College of Communication
Please direct all questions about the flag proposal process to the Center for the Skills & Experience Flags.
J 346G Domestic Issues and Global Perspective
Department of Journalism
To satisfy the Global Cultures flag, at least one-third of course grade must be based on content dealing with non-U.S communities, countries, or coherent regional groupings of countries, past or present. Please describe which non-U.S. communities will be studied in this course, and how one-third of the course grade is based on study of the group(s).
This course examines global issues that affect both the U.S. and other countries. News events from other countries are examined to compare and contrast how the U.S. news media depicts the event, versus how media from other countries describe the event. The countries are usually chosen based on recent news events to give Journalism students a timely topic to explore. Past examples have included Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant disaster, Brazil during the last summer Olympics, and uprisings during the Arab Spring.
The Global Cultures flag requires that an in-depth examination of the broader cultural context and perspectives of these non-U.S. communities. Please describe readings, assignments, and activities that allow students to engage in depth with these non-U.S. communities.
Students will read timely articles from major U.S. publications, as well as articles from English-language publications from other countries (The Guardian, Financial Times, The Times of India, The Korea Times, etc.) Al Dia, the Dallas Morning News’ Spanish-language publication, has also been used to provide additional context from a different community within the U.S. Assignments will include comparing the coverage of events from different cultural perspectives to undercover why one outlet will describe it one way, and another outlet will use other terms or facts to cover the same event.
The Global Cultures flag indicates that, ideally, a course will challenge students to explore the beliefs and practices of non-U.S. cultural communities in relation to their own cultural experiences so that they engage in an active process of self-reflection. Please describe some assignments or activities that give students an opportunity for this kind of reflection.
Students will be asked to examine bias they may have when they accept one version of a story as true, without necessarily understanding cultural context. Through comparative/intercultural analysis, students gain an understanding of the various perspectives different cultures incorporate when sharing stories with the world.