to the evolution of breaking news (environmental emergencies, health, terrorism, climate change), up to current affairs pages (mafias, crime, white and constructive journalism, judicial, gossip, sport), examining styles, languages and stereotypes.
Core Documentation
TOOLS FOR THE REPORTERRandall, David, The Universal Journalist. London: Plutopress 2000
IN THIS SECTION ONE TITLE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS:
Alessandro Barbano, Manuale di giornalismo, Laterza, 2012
Alberto Papuzzi, Professione giornalista. Le tecniche, i media, le regole, Donzelli, Rome 2010 (5ª ed.)
Beppe Benvenuto- Filippo Maria Battaglia, Il giornalismo d'inchiesta nell'Italia del dopoguerra, Milan, 2008.
Caterina Malavenda, Le regole dei giornalisti, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012
Sergio Splendore, Giornalismo ibrido: come cambia la cultura giornalistica italiana, Carocci, Rome 2017
Angelo Agostini, Giornalismi. Media e giornalisti in Italia, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012.
(eds.) Marzia Antenore e Sergio Splendore, Datajournalism. Guida essenziale alle notizie fatte coi numeri, Mondadori, Milano 2017
(edited by Davide Bagnoli), La cronaca nera in Italia. Il perché della sua spettacolarizzazione, Temperino Rosso-Edizioni Fortini, Brescia 2016.
Francesca Rizzuto, La società dell'orrore. Terrorismo e comuicazione nell’età del giornalismo emotivo, Pisa University Press 2018 (also available in e-book, e.g. in the Biblioteche di Roma network https://www.bibliotechediroma.it/opac/resource/la-societa-dellorrore-terrorismo-e-comunicazione-nellera-del-giornalismo-emotivo/ML_0000150254086?tabDoc=tabcata )
METHODS OF READING FACTS
Leonardo Sciascia, Opere 1971-1983, Bompiani, Milano 1989 (from this book we will read La scomparsa di Majorana, Il teatro della memoria, I pugnalatori)
Leonardo Sciascia, To Each Its Own, NYRB Classics, 2000
Leonardo Sciascia, The Moro Affair, NYRB Classics, 2004
Leonardo Sciascia, Equal Danger, NYRB Classics,
Leonardo Sciascia, The Day of the Owl, NYRB, 2003
Marc Bloch, Reflections of a Historian on the False News of the War (available on line: https://www.miwsr.com/2013/downloads/2013-051.pdf and among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)
THE ITALY CASE (THE ITALIAN EXCEPTION)
IN THIS SECTION TWO TITLES TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS:
Enrico Deaglio, Il raccolto rosso 1982-2010, Il Saggiatore, Milan 2010
Enrico Deaglio, La bomba. 50 anni di Piazza Fontana, Feltrinelli 2019
Rita Di Giovacchino, Il libro nero della Prima Repubblica, Fazi editore, Rome 2005
Giovanni Vignali, L'uomo nero e le stragi, Paper First, Rome 2021
Giovanni Fasanella-José Cereghino, Le menti del doppio Stato, Chiarelettere, Rome 2020
Giovanni Tizian, Il silenzio. Italia 1992-2022, Laterza, Bari 2022
ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL HISTORY
IN THIS SECTION ONE TITLE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS:
Paul Ginsborg, Italy and its discontents : family, civil society, state, 1980-2001, New York : Palgrave/Macmillan., 2003
Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth , Boston: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series., 2018
Vanni Codeluppi, La vetrinizzazione sociale. Il processo di spettacolarizzazione degli individui e della società, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2007
Byung-Chul Han, The Expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication today, Cambridge: Polity Press., 2018
Byung-Chul Han, Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2022
MEDIA
IN THIS SECTION ONE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PAPERS OR BOOKS:
Mario Morcellini, Digital media absolute sovereigns? How do they affect politics and society, 20 January 2022, in Agendadigitale.eu (available in pdf among the course materials on Moodle and Teams)
Brittany Kaiser, Targeted: The Cambridge Analityca Whistleblower’s Inside Story of how Big Data, Trump, and Facebook Broke Democracy and how it Can Happen Again, New York: Harper Collins Publishers., 2019
Christian Salmon, Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind, New York: Verso., 2017
Christian Salmon, La tyrannie des bouffons. Sur le pouvoir grotesque, ed. Les liens que libèrent, Paris 2020
IDEAS /
IN THIS SECTION ONE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PAPERS OR BOOKS:
