JAMS 116 Syllabus DRAFT
Fall 2016
Prof. Jeff Smith
Online
JOURNALISM, DOCUMENTARY, AND DEMOCRACY
Documentary work in film, television, photography, print, and other media
contributes to debates on the issues democracies try to resolve. This course uses
historical context, ethical standards, media studies concepts, and understandings of
narrative techniques to analyze selected documentary projects on the needs,
liberties, and choices of American citizens. The production process often involves
investigative skills and storytelling methods that can be controversial. Usually
considered a descriptive, explanatory, non-fiction genre, documentary can also
attempt to entertain and persuade. The content may be monitorial (supplying
information), facilitative (supporting processes), radical (voicing criticism), or
collaborative (providing cooperation).
Students examine and write about documentary work done in visually
striking and sometimes deceptive ways. The purpose is to gain knowledge of
selected topics and their representations in the media and to sharpen skills in
finding sources, analytical reasoning, critical thought, and written communication.
Lectures, videos, readings, and all other parts of the course are available on the
course D2L site at: http://uwm.courses.wisconsin.edu. Some videos and readings
are available online and can be located by clicking on the hyperlinks below. Many
films can be found at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ or the UWM library’s
database Kanopy. No books or other purchases are required.
Grading: The course grade will be based on the highest five scores (20%
each) from six grades: five short essays and a final essay examination. The main
criteria for grading are the soundness and depth of the knowledge used, the
appropriate application of course material, the logic and sophistication of the
analysis, and the quality of the writing.
Essay, examination, and course average grades (which are not rounded up)
are: 95-100 A, 91-94 A-, 88-90 B+, 85-87 B, 82-84 B-, 79-81 C+, 76-78 C, 73-75 C-,
70-72 D+, 67-69 D, 64-66 D-, below 64 F.
My office hours are by Skype or other electronic means. Contact me for
details. My e-mail is jsmith@uwm.edu. Consider me readily available by e-mail for
any questions or comments you have.
Like the course on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Journalism-Documentary-andDemocracy/141430719261204
2
Schedule
Tuesday, September 6 to Tuesday, September 13
Introduction.
Rabiger, Michael. Directing the Documentary. 5th ed. Burlington, Mass.:
Focal Press, 2009. Pages 631-46.
Scheuer, Jeffrey. The Big Picture: Why Democracies Need Journalistic
Excellence. New York: Routledge, 2008. Pages 1-21.
Documentary: Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary.
Tuesday, September 13 to Friday, September 30
Part I: Evaluating Documentary Work: Norms, Narratives, and
Techniques
Aufderheide, Patricia. Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pages 1-25.
Rabiger, Michael. Directing the Documentary. 5th ed. Burlington, Mass.:
Focal Press, 2009. Pages 7-26, 351-360.
Saunders, Dave. Documentary. New York: Routledge, 2010. Pages 11-32.
Documentaries: Peepshow Pioneers, A Film Unfinished, America and the
Holocaust, An American Family, and Rent-a-Wolf: Filmmakers Fake Wildlife
'Documentaries.'
Friday, September 30. Part I essay due in D2L drop box at noon. Topic:
Reflecting on lectures and at least three additional sources (course readings and
other print materials) that you list in bibliographic form at the end, write an essay of
approximately 750 words discussing the documentary maker’s primary obligations
to the audience. Refer to at least one of the Part I documentaries listed above. List,
describe (with specific examples if possible), and logically justify (with at least one
reference to democracy) what you personally consider the five most important
standards that should be met. At least half of the essay should be devoted to specific
justifications (such as ethical, moral, philosophical, professional, prudential, and
structural rationales) supporting your selection of standards.
Friday, September 30 to Friday, October 14
Part II: Photography: Witnessing and Identifying
3
Alinder, Jasmine. Moving Images: Photography and the Japanese American
Incarceration. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009. Pages 1-21.
Linfield, Susie. The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Pages 32-62. [WARNING: graphic
words.]
Smith, Greg. What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss: A Student Guide.
New York, Routledge, 2011. Pages 35-51.
Documentary: Documenting the Face of America.
Friday, October 14: Part II essay due in D2L drop box at noon. Topic:
Scholarly analyses of photographs of suffering people have varied from charges of
voyeurism to accolades for bearing witness and prodding the conscience. Some
contend that a kind of moving beauty can be found in images of human pain. The
aestheticization of suffering is a subject of debate, but presumably few doubt that
photographs such as those of the Japanese American internment (see the Jasmine
Alinder reading above) can conceal or reveal problems and that images can incline
the viewer to identify with a victim. Reflecting on lectures and at least three
additional sources (course readings and other print materials) that you list in
bibliographic form at the end, discuss in an essay of approximately 750 words what
factors you think work (or fail to work) toward making you concerned and/or
causing you to personally identify with the people in three to six examples you cut
and paste in (or somehow specify) from one or more of the following collections of
photographs:
Race]
http://withoutsanctuary.org/ [lynchings] [WARNING: graphic images]
www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/ [child labor]
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html [Depression, WWII,
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/manz/ [Japanese American
internment]
http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/ [recent wars]
Friday, October 14, to Friday, October 28
Part III: Human Rights and Needs: Learning and Taking Action
Sefcovic, Enid M. “Cultural Memory and the Cultural Legacy of Individualism
and Community in Two Classic Films about Labor Unions.” Critical Studies in Media
Communication 19 (September 2002): 329-51. [On the Waterfront and Salt of the
Earth]
Smith, Jeffery A. “Paradigm Stretching: The Milwaukee Journal’s
4
Responses to James Groppi’s Civil Rights Protests.” Paper presented at the Media
and Civil Rights History Symposium, University of South Carolina, Columbia SC,
March 18-19, 2011.
