SMC0012 - Beyond Rage to Riots and Reconciliation: Journalists Covering Conflict in Philadelphia

Course Description

July 12 – July 23, 2021

What is the role of a journalist in understanding and covering the conflicts of our city? This course allows you to explore how journalists can better understand what escalates a conflict and how coverage of a conflict may create greater tension or provide a potential for reconciliation and repair. You’ll consider how journalistic bias may color the coverage of a conflict and whether journalism prevents people who should have voice from raising that voice for social change. Your focus will be on working in groups to understand three major Philadelphia conflicts in the past year – COVID and vaccination struggles in Philadelphia, “To Open or Not To Open”—What Should the School District Do?, and Police Reform in the City of Brotherly Love – Making Up for What We Saw This Summer. You will have a chance to analyze journalistic coverage in these three pertinent issues through the lens of models of conflict management and escalation. Your team will produce a piece of journalistic coverage in a medium (or media) of your choice.