LT138-4-AU-CO:
History of Journalism
2020/21
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 08 October 2020
Friday 18 December 2020
15
14 September 2020
Requisites for this module
(none)
LT144
(none)
(none)
LT144, LT231, LT232
BA P500 Multimedia Journalism,
BA P501 Multimedia Journalism (Including Year Abroad),
BA P503 Multimedia Journalism (Including Placement Year),
BA P590 Journalism and Modern Languages,
BA P550 Journalism and Criminology,
BA P551 Journalism and Criminology (Including Placement Year),
BA P552 Journalism and Criminology (Including Year Abroad),
BA P540 Journalism and Sociology,
BA P541 Journalism and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA P542 Journalism and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA P510 Journalism and English Language,
BA P511 Journalism and English Language (Including Placement Year),
BA P512 Journalism and English Language (Including Year Abroad),
BA P530 Journalism and Literature,
BA P531 Journalism and Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA P532 Journalism and Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA P570 Journalism with Human Rights,
BA P571 Journalism with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA P572 Journalism with Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA P580 Journalism and Politics,
BA P581 Journalism and Politics (Including Placement Year),
BA P582 Journalism and Politics (Including Year Abroad)
This module covers the history of journalism in Britain from its beginnings in the 17th century to the start of the internet age. Topics include: the impact of printing; the first news serials; government attempts to control the press from the 17th to the 19th centuries; the emergence of mass circulation papers; the role of press barons in the 20th century; radio and the rise of the BBC; the press from 1945 to 2000; the arrival and development of television; ownership and control of the media; and the impact of the internet. The module critically considers the evolving political, economic and social contexts of journalism and the media more generally, underpinning and informing the content of all other elements of the degree course.
The aims of the module are to:
1. give you an understanding of how British journalism got to where it is now
2. give you an understanding of the changing political and economic constraints on media freedom
3. give you a sense of how ownership and control of news media have changed over time
4. give you an introduction to interpretative controversies in media history
5. enable you to relate journalism's past to contemporary debates about its role and ethics.
At the end of this module you will:
1. be able to place today's journalism in Britain in a historical context
2. have a good sense of how controversies over censorship, freedom of expression, media ownership and the influence of mass media on politics and society have played out in the past five centuries
3. have a working knowledge of how technological change has affected the news media over time
4. understand the origins of contemporary concerns about journalistic ethics.
Essential Reading:
Hargreaves, Ian (2014) Journalism – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Curran, James and Seaton, Jean (2016) Power Without Responsibility: Press, Broadcasting and the Internet in Britain, London: Routledge. EBSCOhost ebook collection.
Recommended / supplementary reading:
Marr, Andrew (2005) My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism, London: Pan Books.
Conboy, Martin and Steel, John (2014) Routledge Companion to British Media History, London: Routledge
Conboy, Martin (2004) Journalism: A Critical History, London: Sage
The module will be taught through a combination of lectures, discussions and practical examples and case studies. Teaching will be based on a weekly two-hour seminar, comprising a lecture and interactive discussion delivered by journalism staff, enhanced by guest lecturers as appropriate with expertise in the history and practice of journalism.
- Williams, Francis. (1957) Dangerous Estate: the anatomy of newspapers, [London]: Longmans, Green and co.
- Conboy, Martin. (2004) Journalism: a critical history, London: Sage.
- Greenslade, Roy. (2003) Press Gang: how newspapers make profits from propaganda, London: Macmillan.
- Derrick Knight. (1971) 'Development', in Scoop, scandal, and strife: a study of photography in newspapers, New York: Hastings House.
- Michael Harris. (1978) 'The structure, ownership and control of the press, 1620-1780', in Newspaper history: from the seventeenth century to the present, London: Sage Publications. vol. Communication and society
- Crisell, Andrew. (2002) An Introductory History of British Broadcasting, London: Routledge.
- Colin Seymour-Ure. (1975) 'The press and the party system between the wars', in The politics of reappraisal, 1918-1939, London: Macmillan.
- Peter Chippindale; Chris Horrie. (2013) Stick it up Your Punter!: the uncut story of the Sun newspaper, London: Faber.
- Brendon, Piers. (1983) The Life and Death of the Press Barons, New York: Atheneum.
- James Curran; Jean Seaton. (©2018) Power without responsibility: press, broadcasting and the Internet in Britain, Abingdon: Routledge.