Lilian Thuram, White Thinking: Behind The Mask of Racial Identity, London: Hero Publishers c/o University of Buckingham., 2021
F. Gatti, Bilal. Il mio viaggio clandestino nel mercato dei nuovi schiavi, Milano, 2007
Fabio Deotto, L'altro mondo. La vita in un pianeta che cambia, Bompiani, Milan 2021
Luciano Canfora, Fermare l’odio, Laterza, Bari 2019
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Establishes Knowledge and Why it Matters, Oxford University Press., 2018
Tom Stafford, Why Bad News Dominates The Headlines, in BBC Future, 29 July 2014 (available online: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad)
Bryson Hull, Journalistic objectivity is fiction - and that's just fine, in Center for Digital Ethics & Policy, Loyola University- Chicago IL, 23 January 2017 (available online: http://digitalethics.org/essays/journalistic-objectivity-fiction/ and among the course materials on Moodle and Teams)
ETHICAL CHARTERS
Testo Unico dei doveri del giornalista: https://www.odg.toscana.it/allegati_leggi/Testo%20unico%20dei%20doveri%20del%20giornalista%20-%202021.pdf
(also available among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)
The Venice Manifesto: how to report on feminicide https://www.lauradebenedetti.it/manifesto-venezia-testo-completo/
(also available among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)
Reference Bibliography
TOOLS FOR THE REPORTER Randall, David, The Universal Journalist. London: Plutopress 2000 IN THIS SECTION ONE TITLE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS: Alessandro Barbano, Manuale di giornalismo, Laterza, 2012 Alberto Papuzzi, Professione giornalista. Le tecniche, i media, le regole, Donzelli, Rome 2010 (5ª ed.) Beppe Benvenuto- Filippo Maria Battaglia, Il giornalismo d'inchiesta nell'Italia del dopoguerra, Milan, 2008. Caterina Malavenda, Le regole dei giornalisti, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012 Sergio Splendore, Giornalismo ibrido: come cambia la cultura giornalistica italiana, Carocci, Rome 2017 Angelo Agostini, Giornalismi. Media e giornalisti in Italia, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012. (eds.) Marzia Antenore e Sergio Splendore, Datajournalism. Guida essenziale alle notizie fatte coi numeri, Mondadori, Milano 2017 (edited by Davide Bagnoli), La cronaca nera in Italia. Il perché della sua spettacolarizzazione, Temperino Rosso-Edizioni Fortini, Brescia 2016. Francesca Rizzuto, La società dell'orrore. Terrorismo e comuicazione nell’età del giornalismo emotivo, Pisa University Press 2018 (also available in e-book, e.g. in the Biblioteche di Roma network https://www.bibliotechediroma.it/opac/resource/la-societa-dellorrore-terrorismo-e-comunicazione-nellera-del-giornalismo-emotivo/ML_0000150254086?tabDoc=tabcata ) METHODS OF READING FACTS Leonardo Sciascia, Opere 1971-1983, Bompiani, Milano 1989 (from this book we will read La scomparsa di Majorana, Il teatro della memoria, I pugnalatori) Leonardo Sciascia, To Each Its Own, NYRB Classics, 2000 Leonardo Sciascia, The Moro Affair, NYRB Classics, 2004 Leonardo Sciascia, Equal Danger, NYRB Classics, Leonardo Sciascia, The Day of the Owl, NYRB, 2003 Marc Bloch, Reflections of a Historian on the False News of the War (available on line: https://www.miwsr.com/2013/downloads/2013-051.pdf and among the course materials on Moodle or Teams) THE ITALY CASE (THE ITALIAN EXCEPTION) IN THIS SECTION TWO TITLES TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS: Enrico Deaglio, Il raccolto rosso 1982-2010, Il Saggiatore, Milan 2010 Enrico Deaglio, La bomba. 50 anni di Piazza Fontana, Feltrinelli 2019 Rita Di Giovacchino, Il libro nero della Prima Repubblica, Fazi editore, Rome 2005 Giovanni Vignali, L'uomo nero e le stragi, Paper First, Rome 2021 Giovanni Fasanella-José Cereghino, Le menti del doppio Stato, Chiarelettere, Rome 2020 Giovanni Tizian, Il silenzio. Italia 1992-2022, Laterza, Bari 2022 ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL HISTORY IN THIS SECTION ONE TITLE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS: Paul Ginsborg, Italy and its discontents : family, civil society, state, 1980-2001, New York : Palgrave/Macmillan., 2003 Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth , Boston: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series., 2018 Vanni Codeluppi, La vetrinizzazione sociale. Il processo di spettacolarizzazione