LECTURE SCHEDULE, READINGS & ASSIGNMENTS
SCHEDULE
Week 1: No class
Monday, Jan. 22
Professor is out of town. Please do HW1: Find/include links of opinion pieces you both agree and disagree with. Be ready to talk about them.
Week 2: Introduction
Monday, Jan. 29
What we will do in class: Discuss syllabus, purpose of class and go over your opinion pieces -- what works, what doesn't, what do you feel, how does it read?
What is due next session:
Read:
* "The Fairness Doctrine: How We Lost It & Why We Need It Back" -- Steve Rendall
* "The Fairness Doctrine won't solve our problems -- but it can foster needed debate" -- Viktor Pickard
* "Why The Fairness Doctrine Is Anything But Fair" -- Adam Thierer
Answer the following question in your own opinion piece: Why does the U.S. need or not need the Fairness Doctrine?
Week 3: The Fairness Doctrine
Monday, Feb. 5
What we will do in class: Discuss the Fairness Doctrine. Do we need it or not? Make your case.
What is due next session:
Read:
* "How to write an op-ed or column" -- Harvard Kennedy School
* "Joe Posnanski on being a great writer: Stay humble" -- Bleacher Report Blog
Week 4: How to write an effective opinion piece
Monday, Feb. 12
What we will do in class: Brief lecture on writing effective opinion pieces. Watch: Serena Williams and umpire get into it
Read in class:
* "At U.S. Open, power of Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka overshadowed by an umpire's power play" -- Sally Jenkins, Washington Post
* "Serena: Nobody's right, when everybody is wrong" -- Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle
* "Serena Williams, A Pathetic Meltdown and Victimhood" -- Matthew Vadum, Front Page Magazine
* WATCH: Stephen A. Smith on Williams & Ramos
What is due next session:
* Write your opinion on the Williams-Ramos encounter (No more than 500 words; bring it to class, submit to Blackboard by 5 p.m., Sunday)
Week 5: Serena Williams, Carlos Ramos and opinions
Monday, Feb. 19
What we will do in class: Discuss opinion pieces, how they're written and opinion audience
What is due next session: Read:
* "The Rise of a Partisan Press: News Was Not Always 'News'" -- Jim A. Kuypers
* "The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting" -- Stefano DellaVigna and Ethan Kaplan (2007)
* "Rethinking television's relationship to politics in the post-network era" -- J.P. Jones (2011)
*WATCH: Jon Stewart vs. Chris Wallace (2011)
What is due next session:
* Write your opinion on Fox News' role in American politics (No more than 500 words; bring it to class, submit to Blackboard by 5 p.m., Sunday)
Week 6: Framing, Fox News & Political commentary
Monday, Feb. 26
What we will do in class: Discuss opinion pieces, framing & political commentary
What is due next session: Read:
"On Liberty (Chapter 2)" | Summary -- John Stuart Mill
"The Tyranny of the Majority: When All Opinions are Created Equal" -- Raul Villamarin Rodriguez
* "Why Are People So Awful Online" -- Roxane Gay, New York Times (You can access NYT through QU's library)
* Write an opinion piece on the marketplace of ideas (questions you may explore: Whose opinions matter? Are all opinions worthy?) No more than 500 words; bring it to class, submit to Blackboard by 5 p.m., Sunday
Week 7: John Stuart Mill and the Marketplace of Ideas
Monday, March 4
What we will do in class: Discuss opinion pieces, explore marketplace of ideas & hurdles to achieving it.
What is due next session:
LISTEN: Episode 102 (Sally Jenkins) of Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy (2023)
Write: What is bugging you? Short essay or list of several things with short description. (Sunday, March 17)
Week 8: No class, Spring Break
Week 9: What is bugging you?
Monday, March 18
What we will do in class: Discuss your issues
What is due next session: Draft of Column/Commentary #1
Week 10: Present Column #1
Monday, March 25
What we will do in class: Present, discuss & workshop #1
What is due next session: COLUMN/COMMENTARY #1 (Sunday, March 31 by 5 p.m. to Blackboard)
Week 11: Counterpoint
Monday, April 1
What we will do in class:
What is due next session: Draft of Column/Commentary #2
Week 12: Present Column #2
Monday April 8
What we will do in class: Present, discuss & workshop #2
What is due next session: COLUMN/COMMENTARY #1 (Sunday, April 14 by 5 p.m. to Blackboard)
Week 13: Begin to work on final
Monday, April 15
What we will do in class:
What is due next session: Nothing
Week 14:
Monday. April 22
What we will do in class:
What is due next session: Draft of Final Column/Commentary
Week 15:
Monday, April 29
What we will do in class:
What is due next session:
FINAL COLUMN/COMMENTARY DUE no later than 10 a.m., Wednesday, May 8 to Blackboard
SCHEDULE
Week 1: No class
Monday, Jan. 22
Professor is out of town. Please do HW1: Find/include links of opinion pieces you both agree and disagree with. Be ready to talk about them.