Documentaries: Triangle Fire, Salt of the Earth, As Goes Janesville, Two
American Families, Freedom Riders, Freedom Walkers, and Stonewall Uprising.
Friday, October 28: Part III essay due in D2L drop box at noon. Topic:
Reflecting on lectures and at least three additional sources (course readings and
other print materials) that you list in bibliographic form at the end, use the ethics
code of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) at
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp to discuss in an essay of approximately 750
words how at least two general or specific SPJ standards you choose are being met
or not met in the making of at least two of the Part III documentaries listed above.
Use specific examples to make connections between the standards and the content.
Friday, October 28 to Friday, November 11
Part IV: Civil Liberties and National Security: Investigating and
Questioning
Smith, Jeffery A. “Prior Restraint: Original Intentions and Modern
Interpretations.” William and Mary Law Review 28 (Spring 1987): 439-72.
Smith, Jeffery A. “Panel IV: The Future of the Press and Secrecy.”
Communication Law and Policy 19 (winter 2014): 129-39.
Documentaries: The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg,
Fahrenheit 9/11, The United States of Secrets (Parts I and II), Wikisecrets, Wikileaks:
The Private Life of Bradley Manning, Citizenfour.
Friday, November 11: Part IV essay due in D2L drop box at noon. Topic:
Reflecting on lectures and at least three additional sources (course readings and
other print materials) that you list in bibliographic form at the end, analyze in an
essay of approximately 750 words how at least two of the concepts you choose from
the Media Studies Concepts list at the end of the Part IV lecture can be used to
understand the work done in at least two of the Part IV documentaries listed above.
Use specific examples of what the filmmakers did to illustrate the concepts.
Friday, November 11 to Friday, December 2
Part V: American Politics: Looking Right and Left
Toobin, Jeffrey. “Money Unlimited: How John Roberts Orchestrated the
Citizens United Decision.” New Yorker, May 21, 2012.
5
Documentaries: Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton, Boogie Man, Reagan,
Hillary: The Movie, The World According to Dick Cheney, and Park Avenue: Money,
Power, and the American Dream.
Friday, December 2: Part V essay due in D2L drop box at noon. Topic:
Reflecting on lectures and at least three additional sources (course readings and
other print materials) that you list in bibliographic form at the end, write a review of
one of the Part V documentaries listed above. Specify a place that would be
appropriate for publishing the review. The review should have approximately 750
words and should have informative and insightful analysis. Include some discussion
of fairness. You could apply the kinds of standards found at:
http://www.pbs.org/about/editorial-standards/ and
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages//frontline/us/guidelines.html. Who made and
sponsored the project? Consider what questions are being asked or ignored and
what seems accurate or distorted. Be sure to explain the documentary’s significance
and to provide your own opinions about its value. Let readers know what they can
learn and what they may feel. How is the story told and what solutions, if any, are
presented?
Final Examination
Friday, December 16: Final exam due in D2L drop box at noon. Using the
guidelines provided by Michael Rabiger on the pages listed below and at least three
additional sources (course readings and other print sources) that you list in
bibliographic form at the end, keeping course content in mind, and limiting yourself
to a total of approximately 750 words, prepare a “working hypothesis” and set of
“pitch statements” for a short, simple, nonfiction documentary you would like to
make if you had the necessary skills and resources. The documentary should have
some stated connection to the broad concept of “democracy” (the idea that the
people rule themselves and have opportunities to live what they consider good
lives), present largely fresh subject matter, and offer some valuable insights.
Rabiger, Michael. Directing the Documentary. 5th ed. Burlington, Mass.:
Focal Press, 2009. Pages 51-58. [See pages 58-64 and 361-69 if you are interested
in what a detailed proposal would include. See also
http://www.pbs.org/producing/proposal/ ]
Course Policies


Some students may have sensitivities about disturbing images. Any concerns
or desired alternatives should be discussed with the instructor at the
beginning of the course.
Essays turned in late (without an extension) are subject to a 20-point penalty
during each following 24-hour period. Exams turned in late are subject to a
100-point penalty.
6




The instructor has responsibilities that include understanding students’
needs and encouraging them to develop their abilities. Any concerns about
the course can be brought up with the instructor or taken to the JAMS
department chair.
Incidents of academic misconduct, such as cheating, handing in a paper to
more than one course without permission, and plagiarism (directly quoting
the words of others without using quotation marks or indented format to
identify them, using sources of information without identifying them, or
paraphrasing materials or ideas of others without attribution) will be
handled with UWM procedures and can result in penalties such as a grade of
F for the course. For explanations of UWM policies and examples of
plagiarism, go to:
http://www4.uwm.edu/acad_aff/policy/academicmisconduct.cfm and
http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/guides/style/plagiarism.cfm
For information on campus policies on disabilities, religious observances,
military duty, incompletes, discriminatory conduct (such as sexual
harassment), academic misconduct, complaints, grade appeals, and final
examinations, go to: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf
In the event of disruption of normal academic activities, the format for this
course may be modified to enable completion of the course. In that event,
you will be provided an addendum to this syllabus that will supersede this
version.
Here are my estimates of how your time will be spent:
Time spent online reading lecture and/or other material: 65 hours.
Time taking exam: 7 hours.
Time completing assignments: 60 hours.
Time for preparation and study: 12 hours.