- Matthew Engel. (1997) Tickle the Public: one hundred years of the popular press, London: Indigo.
- Black, Jeremy. (2002) ''From woodcuts to steam press'', in BBC History Magazine., pp.12-14
- Hargreaves, Ian. (2014) Journalism: a very short introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press. vol. Very short introductions
- J. Lee Thompson. (2000) Northcliffe: press baron in politics, 1865-1922, London: John Murray.
- Seymour-Ure, Colin. (1996) The British Press and Broadcasting Since 1945, Oxford: Blackwell.
- Pettegree, Andrew. (©2014) The Invention of News: How the world came to know about itself, New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Andrew Crisell. (2002) An introductory history of British broadcasting, London: Routledge.
- Colin Seymour-Ure. (2000) 'Northcliffe’s legacy', in Northcliffe's legacy: aspects of the British popular press, 1896-1996, New York: St. Martin's Press. vol. Contemporary history in context series
- Olusoga, David. (2017) Black and British: a forgotten history, London: Pan Books.
- Nicholas Pronay. (©1987) 'Rearmament and the British public: policy and propaganda', in Impacts and influences: essays on media power in the twentieth century, London: Routledge.
- Brock, George. (2013) Out of Print: Newspapers, Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital Age, London: Kogan Page Ltd.
- Hargreaves, Ian; EBSCOhost ebook collection. (2005, 2003) Journalism: a very short introduction, Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press. vol. Very short introductions
- Deian Hopkin. (1970) 'Domestic censorship in the first world war', in Journal of Contemporary History. vol. 5 (4) , pp.151-169
- James Curran; Jean Seaton. (2018) Power Without Responsibility: press, broadcasting and the Internet in Britain, Abingdon: Routledge.
- Black, Jeremy. (2001) The English Press, 1621-1861, Stroud: Sutton.
- Williams, Kevin. (2010) Get Me a Murder a Day!: a history of media and communication in Britain, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Hannah Barker. (1998) Newspapers, Politics and Public Opinion in late eighteenth-century England, Oxford: Clarendon Press. vol. Oxford historical monographs
- Black, Jeremy. (c1987) The English Press in the Eighteenth Century, London: Croom Helm.
- Wiener, Joel H. (1969) The War of the Unstamped: the movement to repeal the British newspaper tax, 1830-1836, Ithaca [N.Y.]: Cornell University Press.
- Colin Lovelace. (1978) 'British press censorship during the first world war', in Newspaper history: from the seventeenth century to the present, London: Sage Publications. vol. Communication and society
- Cockett, Richard. (1989) Twilight of Truth: Chamberlain, appeasement, and the manipulation of the press, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- Marr, Andrew. (2005) My Trade: a short history of British journalism, London: Pan Books.
- Lucy Brown. (1992) 'The British press, 1800-1860', in The encyclopedia of the British press, 1422-1992, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Knightley, Phillip. (2004) The First Casualty: The war correspondent as hero and myth-maker from the Crimea to Iraq, Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Jeremy Black. (1992) 'The eighteenth century British press', in The encyclopedia of the British press, 1422-1992, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Harris, Michael. (1997) 'Farewell to Fleet Street?', in A journalism reader, London: Routledge. vol. Communication and society
- Joel H. Wiener. (1988) 'How new was the New Journalism?', in Papers for the millions: the new journalism in Britain, 1850s to 1914, New York: Greenwood Press. vol. Contributions to the study of mass media and communications
- Lee, Alan J. (1976) The Origins of the Popular Press in England, 1855-1914, London: Croom Helm.
- Ruth Dudley Edwards. (2004) Newspapermen: Hugh Cudlipp, Cecil Harmsworth King, and the glory days of Fleet Street, London: Pimlico.
- Linda Melvern. (1986) The End of the Street, London: Methuen.
- Ofcom. (no date) News consumption in the UK: 2019.
- Cox, Howard; Mowatt, Simon. (2014) Revolutions from Grub Street: a history of magazine publishing in Britain, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course. The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students. Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay (1,500 words) |
|
100% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Mr Paul Anderson, email: paul.anderson@essex.ac.uk.
Paul Anderson
LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk.
Telephone 01206 872626
Yes
No
No
Mr Richard Evans
City, University of London
Programme Director, UG Journalism
Available via Moodle
Of 443 hours, 0 (0%) hours available to students:
443 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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