Journalism and Social Media (325-0-70)

Instructors

Eddy Leonardo Borges-Rey

Meeting Info

Northwestern Qatar Room G-200: Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Su 2:30PM - 4:00PM (AST)

Overview of class

During the last two decades, social media has transformed Journalism. On the one hand, it has given news professionals an unprecedented capacity to engage in meaningful conversation with their audiences, which provides them with valuable insight to better understand the public, their preferences and their news consumption patterns. On the other hand, social media has enabled journalists to tell stories across a wider range of platforms, personalising their news offering, and reaching different demographics. Social Media has also come with challenges. Twitter, Facebook and news aggregators, such as Google and Apple News, are now users' preferred news providers, even if the content is produced in mainstream media organisations such as the NYT or the BBC. This trend has seen advertising revenue shifting from mainstream media to online outlets, and from legacy organisations to social media platforms.With these developments in mind, this practical course introduces students to the use of social media for news gathering, production and dissemination. Through engagement with social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, students will learn how to produce news, curate and verify information, engage with audiences and gain followers, do live reporting and social listening, and crowdsource investigations. Finally, this course will also train students to deal with toxic comments online and trolling.

Registration Requirements

Prerequisites: None

Open to juniors and above Journalism majors only; for students going on residency

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: NUQ: Journalism majors only, Juniors and above