/ Fall 25-26 /
Course Description
In this course, we will explore the stories and issues that sit at the intersection of media, law, and ethics. From the newsroom to the film set to the viewer’s couch, we will look at the ethical questions that float around the productions and consumptions of modern media. What does it mean to be represented? Why is one person’s news another’s misinformation? Is it okay to laugh at that? Taking a broad survey of media, we will look at how ethical questions interplay with arrangements of powers. We will analyse the judicial, and aesthetic, laws that come out of the collision of ethics and politics. We will unpack how historically shifting meanings of truth and objectivity have been remediated through mass communication. We will dive into the melting pots of ideology and emotion that end up determining our approach and reaction to media. And we will debate and discuss how modern society is shaped and mediated through these entanglements of power, perspective, truth, and vision. With a focus on the practical realities of media, law, and ethics, and their shifting definitions and shapes across era, locale, and context, we will take a truly global perspective on these issues, travelling from Plato’s cave to drone killing fields to the Cosby Show to the forests of South Lebanon. Through our discussions and creative projects, we will develop critical answers to the most pressing questions surrounding our relationship to media today.