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JRN-108 Syllabus Fall 2020-- The only thing that is permanent is change.” Anatoly
Rudakov

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) has sent us, our classroom into a segment
of what Marshall McLuhan called the electronic global village. Diseases have
altered American history and American journalism history before---smallpox as
well as the scandal about a miraculous cure opened the door for Benjamin
Franklin’s rise as one of the first great North American Editors. Where switching
distance teaching flummoxes some, that is not a problem in this course in which
a rich panoply of images narrated by the voicing of an instructor long conditioned

to explaining complex ideas from distant places

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Key Advice: Read Letters to Future JRN 108 Students on how to succeed post in
the documents section of this course’s BlackBoard account.

The two way virtues of Zoom will enhance our joint learning. One of the reasons
this class is taught in real time is to maximize your participation, your posing of
questions and my setting questions as well as propositions to ponder twice a
week.
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Words and pictures; show and tell—stories—form a core of this course. Many
believe that ‘size matters’. To make the visual presentation more impressive,
more surrounding and to keep you from staring into a small box for hours at a
boring time

Let me suggest you get the minijacks and cable to connect your laptop or phone
to your flax screen. Search by using Google –then the kind of device that you
have…Go for a bigger screen media experience. we will go over this during an
early class session
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View all

2 Connect the Computer to the TV

1. Acquire an HDMI cable.

2. Connect one end of the HDMI cable into an available HDMI port on the TV. ...
3. Plug the other end of the cable into your laptop's HDMI out port, or into the
appropriate adapter for your computer. ...
4. Make sure the TV and the computer are both powered on.
Connect With a Cable

5. By far, the simplest way to connect your iPhone or iPad to your TV is to use a

cable like Apple's Digital AV Adapter, which connects your Apple device to your TV's
HDMI port. You'll also need a standard HDMI cable—any one will do, so just buy the
least expensive one you can find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnq_nGFhbaA
.
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Key Dates
24 Sept Mid-Term
6 Octo Obit Pitch Due
13 Oct Obituary Due
3 November ELECTION DAY—VOTE—
3 December last day of class
Final EXAM TBD by Registrar (stay tuned)

‘ALL ONLINE’ EDITION THROUGH ZOOM---go to Blackboard

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1. We will then engage in acts of tele-vision far off seeing [and listening].
Just Samuel B.F. Morse compressed time and space with the telegraph we
will be alterning, at least space—social distancing— and returning to familiar
ways of learning, albeit on a smaller screen. Like in class you will be able to
raise your hand to ask a question or offer an insight at anypoint.
2.
3. Click Raise Hand in the Webinar Controls.

4. The host will be notified that you've raised your hand.

5. Click Lower Hand to lower it if needed.

Note:

 Windows: You can also use the Alt+Y keyboard shortcut to raise or lower your hand.
 Mac: You can also use the Option+Y keyboard shortcut to raise or lower your hand.

Stony Brook University

School of Journalism

JRN 108: The History and Future of the American Press updated in the post-
Coronavirus 19 era of “distance learning” (Governor Cuomo’s phrasing)
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ZOOM ON BLACKBOARD.
Tuesday/Thursday 1 PM to 2:20 PM

Instructor: Jonathan Sanders

Organizational Assistants: Samantha Lauria samantha.lauria@stonybrook.edu

>

office phone 212-452-9634 Office Melville Library N4036

home phone=212-452-9623
@room101sanders
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NEW WELCOME PAGE:

Office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays: by ZOOM or phone or Email whatever is

most comfortable for you. 10 -12.45. 2.45- 4.00 Weds 10.30 -12.45 ; Other times
by appointment.

Key Dates…

Key Advice: Read Letters to Future JRN 108 Students on how to succeed post in
the documents section of this course’s BlackBoard account.
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I. Purpose of the Course

This course will examine the dynamic relationship between the news media and
society, focusing on key trends, people, technologies, paradigms, and events that
shaped the practice of journalism. These include the colonial heritage from England, the
formative experience of rebellion and revolution, the centrality of the first amendment,
the vital influence of non-free peoples, African-Americans primarily, and other minorities
on the evolution of the press in the USA; the tensions between technological innovation,
business cultures and the cultures of journalism, the shifting journalistic practices as
evolved through and influenced by wars, social upheaval, economic and battles for
human rights as well as different priorities in quests for justice as carried, refracted,
reflected, and reified through the press (and other communications entities).

The course sheds light on macro historical currents in American history as well
as upon singular individuals who made differences. The tensions --and the symbiotic
interrelationship-- between democracy and journalism merits special attention. Often,
with reference to comparative context, particularly those of rival state systems and
cultures, the uniqueness of the American experience, its underlying causes—intended
and unintended—will be highlighted.

The course will bring to life iconic figures who shaped and influenced the press,
from muckraking reporters to the founding fathers, publishers such as Katherine
Graham, Ben Franklin and Joseph Pulitzer, and modern media barons such as Ted
Turner, Serge Brin & Larry Page. At its core is understanding how to think in time,
through time, to gain context and perspective over continuity and change in society and
the press of the USA. History, for better and worse, shapes journalism . Its paradigms,
traditions and rituals conditions the mindsets of reporters. The past inhabits the news; it
informs how the media landscapes are adapted and adopted as they evolve. Today’s
democratic journalism grows out of unique past and it is now shaping and
foreshadowing the future.

