Syllabus
Investigative Journalism
Dr. Anthony
Curtis – Spring 2006
JRN-460 – TR 12:30–1:45 p.m.
– Old Main 238
Department of Mass Communications – University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Welcome!
Welcome to investigative journalism where we explore the
watchdog role of journalists in American society. A crucial duty of journalists is to serve the public
interest by acting as a watchdog on government, business, education, health,
environment, safety and other institutions. That duty is particularly important
where agencies and institutions restrict the flow of information.
(Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.)
The tradition of investigative reporters, who uncover facts and write articles that expose waste, wrongdoing, mismanagement, fraud, conflict of interest and abuse of authority, and promote change and reform, has a long and proud history that stands alongside more conventional journalistic practices. In this course, we will examine the tradition by learning the reporting techniques that allow stories to be told and by understanding the societal factors that shape their content and impact.
(Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.)
Course description:
Practical experience in researching and writing nonfiction
articles suitable for publication. Prerequisite: JRN 340 and MCM 436. This is the capstone experience for seniors in Journalism.
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Investigative Journalism
"The reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, of matters of importance to readers, viewers or listeners. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed." Houston et al., p. viii |
Course goals:
This capstone experience for journalism students is an advanced course in tools and techniques of contemporary in-depth reporting.
It is a hands-on course reflecting the values and experiences of the contemporary professional newsroom. You will be exposed to sophisticated investigation techniques and you will practice working both as an individual reporter and as part of a newsgathering team.
This course emphasizes:
Course outcomes:
This course is intended to be extremely practical, while at the same time causing you to think deeply about the stories you write and why you write them.
This practical course will show you how to do investigative and in-depth reporting, including how to:
After successfully completing this course, you should be capable of producing in-depth journalism stories.
Class format:
The course will combine class sessions with extensive field experience. Class sessions will include lectures and discussions of the journalistic, legal and social aspects of investigative journalism. The experiences will involve investigative reporting by individual students and by teams. Whenever possible, team meetings will be held during regular class hours.
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Investigative Journalism is digging "beneath the surface so we can help readers understand what's going on in an increasingly complex world." Gene Roberts, editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times Houston et al., p. viii |
This course will show you how to do in-depth investigative reporting. You will be immersed in the theory and practice of watchdog journalism as applied to a variety of institutions in order to:
We will use the advanced reporting methods of collecting evidence – public records, database searches, interviewing and other techniques – to investigate real-world concerns.
Texts:
Houston,
Brant, and Len Bruzzese, Steve Weinberg. The Investigative Reporter's
Handbook – A Guide to Documents, Databases and Techniques. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Goldstein, Norm, Ed.
The AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (With Internet Guide and
Glossary). New York: The Associated
Press, 2005.
Supplementary texts:
You may find these optional, non-required books to be useful
resources when working on assignments:
Interviewing:
Stewart, Charles J.
and William B. Cash Jr. Interviewing Principles and Practices. 10th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Survey
Research:
Alreck,
Pamela L. and Robert B. Settle. The Survey Research Handbook. 3rd Ed. Chicago: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2004.
Writing
Feature Stories:
Friedlander,
Edward Jay and John Lee. Feature Writing for Newspapers and Magazines. 5th
Ed. New York: Longman, 2004.
Photojournalism:
Horton, Brian. Associated
Press Guide to Photojournalism - 2nd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
Online
Journalism:
Craig,
Richard. Online Journalism: Reporting, Writing, and Editing for New Media. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Thomson
Learning, 2005.
Foust, James C. Principles and Practices of News for the Web.
Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers, 2005.
Research
Methods:
Leedy,
Paul D. Practical Research: Planning and Design. 8th Ed.
Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2005.
Creswell,
John W. Research Design: Qualitative & Quantitative and
Mixed
Methods Approaches. 2nd ed. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications,
2002.
Hult,
Christine A. Research and Writing Across the Curriculum. 3rd
Ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon Longman,
2006.
Lester,
James D. and James D. Lester Jr. Writing Research Papers:
A
Complete Guide. 11th Ed. Needham Heights,
MA: Allyn & Bacon
Longman,
2004.
Taylor,
George R. Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Research. Lanham, MD:University Press of America, 2000.
Kennedy,
Shirley Duglin. Best Bet Internet: Reference and Research When You Don't
Have Time to Mess Around. Chicago:
American Library Association Editions, 1998.
Literature
Review:
Hart,
Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research
Imagination. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, 1999.
Fink,
Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From Paper to the Internet.
2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, 2004.
Historiography:
Barzun,
Jacques. The Modern Researcher.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2003.
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Investigative Journalism
"The reporter took the initiative, pulled together information from documents and human sources and eventually revealed a practice that affects everybody, directly or indirecty..." Houston et al., p. viii
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Not
only in this course, but also during your academic degree program and in your
professional career later, you will find it essential to stay up-to-date on
current events, which change constantly. To remain up-to-date, you should read
a major newspaper every day in addition to watching broadcast or cable news
operations and websites. For instance, you might choose to read the Charlotte
Observer, Raleigh News & Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington
Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal or USA Today. You also
should read a weekly newsmagazine such as Time or Newsweek.
