Course Syllabus

Global Issues in the Media

Faculty

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General Education Requirements

Humanistic Perspectives
Research and Writing Intensive

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This writing course examines the worldwide reporting of key issues in a range of audio, print, and electronic media. Students will study and write about several of the most significant issues facing today's world and discover how the language and style employed in creating and communicating news can affect public understanding and response to world events. Students must complete a final research paper with a grade of C- or better in order to pass this course. This course fulfills the research and writing intensive requirement. Prerequisite: English Composition.

Essential Objectives

1. Explore and analyze how a diversity of media sources (including radio, television, blogs, the foreign press, newspapers, weeklies, and narrative journalism) cover important global issues.
2. Analyze the role of journalism and journalists at important times throughout history, and learn the role of journalists within news organizations to better understand collection, evaluation, and dissemination of information as it relates to the research process.
3. Discuss and describe the purpose and power of rhetoric--including the media's use of informal spoken communication, sound bites, images, and speeches--and how it relates to understanding ethical issues involved in reporting and interpreting media communication.
4. Critically examine and reflect on the ways perception of contemporary world events is shaped by the medium in which they are communicated, including social media, crowd-sourced reporting, and official and unofficial blogs.
5. Examine global news reporting across different media platforms, both national and international, for differences in the selection of stories, and explore racial, gendered, historical, political, economic, and cultural biases in reporting.
6. Demonstrate consistent and confident use of standard English conventions, including grammar, usage, organization, and mechanics.
7. Demonstrate information literacy skills: distinguish between and utilize both primary and secondary sources; perform library and web-based literature searches; and evaluate data and resources for credibility, reliability, and validity.
8. Demonstrate the ability to apply either APA or MLA citation styles in academic writing by parenthetically citing sources in the text and correctly compiling them in the relevant end sources page.
9. Compose, revise, and edit a final paper that includes a thesis, integrates five or more scholarly and professional sources, including primary and secondary evidence as needed, to address an academic research question and demonstrate writing proficiency by achieving a grade of C- or better.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Spring 2026 textbook details will be available on 2025-12-01. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Allowed: This course's generative AI policy acknowledges technology, including generative AI, plays a supportive role in learning and feedback. During our class, we may use AI writing tools such as ChatGPT in certain specific cases. You will be informed as to when, where, and how these tools are permitted to be used, along with guidance for attribution. Any use outside of these specific cases constitutes a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Methods

Through readings and discussions, the class will interact with a wide variety of issues that are historically and currently hotly discussed in the media. As part of the class reading, students will be expected to keep up-to-date on local, national, and world news.

Grading will involve reaction writing, quizzes, and several case studies. Participation in all these activities is crucial to the student's learning.

This is a synchronous course. You will be generally expected to attend via Zoom each week.

Evaluation Criteria

• Three case study "papers", 3-4 pages, 10% each
• One research paper, 7-10 pages, APA format with 5-item annotated bibliography 25%*
• In-class presentation of researched final material, ~5 minutes, 10%
• Response Journals, Smaller Presentations,and Assignments 20%
• In-class Participation 15%

* A student must receive a 70 or better on this Research Paperanda cumulative average over 70 to pass the class.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Missing & Late Work Policy

All assignmentsmust, with no exception, be submitted through Canvas in the specified format.This will usually be the graded location, but may be through the Inbox with explicit permission. Files submitted or shared that are not openable will not count as submitted.

You will be expected to keep up with assignments and changes in the plan even if you are inactive one week. All changes will be posted to Canvas.

Late policies are dependent on type of assignments:

Building exercises and journals: flexible

Building exercises will be generally graded Complete/Incomplete. There is no numerical late penalty to this grade. However, if you turn in the exercise in on time and it is graded incomplete, you will automatically have the opportunity to revise it. If you turn it in late, due to the extra time available, you will not have the ability to revise it.

AllBuilding exercises have a hard submission cutoff of the first day of Module 15.

Discussions:

In some weeks, discussion boards are part of the module's async activities. Because they require synchronous interaction to have best effect, discussion posts and replies will only be accepted if they are made during the module week.

Project Process Steps and Final Versions:

Process and Final Assignments are important, timed steps along the class to the final research project. They may be submitted up to seven days late past their due date. After the due date and until the cutoff, they will receive a 10% peanlty. With prior agreement or significant circumstances, assignments may be accepted after the cutoff at instructor discretion.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/student-support/accessibility-services/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

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