II. Intended Outcomes

o An understanding of the trends and events that have shaped the
American press over three centuries.
o An ability to recognize major figures in the news media, business and
the public sector who have shaped the American press.
o An appreciation for how slaves and their descendants shape the press.
o A strong grasp on how minority groups/ immigrants influence media-
USA’s character.
o An ability to analyze the role of the press through a historical context.
o An ability to grasp key sociological theories and terms (diffusion of
innovation; Gemeinschaft & Gesellschaft; moral panics).
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o An ability to understand and to utilize methods of historical analysis

(periodization; paradigms in scientific revolutions; sourcing; class
conceptualizations, heroes in history, nationalism).
o An ability to write an obituary essay based on library research and
enterprise.
o An ability to analyze how changing technologies have redefined
journalistic practices.

III. Required Text Christopher B. Daly, Covering America: A Narrative History of a

Nation’s Journalism (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012)
ISBN 978-1-55849-911-9
This book may be purchased at the Stony Brook University bookstore. Those
purchasing ‘used’ copies of this overpriced volume should take care that highlighted
sections by previous owners do not lead a new reader astray.

Weekly reading assignments from the text book will be made at the start of class (we
will read the entire textbook book by the end of the semester. Eager beavers should get
ahead of the crowd) there will supplementary readings or viewing assignments every
week. Many are already listed in the syllabus under the topic name of each lecture.
They will be announced, too at the start of class plus those thrust at us by the flow of
news and the new. These additional readings will be posted on Blackboard, so make
sure you know how access it; slides that accompany each lecture will also be posted as
PDF on blackboard, usually the instructor posts the slides early in the morning of the
lecture. There are viewing assignments too for movies and episodes of American
Experience.
Students who feel their high school preparation in American History is most generally
week are urged to purchase and read through, Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History
of the United States (New York: W.W.Norton, 2018).

Students with a particular interest in foreign or international reporting should follow this
topic by reading, John Maxwell Hamilton’s Journalism’s Roving Eye: A History of
American Foreign Reporting (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2009)

IV. VI. Course Schedule

The class schedule and assignments are subject to change. As relevant news or public
discussion dictates the ‘restless spotlight’ of our attention may shift or refocus.
Assignments will be given in class and posted on Blackboard

PART I: The Rowdy Roots of American Journalism

Week 1: 25-27 August 2020: Review of class requirements, discussion of syllabus

and main themes of the course. Journalism’s coverage of the Diet of Worms; Atomic
Age + 70 and What Hath CERN WROUGHT? [www.] & Fake News
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Read: Christopher. B. Daly, Covering America: A Narrative History of a Nation’s

Journalism pp. ix- 7: Martin L. King, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” 31
March 1968 [on Blackboard= BB][

Warren Buffet, “We Buy Some Newspapers….Newspapers?” 2013; James Carey, “The
Problem of Journalism History,” pp.3-5; William Randolph Hearst, “Condensation in the
Presentation of News,” [From a Letter to Hearst Publishers October 1928]

http://www.attn.com/stories/4286/were-
the-pilgrims-refugee

LECTURE 2: “From Gutenberg to Infinity…and Beyond (sorry Buzz

Lightyear) A take on the European and Middle Eastern Roots of North American
Journalism with a nod to the Chinese inventors of paper.
Read: E. Eisenstein, “In the Wake of the Printing Press,” and either a) Eisenstein,
“The Print Revolution Reconsidered,” or b) Eisenstein, “Conjectures about the Impact of
Printing.” c) ”The Press and the Renaissance”

Glance at the digitized Guttenberg Bible http://bav.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/arch-b-b10

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week 2: 1-3 September 2020 Say You Want a Revolution? {thanks Beatles}

LECTURE 3: Public Occurrences Three Pioneers: A Worst Man, A Loyalists, A

Dissident
Read: Covering American pp.11-55; David Sloan, “John Campbell and The
Boston News-Letter,” [BB]
Gov. Cosby’s Orders on Burning Zenger’s Journal and on Zenger; NYT editorial
“A Toast to Zenger’s Jury,” [BB] Alan Singer, “Wikileaks: Speaking and Writing
the Truth,” http://hnn.us/article/134394

British Colonial NYC—‘whose lives matter?’ who is exclused,

unprivileged, unfree? Read: “New York Charter of Liberties and
Privileges (1683) https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/1683-charter-of-liberties-and-privileges-new-
york

LECTURE 4: The Best Man in the Colonies-- Ben Franklin & the Printer Cult

Read: B. Franklin, “Apology of a Printer,” [BB] B. Franklin, “Wisdom of the

Ages and Nations,” concentrate on ‘the 13 virtues’ Poor Richard’s Almanack
[1739] as summarized in The Electric Ben Franklin
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/index.htm
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Week 3: 8-10 September 2020

.

