Journalism in Practice (301-0-21)

Topic

Environmental Reporting in a High Stakes Climate

Instructors

Abigail M Foerstner

Meeting Info

McCormick Foundation Ctr 3107: Fri 9:00AM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

What's at stake as our communities confront climate change, diminishing water supplies, outdated oil pipelines, drought, flooding, health risks from contaminants, and added COVID-19 contagion resulting from environmental injustice. The accelerating environmental news stories are expanding the need for reporters trained to cover them and tackle environmental threats, sustainability, new technologies and climate change. This class will teach you how to report on such issues and uncover environmental injustices with investigative strategies, on-site reporting, discussions with experts, diverse interviews and a deep dive into research. A focus on multimedia reporting techniques will enable you to report on stories with a choice of text, video, audio, photo-essays and infographics. You will produce compelling stories for general audiences that provide clear access to the science, politics, economic impacts and community concerns. You will participate in developing the learning experiences for this class through press conference-style discussions, role playing and peer sharing. You will participate om field research trips in the Chicago area as part of this class.

Registration Requirements

Sophomore standing
Prereqs: JOUR 201-1, JOUR 201-2

Class Materials (Required)

Required course materials include research readings, databases, segments of books and online tools for producing dynamic interactive graphics and maps. All materials, resources and travel will be provided at no cost to you.

Class Attributes

Attendance at 1st class mandatory
Prerequisites apply, see description
No Freshmen

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-req: JOUR 201-1, 201-2, and Medill sophomore or junior standing Pre-req: JOUR 201-1, 201-2, and Medill sophomore standing.