In line with a growing national awareness, Oberlin has added a course in media literacy, to its academic offerings this semester. Taught by Sam Fulwood III, a professional journalist with the Cleveland Plain Dealer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this Rhetoric and Composition Course centers around media critique and analysis, rather than journalistic technique. “[Media Literacy] means that you understand what the writer is doing . . .and cannot be manipulated,” Fulwood said.

Fulwood’s class, titled “Studies in Journalism: Media Literacy,” is only, however, being offered this semester. Oberlin does not currently have a journalism department, and there are no plans to consider starting a full journalism department at this point in time or the near future. The Rhetoric and Composition department was “originally created to support the writing requirement at Oberlin,” Associate Professor Jan Cooper said.
Though the department sponsors the “Practicum in Journalism” course, “Studies in Journalism” is the school’s first class in journalism taught by faculty. Many students, both past and current, feel that this is a weakness in the curriculum at Oberlin. Last year these concerns led to a petition to the dean, led by Laurie McMillin of the Rhetoric and Composition department, to provide a course in journalism taught by a professional journalist. The result was RHET-207.
The class, which meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:50, is divided topically by modules. The first module, the class is devoted to studying how the media communicates information to the public. For example, the past two weeks of the class have examined storytelling in movies and television and how it relates to journalistic works. The class watched the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith and an episode of Star Trek, and then applied what they learned about communications to an analysis of journalism.

“In the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, [writing a journalistic piece] is like making a movie. Whether we like the story or not . . .we do know what they are trying to say,” Mr. Fulwood said.

During the second module, students will discuss “larger philosophical and ethical issues in journalism and the media.”
Surprisingly, few students in the class actually write for campus publications. In fact, only about five students in the class of almost twenty said that they have ever written for an Oberlin publication. Students express many reasons for taking the class. One student wanted to use skills from the class to write reports for community work in her planned career. First-year Jessy Bradish felt that the class was important “because I feel like the media has more control over the . . . public than ever before.”
Whatever the reason for joining the class, students seem engaged in discussions of storytelling and the media. “Storytelling is at the heart of the way we communicate,” Fulwood said.

Although McMillin and the students who petitioned the dean for this class to be offered at Oberlin were successful this semester, it is uncertain whether or not there will be any more classes on journalism or media studies available in the future. Budgeting issues and the general student response to this type of course will determine whether further courses can be provided to interested students.