LECTURE 5:

Sam Adams the Printer, Not the Brewer

Read: Samuel Adams, “The Rights of Colonists,” [1772]

http://history.hanover.edu/texts/adamss.html [BB] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Paul
Revere’s Ride,” ---or listen---https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8CdFf6z4V8
Richard R. John, “How the Post Office Made America,” Roger P. Mellen, “The
Colonial Virginia Press and the Stamp Act: An Expansion of Civic Discourse,”
[BB] Thomas Paine, “The American Crisis, Number 1,” December 19, 1776.
[“These are the Times that try men’s souls:….”] [BB}

Watch, Liberty’s Kids: The Boston Tea Party {note 1: Walter Cronkite
voices Ben Franklin note 2 Kids are fictional artifacts} http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Pt8MmmLLHJY
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LECTURE 6 Anxiety & Insecurity; a Beast PLUS America’s War Rhythms

Read: Adolph Goldsmith, “The Roaring Lyon of Vermont,” pp.179-186; The

First Amendment Center, [focus on Bache and Lyons; skim the rest] “The
Sedition Act of 1798” http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/madison/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03/Sedition_Act_cases.pdf Richard R. John, “How the Post
Office Made America,” [BB]
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Week 4 15-17 September 2020

Part 2: Ages of Modern Mechanical Reproduction and

Reporting

LECTURE 8 : Yankee Ingenuity-A Penny for your Eyes

Read: Covering America pp.56-85; Either a) David Anthony, “The Helen

Jewett Panic: Tabloids, Men, and the Sensational Public Sphere in Antebellum
New York,” pp.487-514 or b) Patricia Cline Cohen, “The Helen Jewett Murder:
Violence, Gender, and Sexual Licentiousness in Antebellum America,” pp.374-
389; [BB] Peter Carlson, “Horace Greely Interrogates Brigham Young,”

https://libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=a9h&AN=59898098&site=ehost-live&scope=site

LECTURE 9: Personal Journalism & Agitation (Again); Bloody Civil War

Read: William Lloyd Garrison: The Liberator To the Public [1831]

American Colorphobia [1857]
The Depravity of the American Press [1858]
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Valedictory: The Last Number [1865]

Covering America pp.86-100

Frederick Douglass, Editorial, Is it Right and Wise to Kill a Kidnapper?,

FREDERICK DOUGLASS PAPER, June 2, 1854

For ‘balance’, to get a sense of ‘the other side’, the southern pro-slavery variant
of 19 th century American journalism read, Fletcher M. Green, “Duff Green,
Militant Journalist of the Old School,” The American Historical Review vol.52 n.
(1947) pp.247-261 [BB]

Week 5 22-24 ****Midterm exam this week***

LECTURE 10: Semi-Reporting the uncivil Civil War

Read: Covering America pp.101-111; Morton Kelly, “The World of

Thomas Nast,”
Google Images: Thomas Nast

Observe Photographs # 1-16 The Civil War as Photographed by

Mathew Brady http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/
“Dixie” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQmO-WfEkk4
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=p5mmFPyDK_8--

Professor Edward L Ayers carefully studied the civil war in two counties, August,
Virginia and Franklin, Pennsylvania. His “Valley of the Shadow Archive” contains
newspapers from both the rebel and the yankee side. Read coverage on your
birthday north & south http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/choosepart.html
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LECTURE 11: Writing with Light

Read: Malcolm Daniel, “William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) and the
Invention of Photography,” and “Daguerre (1787-1851) and the Invention of
Photography” http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tlbt/hd_tlbt.htm;
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dagu/hd_dagu.htm

Watch, “Beaumont Newhall and The History of Photography”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n0YvVagK-M and “The Power of
Photojournalism ½,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XONXeUndHl8

[in the 12th lecture time slot ] 24 September 2020 MIDTERM EXAM
6 Week 29 September -1 October 2020
LECTURE 13: Moving the Story…Stopping Time

Read: Covering America pp.112-150

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Watch, Eadward Muybridge-“The Attitude of Animals in Motion,”

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=muybridge&sm=
BBC “The Weird World of Eadweard Muybridge,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Awo-P3t4Ho

6 October obituary pitches due send to Samantha

 Introduce your story idea and define your angle. In other words, tell us what you want to
write about and explain your point of view and 5 sources, at least, that you will use
 Explain why the person you are writing about is timely, unique, important, and/or of interest
to this class, to life in 2019 America, and to history.

Week 7 6-8 October 2020

Lecture 14….Meet the past in the stacks or online…a Library orientation with an

eye towards your OBITUARY assignment . THE DEAD BEAT

Get to know: http://guides.library.stonybrook.edu/journalism
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Obituary

An obituary (obit for short) is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically
along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral.

