View Descriptor

• Enterprise reporting
• Covering courts
• Covering police
• Covering city councils, school boards and other local governmental bodies
• Open meeting laws, public records and freedom of information requests
• Other media law concepts: libel and privacy
• Writing for various publication formats: print, online, multimedia, broadcast, and public relations
• Producing stories through audio, video and other multimedia formats
• Human, paper and electronic/database sources of news
• Interviewing
• Copy editing
• Writing under deadline
• Writing long form articles
• AP Style
• Ethics codes and practices
• Using social media as a reporting tool

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

• Report and write multiple on- and off-campus public affairs-type stories, such as coverage of local or regional government, public safety, courts and education
• Produce at least one major assignment utilizing basic multimedia skills, such as taking a photograph or capturing an audio/video interview, and/or employing social media or other emerging technology tools
• Write stories under deadline pressure
• Examine the basic concepts and techniques used in broadcast/webcast news and public relations writing
• Locate and use diverse human, paper and electronic sources
• Identify and apply fundamental media law concepts, such as libel and privacy rights, and basic freedom of information tools, including public records and open meeting laws
• Employ editing techniques and use journalistic style
• Apply professional ethics codes and practice 
• Read and analyze current events news

Reporting assignments/projects across multiple platforms
Quizzes/Exams
Critiques
Peer critiques
Adherence to professional protocols (meeting deadlines, attendance, adherence to ethics)

Grassroots Journalism: A Practical Manual by Eesha Williams