JOUR 180 - FS: First-year Seminar

Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Each first-year seminar topic is approved by the Dean of The College and the Committee on Courses and Degrees. Applicability to FDRs and other requirements varies.

JOUR 180: FS: Covering Great Trials in History: The Impact of the Press and the Public on Justice (3). First-year seminar. From the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Scopes “Monkey” Trial to Charles Manson and O.J. Simpson, Americans have long been fascinated by the high-profile trial. Often in dramatic fashion, trials reveal our deepest secrets by exposing the weaknesses, violent tendencies, and obsessions of people we thought were worthy of our respect or our fear. Through famous cases, this seminar examines the complexities of the conflict between two cornerstones of American democracy: the freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial. The course is taught by Reynolds Professor of Legal Reporting Toni Locy, who has covered federal courts, the Justice Department, and the U.S. Supreme Court for several national news organizations. (SS5) Locy

JOUR 180B: FS: The Press and the Civil Rights Movement (3). First-year seminar. This seminar examines the news media’s role in the Civil Rights Movement of the South in the 1950s and ‘60s. Documentary recordings, individual research in primary documents, and readings in the journalism of the period and in works of history (especially the Pulitzer-Prize winning 2006 book The Race Beat) will provide the basis for class discussions. Students will produce short papers on the readings, an oral history project on veteran journalist who covered the movement, a research paper and a magazine-style article. Eligible: Limited to 15 first-year students. Cumming.