ΕΝΔ524: The Challenges of new Journalism

The aim of the module is to provide the student with the theoretical knowledge that will allow him/her to practice the profession of journalism. To understand the broader context within which journalism operates. To begin by understanding the contradictions through which the journalistic message passes, primarily related to the economic - business landscape of the media. This is an environment that does not remain unchanged over time.

However, information, as a whole and as each individual part (an article, a report, a post, etc.), is consistently obliged to strike a balance between the conditions that guarantee the safe business operation of the medium and the most comprehensive and representative information possible for citizens. The same tug-of-war can be observed in relation to political power.

In addition to the constraints that test information, beyond the economic and political landscape, the evolution of the dominant discourse and the techniques used by power to maximise the impact of its persuasion are added to the constraints that test information. These are techniques influenced by the evolution of communication and the broader ideological, epistemological environment of each era. The rush of meta-truth into public debate in the last five years is not unconnected, for example, with the rise of irrationalism.

The biggest challenge for New Journalism, however, is related to the collection of the material that will constitute the raw material of the information. This is by definition a divisive process, as it involves the selection and rejection of the evidence that allows for the formation of an opinion and an argument around which an article, a post, a television or radio broadcast or a news bulletin will be built.

First and foremost, however, content is speech: imaginative writing, precise expression and engaging narrative. New Journalism must be thoroughly and practically familiar with all the writing tools that the journalistic world has developed over the past decades. However, it must also develop them, treating language as a living organism that changes daily, eliminating obsolete formulations or pompous expressions and incorporating new forms and shapes, always critically in line with the evolution of language. The criterion is the apt depiction of complex situations and contemporary phenomena.

Using printed and electronic material, new media and social networking, the following subjects are developed:

1. Political and economic geography of information.
2. Political and economic economics and political economy of the economic and political economy.
3. Investigative journalism 2.0. Source gathering, evaluation methodology and evidence.
4. Knowledge, writing and expression in journalism