Media, Ethics, and Digital Age: Case-Study Approach

Lecture, three hours. To publish or not to publish? Study addresses questions of media ethics--and ethics more broadly--using case-study method to debate pressing issues from actual newsrooms. Students participate in Socratic discussion of fairness, bias, and personal and societal implications of printed, broadcast, and digitized word. Letter grading.

Review Summary

Clarity
10.0 / 10
Organization
10.0 / 10
Time
5-10 hrs/week
Overall
10.0 / 10

Reviews

    Quarter Taken: Spring 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    AMAZING CLASS if you are at all interested in journalism and debatingcase studies. You learn all about what constitutes journalism, the ethical decisions that go on in the newsroom, and are always encouraged to think critically and deeper about each side of the argument. Abbe is a phenomenal lecturer, and her past experience in working at the LA Times really shone through. She is highly receptive to feedback and you can tell she truly cares about her students. Bonus! she has the cutest dog you can pet during office hours.

    The workload is pretty light - every week we're given two controversial ethical cases to read through, do 2 postings advocating for a side, then in class Abbe writes our ideas onto the whiteboard and facilitates class discussion. If you're lazy like me, you can get away with skimming the readings and learn the main points during class. Since each lesson relies on the points that we provide on each case, the class is super engaging and you never know what interesting points will come up. This style of work means that what you put into this class is what you get out of it - you're given more free time to think critically about each case, rather than slave over assignments and deadlines.

    Exams were the opposite of rinse and repeat memorization. You write 6 mini persuasive essays, taking different stances on an issue by answering the guiding questions she gives you. Have an understanding of each side of the case and the general themes of this class, and you'll do great. However, your existing writing ability will be important as both exams are essay-based.

    Comm 186 with Goldman has definitely been one of my favorite classes here at UCLA. It teaches you a whole lot about persuasion, critical thinking, and you get to hear great ideas from your peers. Give it a try!

Course

Instructor
Abigail Goldman
Previously taught
24S 23S 22S 21S 20S

Grading Information

  • No group projects

  • Attendance required

  • 1 midterm

  • 10th week final

  • 100% recommend the textbook

Previous Grades

Grade distributions not available.