Advanced Reporting

48J:171:01 – Advanced Reporting

Tuesdays, Thursdays 12:30-1:45 p.m.

Lang 212

University of Northern Iowa

Instructor: Dr. Christopher Martin

Office: 326A Lang Hall

Office Hours: By appt.

Tel: (319) 273-6118

Mailbox: 326 Lang Hall

E-mail: martinc@uni.edu

Web: www.uni.edu/martinc

Blog: www.mediacrit.com

Instructor: Dr. Kamyar Enshayan

Office: Center for Energy & Environmental Education

Office Hours: By appt.

Tel: (319) 273-7575

E-mail: kamyar.enshayan@uni.edu

Web: http://www.ceee.uni.edu/

Catalog Description:

Gathering information and writing and editing of complex news stories; emphasis on advanced techniques of interviewing, journal research, and personal observation. Prerequisite(s): 48J:071; junior standing. (Offered Fall and Spring)

Course Approach:

This term’s Advanced Reporting is about Reporting on Iowa’s Environment. Very few newspapers and local media report have a science writer or reporter covering environmental issues of the state. This course will offer experiences for students who will develop the knowledge and skills to report on Iowa’s environment and people and the broader context in which these issues are situated. The course will involve in-depth investigation of such issues as Iowa and climate change, pesticide use and public health in Iowa, floods and land use, profiles of farms with extensive land stewardship history, and water quality.

The course will build on students’ analytical and research skills to create journalistic reports on the state of Iowa’s environment.

Texts:

• Required: Sandra Steingraber, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, 2nd ed. (Da Capo, 2010).

• Required: Other selected readings, including those from the Pulitzer Prizes –Journalism Category. http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat.

• Recommended: The Associated Press Stylebook (Basic Books, 2009) # ISBN-10: 0465012620 # ISBN-13: 978-0465012626 (paperback) [any recent edition of the AP Stylebook will be accepted]

Resources for Environmental Journalism:

Society of Environmental Journalists (http://www.sej.org/). Includes issues of the SEJournal.

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism: Toolbox (http://ej.msu.edu/resources.php)

International Journalists’s Network - Environmental Topic Page

Nieman Reports, vol. 64, no. 4, Winter 2010, pp. 28-35 (pdf on course eLearning site)

Heat (PBS. Frontline, Oct. 2008)

Sample News Reports on the Environment:

Matthew Wilde, “Big egg farms may be better, producers say,” Waterloo Courier, September 13, 2010.

Matthew Wilde, “Use of antibiotics in livestock spurs national debate,” Waterloo Courier, January 9, 2010.

Mother Jones - Environmental Reports

Resources for Iowa’s Environment:

Iowa Climate Change Advisory Panel