A good starting point for picking a journalist to be the subject of your obituary if you don’t

have a favorite is a top 100 list. See:

https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/news/the-100-outstanding-journalists-in-the-united-

states-in-the-last-100-years
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On obits you may want to listen to Shadnach Kabrango, “Obit explores the delicate

art of obituary writing” CBC Radio http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-tuesday-may-3-2016-

1.3563779/obit-explores-the-delicate-art-of-obituary-writing-1.3563790?utm_source=Newsletter

%3A+This+Week+On+WNYC&utm_campaign=3450f5296b-

This+Week+on+WNYC+4%2F12%2F16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0473b3d0b8-3450f5296b-

74245917&mc_cid=3450f5296b&mc_eid=04cc1a3844

You may be surprised by “Obits from Beyond the Grave” https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/insider/post-mortem-

byline-obituary.html?smid=fb-share&referer=http://m.facebook.com

Obits due now 13 October

midnight due …all done on line through

safe assign
Frost campus Middlebury
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Part 3 The Late (GREAT???) 20th Century…”I have seen the

future and it works.” l

Week 7 6-8 October 2020 LECTURE 16 Muck Makers: The Yellow Press

Read: Covering America pp.151-214 James Creelman, “The Battle of El

Caney;” “Sitting Bull,” Charles A. Beard, “A Preface and Farewell to William
Randolph Hearst,” [BB]

Listen to podcast—Lewis Hine Biblesalesman?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/retropod/the-photographer-who-helped-end-child-labor-
in-america/
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LECTURE 17: Muckrakers , Ida B. Wells & Dilemma of Women Journalists

Read: Wells, “The People Must Know Lynch Law in Georgia,” [BB] or listen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_58nasrAV8Y read selectively in, Wells,
Southern Horrors Lynch Law in All Its Phases [1892]
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14975?msg=welcome_stranger

Professor Sanders advocates replace the portrait of Andrew Jackson, a slave

owner, on the twenty dollar bill with likeness of Ida B. Wells. To receive 10 extra
points send Samantha aa portrait of Ida B. Wells by 29 August…to prove you are
reading the syllabus and are awake. Subject line first extra credit.

Read: Karen Brodkin Sacks, “How Did Jews Become White Folks?” Classic
Contemporary Cross-Culture
https://nelsonssociology101.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/1/6/26165328/jews.pdf

Peer at: Without Sanctuary Lynching Photographs

http://withoutsanctuary.org/main.html
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Week 9 20-22 October 2020

LECTURE 18: Furniture that Talks (Radio) Why Regulate? Why Ear Write?

Read: Covering America pp.215-286, “On Video: Disturbing Aliens, Some

From Space,” E. R. Murrow 1958 RNDTA Speech [BB] Martha Gelhorn, “High
Explosives”

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological

Reproducibility” [third version]

A.J. Liebling, “Boake Carter: Scribner’s Examines: Radio’s most popular news
commentator…his pet convictions and theatrical delivery.” Scribner’s Magzine
vol.104 n.2 pp.7-11, 51-52. [BB]

Listen to :

First Broadcast of CBS's World News Roundup: March 13, 1938

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoGYXiyNWRM
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News Analyst H.V.Kaltenborn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFzDIihz4Sc

Mr. Kaltenborn was the first professional journalist to lecture about journalism at
Stony Brook…why? He lived in Stony Brook on the big bucks he made as a radio
celebrity.

w wiprose1_25_gibb
ons_mk_64kb.mp3
Floyd Gibbons “How It Feels to be Shot”
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Week 10 27-29 October 2020

Lecture 19 Newsreels

Consult with your family. Find out the birthday of one of your
grandparents. Go to Motion Picture Releases of the Universal Newsreel Library, 1929 -
1967
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/100520 or search British Pathe
newsreels https://www.britishpathe.com/

watch the newsreel released the week your grandparent was

born.
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Lecture 20 Jazz Age Magazine Journalism Born: Luce & The New Yorker

Watch: Walter Cronkite, narrator “Remembering Life,”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFDJEoWGaGY ;

Week 11 3-5 November 2020

LECTURE 21 War- A Generation of Greatness (Spain & WWII: Martha Gellhorn;

Capa, & Hemingway Pyle’s Portraits; Life’s Photos; Murrow’s Boys [and girl])

Read: Ernie Pyle, “Fed Up and Bogged Down,” “The Death of Captain
Waskow,” “The Quartermaster Corp,” [BB] Martha Gelhorn, “First Hospital Ship,”

Beth Cortez-Neavel, “Margaret Bourke-White,”

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http://www.faspe.info/journalism2013/?p=992;
Listen to a run of the mill war broadcast (note the Admiral Radio Commercial in
the Middle) Douglas Edwards, “Admiral’s World News Today” 14 March 1943
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ioFC4JV4s

Watch: Walter Cronkite, narrator “Remembering Life,”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFDJEoWGaGY ;

American Experience: Ripley: Believe It or Not (Library Reserve)

When a giant nose dives…’wait ‘til next year’ syndrome?

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Bryan Gaz, “Diving Into the Demise of Kodak,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=eVrmFgvEnAA

Post War WOW

LECTURE 22: Wires in a Box: The Most Trusted Man in America

Read: Covering America pp.287-321

Watch: June 9 1963, CBS Evening News; https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=NmQTfYTe044
ABC News, “Remembering a Legend: Walter Cronkite Dies,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovdiZZBMbCY
“Top 10 Walter Cronkite Moments…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=q3eFl9pcxsM ; “Report from Vietnam,” [1968 special]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4w-ud-TyE
And 2007 reflection on that broadcast by the Newseum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDNJL0mTHWI

Watch “The Great American Lawn”

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000006542254/climate-change-lawns.html
Think about Lawns and Long Island

