COMM 750: The Rise of Western Journalism

Western journalism: the dominant paradigm

International journalism today may be shifting platforms, from paper to pixels. But the idea of journalism hasn't changed. What journalism should be, what news values should mean, what an audience ought to expect is based on ideals as developed in the western world.

Standards of journalism in Australia, Europe and North America grew in the nineteenth century to dominate the world's approach to journalism.

How did Western journalism grow in one century from publications for the elite in a few places to material for the masses around the world? How did it differ in countries as contrasting as Canada and Germany--and yet, how was it similar in concept? And why does it still dominate today's media world?

This graduate-level seminar at North Dakota State University will examine development of world journalism standards through the historical record of society's changing world view. Based on essays in The Rise of Western Journalism 1815-1914, students will understand why Western journalists today dominate world news coverage.

About the class instructor

North Dakota State University, Fargo, communication Professor Ross F. Collins is a specialist on French journalism. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, Britain, and has spent extensive research time in France. For more information, consult the North Dakota State University commucation department web site, or access a complete online vita.