degli individui e della società, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2007 Byung-Chul Han, The Expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication today, Cambridge: Polity Press., 2018 Byung-Chul Han, Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2022 MEDIA IN THIS SECTION ONE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PAPERS OR BOOKS: Mario Morcellini, Digital media absolute sovereigns? How do they affect politics and society, 20 January 2022, in Agendadigitale.eu (available in pdf among the course materials on Moodle and Teams) Brittany Kaiser, Targeted: The Cambridge Analityca Whistleblower’s Inside Story of how Big Data, Trump, and Facebook Broke Democracy and how it Can Happen Again, New York: Harper Collins Publishers., 2019 Christian Salmon, Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind, New York: Verso., 2017 Christian Salmon, La tyrannie des bouffons. Sur le pouvoir grotesque, ed. Les liens que libèrent, Paris 2020 IDEAS / IN THIS SECTION ONE TO CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PAPERS OR BOOKS: Lilian Thuram, White Thinking: Behind The Mask of Racial Identity, London: Hero Publishers c/o University of Buckingham., 2021 F. Gatti, Bilal. Il mio viaggio clandestino nel mercato dei nuovi schiavi, Milano, 2007 Fabio Deotto, L'altro mondo. La vita in un pianeta che cambia, Bompiani, Milan 2021 Luciano Canfora, Fermare l’odio, Laterza, Bari 2019 Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Establishes Knowledge and Why it Matters, Oxford University Press., 2018 Tom Stafford, Why Bad News Dominates The Headlines, in BBC Future, 29 July 2014 (available online: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad) Bryson Hull, Journalistic objectivity is fiction - and that's just fine, in Center for Digital Ethics & Policy, Loyola University- Chicago IL, 23 January 2017 (available online: http://digitalethics.org/essays/journalistic-objectivity-fiction/ and among the course materials on Moodle and Teams) ETHICAL CHARTERS Testo Unico dei doveri del giornalista: https://www.odg.toscana.it/allegati_leggi/Testo%20unico%20dei%20doveri%20del%20giornalista%20-%202021.pdf (also available among the course materials on Moodle or Teams) The Venice Manifesto: how to report on feminicide https://www.lauradebenedetti.it/manifesto-venezia-testo-completo/ (also available among the course materials on Moodle or Teams)Type of delivery of the course
Attendance is compulsory (a maximum of 3 absences out of 12 lessons allowed). Lectures will be held in presence and the active participation of students will be essential. Participation in the course may take place in the classroom or online. Class schedule: every Friday from 2 to 5 p.m., CLASSROOM 16, via Ostiense 236. First lesson: 24 February 2023 March: 3, 10, 17, 24 April: (not the 7th due to Easter holidays), 14, 21, 28 May: 5, 12, 19, 26 Reception: Tuesdays and Thursdays h 18.30-20 online on the Faculty Teams network, by appointment to be requested by email (laura.delsere@uniroma3.it)Attendance
Attendance is compulsory (a maximum of 3 absences out of 12 lessons allowed). Lectures will be held in presence and the active participation of students will be essential. Participation in the course may take place in the classroom or online. Class schedule: every Friday from 2 to 5 p.m., CLASSROOM 16, via Ostiense 236. First lesson: 24 February 2023 March: 3, 10, 17, 24 April: (not the 7th due to Easter holidays), 14, 21, 28 May: 5, 12, 19, 26 Reception: Tuesdays and Thursdays h 18.30-20 online on the Faculty Teams network, by appointment to be requested by email (laura.delsere@uniroma3.it)Type of evaluation
Attendance and active participation in the lessons will be essential. During the Workshop, exercises will be organised with the various media and in-depth classroom work on major news cases entrusted to the students. Passing the course will therefore depend on the quality of these intermediate tests and the outcome of the final test (on the bibliography and lecture materials), set for 19 May 2023. The exam dates will then only be used for the recording of the course credits (dates will be published shortly). Student reception hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 6.30-8 pm online on the Faculty Teams network, by appointment to be requested by email (laura.delsere@uniroma3.it)