Week 12 10-12 November 2020

LECTURE 23-24 : COURTING PRESS FREEDOMS Times v Sullivan, Say

You Wanta Revolution? New New Journalism –Woodstock Nation?
 33

. Read: Covering America pp. 322-351; Tom Wolfe, “The Birth of New
Journalism,” Norman Mailer, “Superman Goes to the Supermarket,” Nora Ephron,
“A Few Words About Breasts,” Gay Talese, “Frank Sinatra Had a Cold,” Jimmy
Breslin, “Digging JFK Grave was his Honor,” or
http://www.kcconfidential.com/2013/11/20/paul-wilson-jimmy-breslin-on-digging-
jfks-grave/

Week

Lecture 24 …on the 50th anniversary of the hinge year, 1969 we pay special
attention to “The Whole World is Watching”
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Lecture 25…..Clarke’s Belt, Monica’s Dress

Read: Covering America pp. 352-434; NYT, “Lewinsky’s Testimony on
Love, Friend, and Family,” 22 Sep 1998 Daniel Hallin, “A Fall from Grace: The
Professionalism that once sustained journalists has broken down;” Michael
Schudson “In All Fairness: Definition of fair journalism have changed over
the last two centuries,” [BB] Stewart Brand, “We Owe It All to the Hippies,”

Time 1 March 1995

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Lewinsky; Peggy Noonan, “Reflections on
Impeachment, 20 Years Later,” The Wall Street Journal 29 November
2018 [BB]; David Kushner, “A Brief History of Porn on the Internet,”
Wired 04.19.2019https://www.wired.com/story/brief-history-porn-internet/?
bxid=5bea08d42ddf9c72dc8b1aa7&cndid=52411036&esrc=bounceX&source=EDT_WIRBB
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Week 13 17-19 November 2020

Part 4: Towards a Brave Newer World

LECTURE 25 Cathedral & Bazzzzarrrr :What is New in the New Media?

William Randolph Hearst, “Condensation in the Presentation of News,” [From a Letter to

Hearst Publishers October 1928] The Remarkable Story of Chicken Little [1865-1871]
https://archive.org/details/remarkablestoryo00bostiala
Walt Disney “Chicken Little,” 1943 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnp4kj5lLOU

Paul Starr, “Goodbye to the Age Newspaper (Hello to a New Age of Corruption” The
New Republic 4 March 2009
https://newrepublic.com/article/64252/goodbye-the-age-newspapers-hello-new-
era-corruption
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LECTURE 26: Screenagers and Citizen Journalists

Read: Fred Turner, “Where the Counterculture Met the New Economy: The
Well and the Origins of Virtual Community,” David Cole, “The Three Leakers and
What to Do About Them,”[BB] Steven Levy, “The Macintosh is 30, and I Was
There for Its Birth,” http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/macintosh-30th-
anniversary/

23-27 November Fall Vacation…

Turkey Time
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Week 14 1-3 December 2020

Lecture 28 Faking, Shaking: Fake News

WATCH THE OSCAR WINNING FILM SPOTLIGHT

Week 14 5-7 May 2020

LECTURE 29: Herding Cats: A Republic If You Can Keep It: Back to the Future

Dan Rather Explains Why Journalists Have Lost Their Guts,

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/06/01/dan_rather_explains_why_journalist
s_have_lost_their_guts.html.

Chris Willis, Shayne Bowman, “The Future Is Here, But Do News Media
Companies See It?” Nieman Reports Winter 2005

Crystal Balls, Cyber Certainties, Chicken-Little Chuckles

Read: Covering America pp.441-461; re-read, E.R. Murrow, “1958 RNDTA

Speech”

Watch: Laura Amico “On Jazz and Journalism: Reporting with

Improvisation,” http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/events/luncheons/2013/06/amico
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TBD There will be review class, based on class agreement.

FINAL EXAM: See Exam Schedule link at the Registrar’s Website.

http://www.stonybrook.edu/registrar/finals.shtml

Newspapers

Every student is required to read The New York Times daily. An acceptable alternative
is The Wall Street Journal. Why the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal daily
(Student subscriptions at a deeply discounted price are
available. http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/edu/lp1474.html?campaignId=44KU9T.

Get the NYTimes and The Wall Street Journal added to your Facebook Newsfeeds.
NOW. Get the NYTimes “Morning Briefing” automatically sent to your e-mail account.

Some instructors think it better to get a paper copy subscription which carries with it an
automatic digital subscription. If you get the more traditional paper you can tear out
articles, stick them in your textbook or notebook and paste silly advertisements in your
diary to remember the trends of spring 2017 when you look back in twenty or fifty
years. This instructor is agnostic about which is better for students to read on-line or
through ink on your hands paper copies…just read.

A: Every good citizen and each journalist-in-training must

stay abreast of current events. In order to assess the salience of events and issues
and to place information in context, students must know the currents of the present
to understand both the past and the future. To escape the increased ‘silo-ization’ of
news it helps for our intellectual commons, our class, to imbibe information from the
same reportorial wells. This collective undertaking undercuts the ‘bowling alone’
phenomenon.

B. Sadly, the “Grey lady” remains the only metropolitan daily with a worldwide staff
of correspondents engaged in original reporting. The WSJ covers the world less
well, but its economic and domestic reporting is first rate.

C. Serious journalists, politicians, foreign leaders and editors begin their days by
reading the Times and the Journal. The Times sets much of the news agenda.

