Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student is expected to be able to:
- possess the theoretical-cultural knowledge to understand food and wine journalism, both digital and "analogical";
- write a journalistic article, using all the tools of food writing, which is a professional writing technique that unites more journalistic genres and aims to tell food and wine in a creative, synesthetic and engaging way, not just giving information;
- analyze and evaluate, with autonomy of judgment and critical capacity, the quality of a journalistic article in the food and beverage sector, to understand if the text combines informative contents with a form capable of striking the reader's attention and leaving a mark;
- enter into a relationship with the media in a professional and deontologically correct manner, even in a press office;
- know how to act in a journalistic context, learning to change their communication methods to meet the objectives of the public and of the clients (publishers or food & beverage companies).
Prerequisites
nothing
Course unit content
Teaching is a "writing gym" with a professional aim, where the theory trains at the parallel of practice, through a series of writing exercises. It is divided into a series of theoretical and practical modules that, starting from a general overview on food writing and the journalist profession, focuses on food and wine journalism and its specific characteristics, aims and resources.
Full programme
The teaching program will address the following points:
1. Food writing and its main areas of action: publishing, journalism, marketing, tourism.
2. The goals of a food writer and the axes of enogastronomic writing: from originality to the accuracy of language and the ability to engage.
3. Journalism: definition, genres and language; online journalism, transmediality and relationship with social media.
4. The tools of the food journalist: sources, news, newsroom.
5. Journalistic writing: from 5 W to SEO, from history to storytelling.
6. The deontology and ethics of journalism: papers, codes, principles.
7. The food journalist: definition and salient characteristics
Bibliography
Recommended books to follow the course program:
Villa M., Professione Food Writer. Ricettario di scrittura con esercizi sodi, strapazzati e à la coque, Dario Flaccovio Editore, Palermo 2018
Villa M., #brand journalist. L’azienda fa notizia, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2020
Optional books to deepen the topics:
Babudro, P., Manuale di scrittura digitale creativa e consapevole, Palermo, Dario Flaccovio Editore, 2016
Barbano A., Manuale di giornalismo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012
Carrada L., Il mestiere di scrivere, Apogeo, Milano, 2013
Fabris A. (a cura di), Guida alle etiche della comunicazione, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, 2011
Jacob D., Will Write for Food. The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Reviews, Memoir, and More, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, 2010.
Mazzocco D., Giornalismo online. Crossmedialità, blogging e social network, Centro di Documentazione Giornalistica, Roma 2014
Sorrentino C. e Bianda E., Studiare Giornalismo. Ambiti, logiche, attori, Carrocci, Roma, 2013
Villa M., Il giornalista digitale è uno stinco di santo. 27 virtù da conoscere per sviluppare un comportamento etico, Dario Flaccovio Editore, Palermo 2018
During the lessons, texts will also be suggested to students for possible individual in-depth analysis.
Teaching methods
The course consists of:
- lectures with the use of multimedia tools, alternating with others, of a heuristic-Socratic type, in which the active contribution of students is solicited, through collective discussion and confrontation;
- case studies, presented and critically analyzed;
- classroom exercises, to be carried out in groups or individually.
The slides used to support the lessons will be loaded weekly on the Elly platform; to download them, it will be necessary to register for the online course.
The slides are an integral part of the course program, therefore it is advisable for non-attending students to download the teaching material from the Elly platform and to follow the instructions provided by the teacher through the platform itself.
Assessment methods and criteria
The assessment of learning will be based on suitability and the latter can be achieved in two ways, depending on whether you attend the course or not.
For attending students*:
- active participation in lessons.
For non-attending students (not recommended):
- submission of 5 journalistic articles to be sent 15 days before the appeal date:
o a brand journalism article (at least 10,000 characters, including spaces, and with accompanying photos)
o an interview with a protagonist in the food and beverage or agri-food sector (at least 6,000 characters, including spaces, and with accompanying photos)
o a review of a restaurant (at least 3,000 characters, including spaces, and with accompanying photos)
o a small investigation on a food & beverage topic, interviewing at least three people (at least 14,000 characters, spaces included, and with accompanying photos)
o the narration of a tourist destination from the historical-artistic and food and wine aspect (of at least 18,000 characters, spaces included, and with accompanying photos)
* “Attending student” are those those who have followed 6 of the 8 lessons of the course, i.e. 24 hours of the 32 in total.
Other information
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