Philosophy of Journalism

Journalism is an important profession in modern life but remains under-theorized within academic philosophy, where vanishingly little has been written about it. This graduate course oers a survey of major topics in the philosophy of journalism, drawing on philosophical writing, the work of critics within the eld of media studies, and the reective writings of journalists themselves to address this lacuna. The course is divided into ve substantive units that concern (1) freedom of the press as a political right and the place of journalism in democratic life, (2) objectivity as an ideal for news journalism, (3) the social epistemology of journalism: propaganda and the problem of ‘fake news’, (4) the relationship of news and editorial journalism, and (5) alternatives to mainstream journalism and news organizations: publicly-funded and citizen journalism. The last two weeks of the course will be devoted to student presentations on independent research projects.