D. Luckily for us in the number one media market in the United States these are our
hometown papers; both have national and international reach as well as great
morgues that offer continuities plus research opportunities.
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E. Your competitors for jobs and promotions will already have formed the habit of
being conversant with this bible of the establishment and chattering classes.

A helpful guide each morning as to which stories merit special attention is “the
cheat sheet” [must reads from all over] http://www.thedailybeast.com/

Our library can help you access newspapers and much more:
http://guides.library.stonybrook.edu/JRN108

V. Grades and Grading

There will be a mid- term and final exam that will test your knowledge of
readings, lectures, news reports front pages and parts relevant to the Media in
America (as tracked by reading either The New York Times or The Wall Street
Journal daily) and class discussions. The final will cover material for the entire
semester, with a center focus of subjects covered since the mid-term.

There will be unannounced quizzes to ascertain how well you are keeping up with
your weekly reading assignment. There will be at least two quizzes; more if the
instructor senses, through Socratic inquiry, that your diligence is slipping. (So be
aware of your collective responsibility to your classmates i.e. do your homework).
Over the last two semesters students indicated that they preferred FOUR quizzes
over the course of the semester.
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History and journalism smash into each other every day especially and most
obviously on the obituary page. Sadly, news of deaths of people great as well as
those significant only to a few individuals become parts of the daily life of every
mature individual. In other words, obituaries form a highly relevant part of
ordinary life; especially the lives of well-educated citizens. Each student will write
a 1,000- to 1,300-word obituary on a significant figure, living or dead, of salience
to the history and future of the United States Press. Students will submit a name
—the proposed person who will be the subject of your obituary-- to the instructor
on 2 April by 1.00 pm

Once approved, students will submit a list of , at least FIVE, primary, secondary
or monographic works or experts to interview or consult in researching your
obituary. If there is a biographical book about your subject you should read it; if
there are several consult your instructor about which should receive attention
first. Submission dates for works consulted will be announced in class. Obits are
due at the start of class on 7 November 2019 put in Tania’s or Meenu’s hands in
hard copy form.
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Grades: Grading is based on a Thousand Point System

1) Mid Term Exam 300 points

2) Final Exam 300 points

3) Obituary Assignment 200 points

4) Surprise Quiz(es) 100 points

5) Class participation & timely attendance— SPEAK UP ASK QUESTIONS

100 Points [This is where students often leave easy

points ‘on the table’…be active, be engaged, shed shyness]

--------------------------------

Total 1000 points

[Bonus points give students a chance to garner MORE than the maximum 1000
points.]

DIVIDED BY 10= YOUR GRADE The criteria for numerical grades:

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A :  93 and above

A-:  90-92

B+: 87-89

B: 83-86

B-:  80-82

C+: 77-79

C:  73-76

C-: 70-72

D+: 67-69

D:  60-66

F:  59 and below

A (superior work)
A-  
B+  
B (good work)
B-  
C+  
(Satisfactory work) minimum passing
C
grade for JRN credit
C-  
D+  
D
F (Failing work)
I (Incomplete)
NC (No Credit)
NR (No Record)
P (Pass)
Q (Academic dishonesty)
(Pending completion of 
R
second semester of a year-long course)
S (Satisfactory work)
U (Unsatisfactory work)
W (Withdrawal)

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Extra Credit (up to 75 additional points): Students can earn extra credit. Extra
credit could involve reading a book or watching a movie about journalism approved by
the instructor and then writing a 500-word essay demonstrating an understanding of the
material and how it relates to the themes of the course and the student’s grasp of how it
relates to them as a potential journalist, news consumer, or citizen.

Students can gain special additional 2 points for attending SOJ lectures; 5 points will be
awarded for asking a good a question. The first such opportunity is………(to be
announced).

Important: Only semester grades of C or above count for credit toward the
journalism major or minor. Any student earning a C-minus or below who
intends to continue in the journalism program must retake the class and will
not be able to continue in journalism skills classes.

There is a final exam; the registrar, not the instructor will schedule it. For
schedule go to Final Exam Schedule link at the Registrar’s Website.

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VI. Course Requirements

Attendance: If circumstances prevent your attending class, the instructor must

be informed by phone or email on or before the day of class or within 24 hours
afterward. The policy of the School of Journalism is as follows: For classes that meet
more than once a week, two unexcused absences are permitted. A third or fourth such
absence results in a 1/3-grade drop per absence. Five can result in an F. Consistent
tardiness will result in a reduced final grade. In a class that meets once a week, one
unexcused absence is permitted. A second unexcused absence will result in the loss of
1/3 of a letter grade. Each subsequent unexcused absence will result in the loss of 1/3
of a letter grade, a B to a B-, for example.

The instructor or the class assistant will take attendance by passing around a
sign in sheet. It is your responsibility to put your own name on this piece of paper.

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Deadlines: Deadlines matter. They are more than a ritual part of

journalism. Reporters lose job because they miss a deadline. All work is due on time.
Work not turned in on time will lose a letter or number grade, unless the instructor
makes an exception based on circumstances, and will receive a 0 thereafter. The dog
ate my thumb drive is not an acceptable excuse; my grandfather died is (but be aware
your instructor follows the Ronald Reagan maxim ‘trust but verify’(TBV).

