Detailed Information
From Bad news to Fake News
An exploration of the relationship between political journalism and establishment interests in the English-speaking world from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. This course will examine the extent to which journalism has been used in the service of powerful vested interests, or in ‘speaking truth to power’ on behalf of the vulnerable, the disenfranchised or the disillusioned. The course will begin by focusing on American ‘muckraking’ and British ‘new journalism’ of the late 1800s and how they created a template for the notable investigative ‘scoops’ of the 20th century, including the leaking of the Pentagon Papers and the exposure of the Watergate and thalidomide scandals. It will also examine the importance of the political cartoon, before assessing the successes and failures of journalism in the twenty-first century, contrasting, for example, the investigative achievements of Boston Globe Spotlight team as against the ‘white noise’ and outright lies of outlets like Info Wars.
Online Zoom
6 Wednesdays 10.30 - 12.30 pm
Nov 04, 11, 18, 25, Dec 02, 09
Book List:
- Boston Globe Investigative Staff, Betrayal: the Crisis in the Catholic Church
- Nick Davies, Flat Earth News
- Ian Hargreaves, Journalism: A Very Short Introduction
- Michael Herr, Dispatches
- Phil Knightley, The First Casualty
- W. Sydney Robinson, Muckraker: The Scandalous Life and Times of W.T. Stead
Week 1: American muckraking and yellow journalism – this will include an assessment of the contributions of the Irish editor/proprietors Samuel McClure and Edwin Godkin.
Week 2: W.T.Stead and British ‘New Journalism’ – incorporating the template established with the Star newspaper in 1888 by Irish journalist and MP, T.P. O’Connor.
Week 3: Cartoons and caricatures – how caricaturists from Daumier in Louis Phillipe’s France to Steve Bell today, have managed to get under the skin of our hallowed political leaders.
Week 4: The Golden Age of investigative journalism – the halcyon days of the Sunday Times Insight team, the leaking of the Pentagon papers by the New York Times and the pursuit by the Washington Post of the truth behind the Watergate break-in.
Week 5: Some highlights from the Bronze Age – the film documentaries of Michael Moore, Errol Morris and Charles Ferguson and how the Boston Globe Spotlight team exposed the rampant paedophilia in the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston.
Week 6: The Retreat: Fake News and feral scribes – from the OTT National Enquirer to the lies and bile of Info Wars.
Students should emerge from this course with some awareness of the origins and history of investigative journalism, of the proliferation and sources of 'fake news’, and the dwindling of impartial and independent sources of information in latter-day journalistic discourse.
Dr Myles Dungan
Dr. Myles Dungan is a broadcaster and historian. He has presented The History Show on RTE Radio 1 since its inception in 2010. He writes and presents ‘On This Day’ the weekly RTE Drivetime feature and has made a number of award-winning history documentaries on radio. He is the author of a number of books, including How the Irish Won the West (2006). A Fulbright scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in 2007 and 2011 he received a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin in 2012.