All of these print media have affiliated websites.
As a
media professional, how will you know and understand trends in newsgathering
and dissemination? To stay on top of your field, you should read the
professional weekly business journals such as Editor & Publisher (newspapers), Folio (magazines), Broadcasting & Cable (radio and television), or Advertising Age (advertising). These publications are in the UNCP
library and all have affiliated websites.
Monday
and Wednesday: 10-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m.
In
addition, Dr. Curtis frequently can be found in his office at other times
during weekdays.
Office:
247 Old Main phone:
521-6616 email:
acurtis@uncp.edu
Evaluation of writing:
Generally, there
will be no right or wrong responses to the assignments. Rather, your work will
be evaluated subjectively by the professor, who will measure all writing on
three concurrent spectra – content, organization and mechanics. These
parallel tracks range from weak to strong.
Articles and stories
you submit must reach the assigned length and be typewritten, double-spaced, on
one side of paper. The AP Stylebook
must be followed. Appropriate professional journalism editing marks, as shown
in The AP Stylebook, must be used.
Be sure your name is on your work along with page headers and footers as
approved by the instructor.
Evaluation of your
written work will be based on appropriateness of content, clarity of purpose,
clear and concise writing style, efficient use of words, grammar, spelling,
mechanics, organization, preparation, proper use of appropriate journalistic
style, and attention to deadline.
Attention to deadlines
is extremely important. Hand in your stories by the beginning of class on the
assigned day. Late assignments will be penalized 10 percent for each class day
late. That means one letter grade deducted for each day late. Articles will not
be accepted one week after the due date.
Attendance:
Attendance is very
important. Classroom communication is a process of sharing. Your observations,
insights and analyses are valuable to the whole class. Your participation will
be reflected in a concrete way in your semester grade.
The Department of
Mass Communications has a mandatory attendance policy. This course is an
important element of your preparation for a career in professional journalism,
where you will be expected to understand and meet deadlines.
Class attendance
will be checked in every class period (you will sign the roster sheet) and will
be used in determining the course grade. Unexcused absences will affect your
grade adversely. For instance, attendance records will be used to determine the
grade of any student who is on the borderline between two grades. If such a
student has 1 or no unexcused absences, he or she may be eligible receive the
higher of the two grades, assuming all other circumstances are appropriate.
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Students with 4-5
unexcused absences will be penalized one letter grade.
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Students with 6-7
unexcused absences will be penalized two letter grades.
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Students with 8 or more
unexcused absences will receive the grade of F for the semester.
There may be no
option of doing an extra assignment to reduce or remove a penalty.
Athletes must
discuss their game schedule for the full season with the professor at the
beginning of the semester. If they plan to miss class for a game, they must
notify the professor again before each absence to receive an excused absence.
Athletes will not be excused from a class that ends more than hour before the
bus leaves.
Students who plan to
miss class for such activities as work, job interviews, job fairs, weddings,
vacations, completing work for other courses, etc., must use their
unexcused-absence cuts for those purposes. If you have problems attending
class, you are encouraged to change your arrangements elsewhere that will
enable you to participate fully here.
The following are
excusable absences:
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Illness or serious
injury, with a note from a doctor
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death in the immediate
family, with a newspaper obituary clipping
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required appearance in a
court of law, with a note from the clerk of courts
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catastrophic emergency,
with appropriate documentation or official police report
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representing the college
in an official extracurricular activity, with a note from the faculty or
administrative adviser of the activity, or head coach, and the prior approval
of the professor of this course because some extracurricular activities do not
justify an excused absence.
Late arrival in class:
Students who arrive
late to a class session should check with the professor at the end of that
class to be certain that their attendance has been recorded. Students who
arrive excessively late to a class period, or who leave class early, will
receive either partial credit or no credit for their attendance that day.
Students who are continually late to class will begin receiving no credit for
their attendance on days they are late.
Late assignments:
Late assignments or
makeup work generally is not accepted if there was no prior arrangement with
your professor. You may not be
permitted to make up any missing work unless it is for an excused absence as
listed above. The professor may refuse to revisit material a student missed due
to an absence. No late work will be accepted without prior arrangements with
your professor who retains the discretion of whether to accept any of such
work.
Grading Considerations:
Grades for each of
your assignments will be based upon a professional standard. The professor will
evaluate your work according to its suitability for publication in a newspaper
or magazine or on a news website whose standards correspond to the industry
norm.
Your semester grade
will be based upon consistent effort through the semester. Meeting deadlines,
growth, and understanding of the subject and techniques are of the utmost
importance in this course.