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Classroom etiquette

Be on time. Be polite. Be attentive. Don’t be checking your phone or trolling the

www.--that is rude

All cell or mobile phones must be off or on ‘silent’ or “vibrate mode”. Cognizant
of what happened at Virginia Tech it is vital that members of our classroom
commons do have their phones switched on.
We will observe White House Pressroom rules and a ringing phone will result in
TEN POINTS being deducted from your final grade. No texting during class.
Texting or websurfing during class will result in TEN Points being deducted from
your final grade. The same goes for reading outside materials (newspapers,
magazines or books) during class.
The instructor will pose questions to students at random. Be prepared; be
awake; be articulate.
The instructor will not provide notes or video materials to students who miss
class. He will, however, arrange “TRIPODS” groups of three students to assist in
what P. Kropotkin called “mutual aid”

Food and drink: No food. You may bring a drink to the classroom. Clean up
after yourselves. (I am not a janitor, although I may play one on TV).

Assignment Format: All assignments must be typed and double-spaced, 12

point Times New Roman or Arial except for work done in class. If your handwriting is
worse than your instructor’s you may be asked to translate. Points will be deducted for
any class assignment that is sloppy, disorganized or difficult to read. Assignments must
be stapled.

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You won’t earn more points by writing longer than assigned. Comply with the
directions for word length, write succinctly, stay relevant, and always provide specific
examples or evidence to support your point.

Blackboard: There is a Blackboard account for this course. Check daily for
announcements. Assignments, reading in the textbook, plus weekly primary, secondard
and supplementary readings will be announced at the start of each class and specifics
posted on Blackboard. MAKE SURE YOUR BLACKBOARD ACCOUNT TRACKS TO A
STONYBROOK.EDU ADDRESS. If you have not done so already, you must set up a
Blackboard account. Please note that your NetID expires every six months and must be
renewed in order to use Blackboard. In addition, please verify your email address on
Blackboard. For help, call 631-632-9602, or see:
http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/helpdesk/docs/blackboard/bbstudent.php.

Slides from lectures will be uploaded to Blackboard . Significant names and

technical terms or words that may be unfamiliar to students that are used during
lectures will also be uploaded. The purpose here is to make student note taking easier
and more accurate..

E-mail: Verify and make available your e-mail address on Blackboard (in the
“Personal Information” section under “Tools” on the “Welcome” page) and check daily.
Failure to check e- mail will not be accepted as an excuse for missing announcements
or assignment changes

Academic Integrity: Any form of fabrication, plagiarism, cheating or other

ethical offense will be reported to the Academic Judiciary Committee and can
result in a failing grade for the course, dismissal from the journalism program or
expulsion from the university.

Here is the University’s statement on academic dishonesty:

“Plagiarism is the use of others’ words and/or ideas without clearly

acknowledging their source. As students, you are learning about other people’s
ideas in your course texts, your instructors’ lectures, in-class discussions, and
when doing your own research. When you incorporate those words and ideas
into your own work, it is of the utmost importance that you give credit where it is
due. Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, is considered academic dishonesty
and all instances will be reported to the Academic Judiciary. To avoid plagiarism,
you must give the original author credit whenever you use another person’s
ideas, opinions, drawings, or theories as well as any facts or any other pieces of
information that are not common knowledge. Additionally quotations of another

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person’s actual spoken or written words; or a close paraphrasing of another

person’s spoken or written words must also be referenced. Accurately citing all
sources and putting direct quotations – of even a few key words – in quotation
marks are required.”

For further information on academic integrity and the policies regarding

academic dishonesty, go to Academic Judiciary at
www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary

Examples of cheating include:

Using sources for stories or assignments that are known to the

student. Journalism students must not use friends, family members, roommates,
classmates or business associates – anyone they know – as subjects. If you
believe an exemption is warranted, you must receive prior approval from your
instructor.

Multiple submissions of the same work.

Cheating in any form on an exam or assignment.

Unpermitted collaboration on work.

Falsifying any document, including excuse notes.

Making up sources, quotes, facts or references.

Sources: Students will provide contact information for all sources in a story, no
matter what the platform. This list includes names, telephone numbers and email
addresses. Instructors will make random checks to verify sources and information. An
assignment without a full list of sources will not be accepted.

Copyright: Copyright is the exclusive legal right of a creator or owner to

reproduce, publish, adapt, sell or distribute his or her original work of authorship. It
covers literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works. The published or
broadcast work of student journalists, just like any other author, is protected by
copyright. The School of Journalism diligently protects its own copyrighted materials
and respects the copyrights of others. The SOJ expects students to abide by all SUNY,
Stony Brook University and SOJ copyright policies. When in doubt about the use of any
materials created by a third party, always consult with your instructor.

Identifying Yourself: When reporting, students are obligated to make clear to

sources that they are working on stories that may be published or broadcast.  Students
should not tell a source: “Don’t worry, this is just for a class.” A reporter’s sources must

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understand that information and quotes provided can appear in print or online or be
broadcast.

If you call a source for a quote or insight while writing an obituary, after your
polite first few words say, “Mr. Secretary of State, I’m a student at SUNY SB in
Professor Jonathan Sanders class on Journalism History, past and future, I am writing a
piece about the death of Rupert Murdoch…I would like to ask you, kindly…..