Week 2: Introduction
Monday, Jan. 29
What we will do in class: Discuss syllabus, purpose of class and go over your opinion pieces -- what works, what doesn't, what do you feel, how does it read?
What is due next session:
Read:
* "The Fairness Doctrine: How We Lost It & Why We Need It Back" -- Steve Rendall
* "The Fairness Doctrine won't solve our problems -- but it can foster needed debate" -- Viktor Pickard
* "Why The Fairness Doctrine Is Anything But Fair" -- Adam Thierer
Answer the following question in your own opinion piece: Why does the U.S. need or not need the Fairness Doctrine?
Week 3: The Fairness Doctrine
Monday, Feb. 5
What we will do in class: Discuss the Fairness Doctrine. Do we need it or not? Make your case.
What is due next session:
Read:
* "How to write an op-ed or column" -- Harvard Kennedy School
* "Joe Posnanski on being a great writer: Stay humble" -- Bleacher Report Blog
Week 4: How to write an effective opinion piece
Monday, Feb. 12
What we will do in class: Brief lecture on writing effective opinion pieces. Watch: Serena Williams and umpire get into it
Read in class:
* "At U.S. Open, power of Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka overshadowed by an umpire's power play" -- Sally Jenkins, Washington Post
* "Serena: Nobody's right, when everybody is wrong" -- Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle
* "Serena Williams, A Pathetic Meltdown and Victimhood" -- Matthew Vadum, Front Page Magazine
* WATCH: Stephen A. Smith on Williams & Ramos
What is due next session:
* Write your opinion on the Williams-Ramos encounter (No more than 500 words; bring it to class, submit to Blackboard by 5 p.m., Sunday)
Week 5: Serena Williams, Carlos Ramos and opinions
Monday, Feb. 19
What we will do in class: Discuss opinion pieces, how they're written and opinion audience
What is due next session: Read:
* "The Rise of a Partisan Press: News Was Not Always 'News'" -- Jim A. Kuypers
* "The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting" -- Stefano DellaVigna and Ethan Kaplan (2007)
* "Rethinking television's relationship to politics in the post-network era" -- J.P. Jones (2011)
*WATCH: Jon Stewart vs. Chris Wallace (2011)
What is due next session:
* Write your opinion on Fox News' role in American politics (No more than 500 words; bring it to class, submit to Blackboard by 5 p.m., Sunday)
Week 6: Framing, Fox News & Political commentary
Monday, Feb. 26
What we will do in class: Discuss opinion pieces, framing & political commentary
What is due next session: Read:
"On Liberty (Chapter 2)" | Summary -- John Stuart Mill
"The Tyranny of the Majority: When All Opinions are Created Equal" -- Raul Villamarin Rodriguez
* "Why Are People So Awful Online" -- Roxane Gay, New York Times (You can access NYT through QU's library)
* Write an opinion piece on the marketplace of ideas (questions you may explore: Whose opinions matter? Are all opinions worthy?) No more than 500 words; bring it to class, submit to Blackboard by 5 p.m., Sunday
Week 7: John Stuart Mill and the Marketplace of Ideas
Monday, March 4
What we will do in class: Discuss opinion pieces, explore marketplace of ideas & hurdles to achieving it.
What is due next session:
LISTEN: Episode 102 (Sally Jenkins) of Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy (2023)
Write: What is bugging you? Short essay or list of several things with short description. (Sunday, March 17)
Week 8: No class, Spring Break
Week 9: What is bugging you?
Monday, March 18
What we will do in class: Discuss your issues
What is due next session: Draft of Column/Commentary #1
Week 10: Present Column #1
Monday, March 25
What we will do in class: Present, discuss & workshop #1
What is due next session: COLUMN/COMMENTARY #1 (Sunday, March 31 by 5 p.m. to Blackboard)
Week 11: Counterpoint
Monday, April 1
What we will do in class:
What is due next session: Draft of Column/Commentary #2
Week 12: Present Column #2
Monday April 8
What we will do in class: Present, discuss & workshop #2
What is due next session: COLUMN/COMMENTARY #1 (Sunday, April 14 by 5 p.m. to Blackboard)
Week 13: Begin to work on final
Monday, April 15
What we will do in class:
What is due next session: Nothing
Week 14:
Monday. April 22
What we will do in class:
What is due next session: Draft of Final Column/Commentary
Week 15:
Monday, April 29
What we will do in class:
What is due next session:
FINAL COLUMN/COMMENTARY DUE no later than 10 a.m., Wednesday, May 8 to Blackboard