Day 1: Studying newspapers and off to Fleet Street

While friends and families back in the states were celebrating the Fourth of July, the 2011 British Studies Journalism class started this year's curriculum with a look at the roots of journalism here in the UK. A quick look at seven of Britain's national newspapers gave everyone an idea of what and how the people here view news. It also helped us get a better idea of the differences among the British press players as well as differences from what we're more familiar with in the states. Most agree few publications in the USA are likely to duplicate the Sun's daily Page 3 Girl anytime soon. We also talked about the kinds of things we might follow in the news during the next two months that can give a clearer picture of life here in the UK. Those topics will become our personal blogs during the remainder of the class and the summer.

In the afternoon, we strapped on walking shoes and spent about two hours retracing the steps of prior journalists as they did business in the thriving days of Fleet Street.

Adam Scott, our talented tour guide, made sure we knew the history of the street and some of its more famous denizens as we visited key areas of the place where journalism began in London. Scott, whose Scottish brogue competed well with the traffic on these busy streets, gave us a good basis on which to build our knowledge from here on. Let's listen: