Undergraduate Sports Journalism Concentration

This course will explore the state and practice of sports journalism, through case studies of some of this decade’s most controversial sports stories. We will explore these issues through evaluating coverage, reading related texts and talking directly to prominent sports journalists, executives and athletes.

This course will introduce students to sports and will take a macroscopic approach in discussing sports’ societal influence. It will study sport from a socio-cultural-historical perspective as well as from a contemporary position. It will focus on the converging worlds of print journalism, electronic media, public relations, advertising, documentary and emerging technologies as expressed in the new commercial reality of sport. (PUL 5, 6, 1C)

P: J150, J200, J210. This class will offer an overview of sports writing from its origins to its current status in the twenty-first century. The course will teach students fundamentals of the sports-writing process from information gathering and interviewing to writing and editing copy. Students will gain requisite skills for working in today’s sports departments and will write and publish stories on IU Indianapolis athletics and area professional teams and events.

P: J150. This course will study sports journalism’s key policies, trends and issues. It will examine sociological, political, legal, ethical and technological issues in college and professional sports. It will focus on current events and controversies in the world of sports journalism. This course will discuss the symbiotic relationship between sport media and race, gender, doping, steroids, sexuality and homophobia, politics and nationalism, sports fans, loyalty, violence, disability in sport, and other provocative issues.