NEWSMAKING (HOW TO CHOOSE THE NEWS)

What is the role of information in the digital age? How is information intertwined with communication and marketing, especially when the content concerns the macro genre of politics? What is the consumption of information in the digital communication ecosystem? Which facts become news? Why are some events considered newsworthy by journalists and others not brought to the attention of the mass audience? And again, why is it that some news is presented with such emphasis that it is given a pre-emptive value by editors, deputy editors and editors-in-chief of newspapers and others deserve very limited visibility? How is the relationship developing between the political and economic system on the one hand and the media and news media system on the other? These are just some of the questions that will be answered by Prof. Giorgino, a scholar of social issues, lecturer in Communication and Marketing and Sociology of Journalism.

Ability to analyse major topical issues.

No specific basic and preparatory training is required to enrol in the Newmaking course, as this subject mainly questions our being consumers of information products as readers, web 2.0 users, viewers and listeners. It can therefore be taken by students on five-year degree courses, enrolled in all departments, as well as those on three-year degree courses.

The course, which entitles to 4 training credits, will revolve around the main models of political communication and marketing and the key strands of newsworthiness: 1. news selection; 2. news hierarchy; 3. news processing; 4. news thematisation. Information is the cause and effect of many political, legal and economic processes, such as the relational dynamic between the quantity of available data and the quantity and quality of democracy, the influence in terms of agenda setting in legislative proposal and executive action, the equality of the subjects of jurisdiction, the inevitable intertwining between news management and political, institutional and corporate communication and marketing strategies. All within the framework determined by the digital revolution. Great attention will be devoted to newsmaking. By this term, elaborated from the scientific literature, we mean the disciplinary area ‘media organisation’ of the Sociology of Communication, whose epistemological scope is also completed with the areas of ‘influence of society on the media’ (historical and socio-cultural contextualisation) and ‘influence of the media on society’ (theory of effects). Together with the explanation of the main theories related to the four phases of Newsmaking: 1. News selection; 2. News hierarchization; 3. News processing; 4. News thematisation, the course will refer to the content analysis of the different news headlines such as the news published in printed newspapers, online, broadcasted by television news and radio newspapers. The content analysis will also be comparative in order to investigate the main models of journalism, old and new, most present in the international news media landscape.

Giorgino F. (prossima uscita). Sociologia dei Giornalismi. Mondadori Università Giorgino F. (prossima uscita). Comunicazione e Marketing politico e istituzionale. LUISS University Press

- Frontal teaching - Analysis of practical cases - Group work

Oral examination

Having brilliantly passed the final exam and attended the classes.