Evaluation criteria for
letter grades:
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Excellent or A
Professional quality work. An insightful, relevant, newsworthy subject. Story
involves the reader in its drama, humor, ethos or pathos. Technique is flawless
with perfect content, organization and mechanics. Information supporting the
story is complete and accurate. Wording is precise. The writing explores the
story at different levels and does not simply make the same point from
different perspectives. Publishable and distinguished.
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Good or B
Competent, functional story-telling. Journeyman journalism. Publishable. Clean
copy that makes a significant point efficiently in support of the story.
Appropriate expression of active, believable, moments that reveal a key person,
place or event. Details are thorough and accurate. Writing mechanics and
organizational technique are of a high order. The story is balanced.
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Acceptable or C
Average, run-of-the-mill story-telling. Probably publishable, but
undistinguished. Properly written, but the content is average quality that may
or may not be publishable. The article or story offers little insight into why
the subject is newsworthy. Content is adequate to identify the subject, but
poorly organized. Mechanics are good.
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Poor or D
Unpublishable work. A combination of flaws in conceptualizing, researching,
organizing and writing render the work unsatisfactory. This is work, which with
better planning and extra effort, might have been publishable.
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Unacceptable or F
Not publishable. Decidedly unprofessional. Weaknesses in journalistic thinking,
feature writing technique, and/or professionalism have resulted in a failure on
this assignment. Inaccuracies and other content errors, poor mechanics,
unpublishable organization, and/or missed deadlines have reduced the assignment
to failure.
Final grade:
You will be graded
on these work elements this semester – an individual backgrounder, a
major investigative journalism work, and attendance and participation.
Your final semester
grade will be based on the professor's subjective evaluation of all of the work
you complete and submit during the course. Attendance and enthusiastic
participation form a significant portion of the semester grade.
How to succeed?
Very important
considerations include:
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perfection of written
materials
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punctuality on
assignments
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participation in class
activities
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attendance at class
meetings
The grading scale
used for this course is:
100-90%=A to A-;
89-80%=B+ to B-; 79-70%=C+ to C-; 69-60%=D+ to D-; 59% and below=F.
Student academic honor code:
You have the
responsibility to know and observe the UNCP Academic Honor Code, which forbids
cheating, plagiarism, abuse of academic materials, fabrication, falsification
of information, and complicity in academic dishonesty.
Special assistance:
Please see the
instructor as soon as possible if you have questions or difficulty. Any student
with a documented disability needing academic adjustments is requested to speak
directly to Disability Support Services and the instructor, as early in the
semester as possible, preferably within the first week. All discussions will remain
confidential. Please contact Mary
Helen Walker, Disability Support Services, DF Lowry building, 521-6695.
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Week 1: |
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Tuesday, 1/10 |
Tuesday, 2/7 |
Tuesday, 3/14 |
Tuesday, 4/11 |
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Thursday, 1/12 |
Thursday, 2/9 |
Thursday, 3/16 |
Thursday, 4/13 |
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Week 2: |
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Tuesday, 1/17 |
Tuesday, 2/14 |
Tuesday, 3/21 |
Tuesday, 4/18 |
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Thursday, 1/19 |
Thursday, 2/16 |
Thursday, 3/23 |
Thursday, 4/20 |
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Week 3: |
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Tuesday, 1/24 |
Tuesday, 2/21 |
Tuesday, 3/28 |
Tuesday, 4/25 |
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Thursday, 1/26 |
Thursday, 2/23 |
Thursday, 3/30 |
Thursday, 4/27 |
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Exam Week: |
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Tuesday, 1/31 |
Tuesday, 2/28 |
Tuesday, 4/4 |
Tuesday, 5/2 |
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Thursday, 2/2 |
Thursday, 3/2 |
Thursday, 4/6 |
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Spring Break March
6-11 |
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Writing assignments:
Backgrounding piece. You will choose a public figure, with approval of the
professor, and background that person using techniques and documents discussed
in class and in the textbook. The project will have two parts – a
two-page outline document explaining why the person is important and detailing
your strategy for finding ingion, a written 5-10 page carefully organized
report or story memo that reflects the results of that strategy, and finally a
feature article on the subject. The story memo will include exactly what
information you found, how you found the information, specifically where you
found it (e.g. website locations, court documents, land records, names of human
sources, etc.), any dead-ends you encountered, and a strategy for discovering
more about the person. Your final story should describe fully, in compelling
literary and hard-hitting story form, the results of your investigation and why
those results are important to your readers. These criteria include techniques,
sources, thoroughness, resourcefulness and effective writing of the
investigative profile.
Major investigative piece.
As Gene Roberts, editor at The
Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times,
might suggest, dig beneath
the surface of a subject to help readers understand what's going on in our
increasingly complex world. Before you begin the project, the topic must be
selected after your careful consideration and approved by the professor. We
will discuss each project thoroughly in class before, during and afterward.
Remember, this is the journalism capstone course. Only your very best work
should be submitted.