Americans with Disabilities Act:  If you have a physical, psychological, medical
or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability
Support Services,
ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, Room 128, (631) 632-6748. They
will determine with you what accommodations, if any, are necessary and appropriate.
All information and documentation is confidential.
https://web.stonybrook.edu/newfaculty/StudentResources/Pages/DisabilitySupportServi
ces.aspx.
Disruptive Behavior: “Stony Brook University expects students to respect the
rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty members are required to report
to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to
teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to
learn.”

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This course demands clear and cogent articulation. Those who feel their
personal communication skills are less than outstanding should buy and
take to heart either a) William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White [colloquially
Strunk & White] The Elements of Style (New York: The Macmillan
Company, various editions) b) Arthur Plotnik, Spunk & Bite: a writer’s
guide to punchier, more engaging language & style (New York: Random
House, 2005).

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VI. Your instructor—“My job, first and foremost, is to make the job easier for the
guy behind me.” Derek Jeter 16 August 2014

Jonathan Sanders began his career in journalism when John F. Kennedy was
President. He delivered daily newspapers in Connecticut and then, like many scribes
moved on to be a student newspaper writer, reporter, photographer, free-lance reporter
(on high school sports for The Hartford Times and then The Hartford Courant). During
his college years he contributed materials to a number of “underground” periodicals and

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the counter-culture press. He worked as a photographer for LNS, an alternative news

service. His newspaper work has appeared in The Village Voice; The East Village
Other; New York; The Daily News; Pravda; Sovietskaia Rossiia; Sovietskaia
Kultura,The Christian Science Monitor; New York.

An early adopter Sanders in 1996 helped create one of the first mainstream press on-
line pieces of international reporting for the pioneering CNS News Website. He wrote
and edited an extensive web presence for the award winning Public Television Series
“Redfiles” available on PBS on-line. http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/

A Veteran CBS News Correspondent, Sanders has covered everything from Princess
Diane’s visit to New York, to Presidential campaigns, to holiday traffic jams, to classical
and jazz performances, to beats: (the White House, the State Department; the Kremlin;
the London bureau); to coups in Moscow, to urban insurrections, to civil wars, to
terrorists incidents, to international diplomacy as practiced at the United Nations.

Until the fall 0f 2018 he still practiced interpretative

journalism from a perch at the United Nations where is as an accredited reporter; he
concentrates on Africa and the (former) Communist world. He anchors broadcasts for
www.icastnews.com . Professor Sanders often offers context and perspective about
news coming out of Russia and US Russian relations for CBS Radio News.

“Much of my experience is as a foreign correspondent. Long stationed in Moscow for

CBS News (roughly 1987-1997) I was privileged to witness and report the disintegration
of the Soviet Union and the emergence in the quicksand societies that followed that
great news story, the emergence of 15 separate countries, including a new Russia.

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In 1998 I returned to my old love, teaching (at

Princeton).while working on a four hour series and web presence for PBS. Before
joining CBS News full time I had taught at Columbia during which time I collected a
Golden Ace Award (then the Cable World’s Top Prize) for a long series on The
Discovery Channel. Reporting on an extreme story drew me back to CBS in 2004 when
I traveled to the Caucasus to cover the horrific Beslan school siege. The documentary I
produced with my long-time colleagues –‘Hostage,’ a 48 Hours Special – earned me an
EMMY and an Edward R. Murrow Award. Although effectively banned in Russia, their
Media Union honored me with a “GOLDEN VERB” award for best foreign reporting for
the Beslan story. Follow up reporting became the basis for a Julia Robert’s narrated
non-fiction film, “Three Days in September,” broadcast on Showtime. This reportage
was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy.

He is the author of two books, both published by Abbeville Press, Russia 1917: The
Unpublished Revolution and with photographer Heidi Hollinger, The Russians Emerge.

Long concerned with freedom of expression and the consequences of

repression, my current scholarly work focuses on how streaming video communications
empowers dissident movements. I continue to work on a documentary film on the oldest
African-American Musical organization in North America, NAMA,. Parts of this work,
“The Youngbloods Jam in Harlem,” premiered at the 11 th Harlem Stage on Screen (The
Harlem Film Festival) My most recent articles are [with Professor Beth Knobel, Fordham
University] “Samizdat 2.0: The Dymovskii Case and the Use of Streaming Video As a
Political Tool in Contemporary Russia” appeared (21 January 2012) in The
International Journal of Electronic Politics and “Are We in the Same Boat? Screenagers,
Gatekeepers & Gratekeepers in the News Literacy Universe” [forthcoming Higher
Economic School ] I am currently engaged in producing, in conjunction with the
Computer History Museum, a three–hour documentary series, probably to air on PBS
on “How Cybernetics challenged, then conquered Cold War Consciousness” as well as
a book on the CBS Correspondent who was a Soviet Spy.

A.B. Franklin & Marshall College; MA, MPhil, PhD Columbia University. Certificate of
the Russian Institute. Fulbright Scholar

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--30—[in newspaper markup jargon -30- denotes the end of copy…it may derive from
telegraphic shorthand]

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