Course Description 

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of media literacy, the global history of news, entertainment, and social media, and the professional practice of print and online journalism.  A significant focus of the class will be learning the skills necessary to produce news and entertainment journalism, across a range of mediums (e.g., online news, socia medial, podcasts, video). Writing in this course will include news articles, entertainment articles, features, editorials, and more. Participants will learn research skills, interviewing techniques, the craft of editing, and design skills. Some projects will include group work. Student work will be eligible for publication in the class online magazine Panther News (panthernews.org). 

An additional area of focus for this course will be developing the skills to critically examine and assess how news and entertainment media impact our perceptions about ourselves and our society. We will study and discuss the history and development of news, entertainment, and social media to evaluate its enormous impact on our world. Students will be required to follow local, national, and world news.