Course: JOUR 391. Free Press in the Digital Era (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of lower division writing requirement. Upper division standing required. Not available for those with credit in JOUR 400. This course offers an opportunity to examine the freedom of the press, a critical institution of the U.S. democracy, using a comparative-historical approach. Students learn how to analyze free-press issues central to understanding American institutions and ideals, including government regulation of media, censorship of free expression in the mediated public sphere, social movements, national security, surveillance and privacy, and private ownership of the press. The course covers significant events in the U.S. from over a hundred-year time period, from the colonial period to date. Students analyze American historical events that illustrate the continuity of the American experience in terms of democratic political theory, economic ownership of the press, and variations in free expression along geographic lines (U.S. and international). Comparisons include contemporary issues in the social media and digital era, as compared to free-press controversies from the earlier print and broadcast eras, as well as comparison of the U.S. First Amendment with global protections of freedom of expression in the UN system. (Available for General Education, C3 American History, Institutions and Ideals.) (IC) (WI)