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Sama, Vicky

Associate Teaching Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Prof. Vicky Sama is a journalism educator and journalist whose research interests center on threats to free speech and democracy. Her expansive journalism career includes covering war, drug cartels and guerrilla groups in Latin and South America. In addition to her expertise in media law and ethics, she has taught courses in political reporting, literary journalism and sports media.

keywords

  • First Amendment, student speech rights, war reporting, sports journalism, feature writing and political reporting

Teaching

courses taught

  • JRNL 3202 - Covering Political Campaigns
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
    Provides a blend of theoretical understanding and on the ground experience for students interested in learning about the forces that shape election coverage and the practicalities of reporting on the local and national races for public office.
  • JRNL 3651 - Media Law and Ethics
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
    Studies state and federal laws and court decisions that affect the media in order to develop knowledge of media rights and responsibilities and an understanding of the legal system. Provides students with an overview of the theories, ethics, codes, and analytical models that are used in journalism, and introduces students to a variety of ethical issues that can arise in journalism.
  • JRNL 4004 - The Sports Media Industry
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2022
    Examines the business practices and frameworks of the sports that journalists cover. Topics include market-driven journalism, the growth of sports coverage throughout in the 20th century, the technologies impacting sports business today, and the way money impacts coverage. Finally, the class explores the unique issues and challenges posed by the different financial structures of amateur and professional sports and how they influence sports coverage and reporting.
  • JRNL 4311 - Literary Journalism
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2023
    Explores the telling of nonfiction stories through the techniques of fiction, through study of American literary journalists, from the New Journalism of the 1960s through current longform narrative multimedia. Students will read and analyze narrative nonfiction from several periods of American history in order to expand their own storytelling repertoire. The class will emphasize in-depth reporting for narrative, character and scene development, narrative arc and structure and the use of dialogue. They will also explore the particular ethical dilemmas faced by writers of creative nonfiction. Same as JRNL 5311.
  • JRNL 4411 - International Media and Global Crises
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
    Investigates how media organizations, audiences and other international organizations function during various global crises, such as national disasters, climate change and health epidemics, due to imbalanced distribution of wealth and resources, ethnic tensions and diplomatic failures.
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Background

International Activities