Introduction to Journalism

Hi Students,

Please be sure to revise your OpEd on same document in our google docs drive. For many of my comments, you can simply “accept”: HERE.

As we finish our final weeks of the semester, I ask that you continue to consider the role of mobile and social media journalism.  In “Forces at the Gate” (pages 1-22), Journalism Professor Anthony Adornato speaks of the radical shift in how news is both delivered and consumed [see mobileandsocialmedia]. Rather than simply produced by “gatekeeper” media outlets in “one way” fashion, news is now a “two-way” conversation thanks to mobile devices and social media tools that have dramatically changed the media landscape. Today, the public can play an active role in the news production process; almost anyone in fact can become a journalistic “player” (or “social influencer”) in the media landscape, with the right “know-how” and insights.

What’s clear is that to become a journalist today, one needs the ability to use a variety of social media technologies.  Simultaneously, the working journalist of today needs to be aware of multiple media venues. 

These tools include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok.  Also useful to know about are outlets like Substack, Longform, and Twitter’s new Revue (a digital newsletter in which you can build an audience base) .  It’s also useful to master a variety of tools for making videos, podcasts, and websites (like Squarespace).  

We are coming to the end of our course, but advanced Journalism classes would focus on these technologies (as does a major in Communication Design). 

For those of you interested in furthering your journalism talents, I recommend the Journalism and Media Studies B.A. program at Brooklyn College and the Master’s Program offered at the CUNY Gradutate Center.

Here are some interesting articles to ponder, which relate to the effect of new methods of newsgathering, distribution of news, and audience engagement, driven by our digital landscape.

One article focuses on how media giant Conde Nast is transforming itself to correlate with new digital trends.  The second article is a fun one that shows how an “influencer” used Tik Tok to critique the recent Advent calendars put out by Chanel.  It’s a somewhat silly piece but a reminder of how powerful social media tools can be in changing the minds and perceptions of large swathes of “linked in” media consumers.

To end the semester, I ask that you check out my journalism project (hosted on SquareSpace) that I’ve been working on for a few years.  It’s entitled “City of Print: New York and the Periodical Press.”  [To enter the site, use password: cityofprint2020]. Specifically, I ask that you “take” one of my virtual walking tours through a particular New York neighborhood that focuses on its important print history (choose either the Waterfront, Printing House Square (by City Hall), Union Square, the East Village, or the West Village). [On upper right of site, click on the icon/link called “virtual tours“]

In your final post, please let me know what tour you “took” and what you learned.  In your post, please also describe a journalism project you might like to do in the future (or are currently doing) that might involve social media tools.   You could discuss the way you might expand your OpEd, for example, into a website or a run of articles on, say, substack.   Perhaps you want to write a longer piece for a particular magazine such as Ebony or The Atlantic Monthly. This post will be your final assignment for me.

FINAL POST DUE: Monday., Dec. 20. Reminder: To post, go to top of this post, click “comments” , then type in your comment.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Consider attending two interesting events this week:

CityTechScienceFictionSymposium Thursday, Dec. 9th

and An Information Session for City Jobs in Civil Service

Civil Service 101 LGBTQ 12.7.21 Tues, Dec. 7 1-2:15

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Great work, students, on your fantastic OpEd drafts. For this week, I ask that you review my comments and revise them (at which point I’ll give them a grade).

Revise your OpEd on same document in our google docs drive: HERE.

The range of topics were excellent.  Chala focused on healthy secrets in skincare; Mosche wrote a riveting piece on reducing the number of hours Americans work; Daniel on the horrific rise in gun violence.  Kahsfi, in turn, spoke to the very real dangers of climate warming; Amina on banning junk foods in public schools, and Ruqayyah on the connection between poverty and childhood education.  Eric focused on “Sports and the Transgender Question”, while Sean wrote an impassioned piece on Biden’s plans to eliminate student debt (hopefully!).  Steven, Caroline, and Sergio directed their attention to maintaining mental and physical health during the pandemic, while Rebecca explored whether it’s wise to vaccinate our very young children.  Keyri wrote an illuminating piece on how we need to be careful with how social media can dominate our lives (if we’re not careful) and Rachel wrote about the importance of protecting our journalists, especially the women who do this courageous work.

As you work on your revisions, please read Chapter One (pages 1-22) of the book Mobile and Social Media Journalism (2018) by Journalism Professor Anthony Adornato:  mobileandsocialmedia

I also want to highlight two other riveting articles currently in the news.  The first concerns important information about how Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill includes lots and lots of money to support local news networks, which have been slowly dying owing to the emergence of massive media conglomerates in the last decade.

The other is a simultaneously amusing and scary article on how Disney removed an episode from The Simpsons that poked fun of China’s absence of an open media (the episode was removed from the Hong Kong edition of Disney +)

Happy Thanksgiving and Wampanoag Week!

It was good to see some of you at last week’s discussion of how students made the The Memory-Keeper of Soho Film Documentary. For those of you who missed it, here is a tape of the fantastic event. Please do watch as it offers useful practical applications for presenting material to the wider public in innovative ways.

Telling and Narrating a New York Story Discussion

Watch the Documentary Here: Or Szyflingier and Jonathan Baez, “The SoHo Memory Project” (2020)

Read the article here: Kyle Spencer, “The Memory-Keeper of SoHo” (2015)

This week, I will be reviewing your OpEd pieces.

In the meantime, I ask that read you Chapter One (pages 1-22) of the book Mobile and Social Media Journalism (2018) by Anthony Adornato:  mobileandsocialmedia

For the remainder of semester, we will be focusing on the new ways journalism is produced and consumed. We will also be thinking how we can use mobile tools to practice our own brand of journalism.

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FINAL REMINDER:

Upload your OpEd (Assignment #2) below.

Here are directions for the assignment: OpEdAssignment.

Please upload this assignment HERE.

Upload your OpEd below.

Here are directions for the assignment: OpEdAssignment.

Please upload this assignment HERE.

For Next week (I will be posting more information on this soon):

Watch: Or Szyflingier and Jonathan Baez, “The SoHo Memory Project” (2020)

Read: Kyle Spencer, “The Memory-Keeper of SoHo” (2015)

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“To call a politician on a lie is our job; to bring stories of the oppressed to life is our job; to represent a cross-section of our communities is our job; to tell the truth in the face of “alternative facts” and routine obscuring is our job; and we can do all that without promoting the […] falsehood of objectivity.”

Judley choose this vital quote from Lewis Wallace to focus on. It truly is a fresh call to budding journalists to re-write the many wrongs around us today with brutal honesty.

Yet, balancing a reporter’s feelings (“passion” as Chala labels it) with his/her professional duties is a tricky one.  Melissa, Marina, and Eric wisely remind us of the virtues of “sticking to the facts” to insure credibility. Offering a solution, Eric writes, “we should not [entirely] give up on ‘objective’ journalism.” Journalists should only express their point of view “after fully analyzing the facts of a story.”

At the same, Sergio and Sean provide stellar examples of when just being objective is actually being dangerously biased. Sergio refers to the mostly “political” coverage of Afghanistan (amidst so much suffering), whereas Sean discusses how important it is for journalist’s to put their paddles in the waters on the issue of “Defunding the Police.”

Anna and Daniel remind us of just how “tough” a job it is to be a journalist today given these and related concerns. Yet important work remains.  It’s unfortunate thus, as Jailyn comments, that so much news is actually pointless when so many dire concerns are facing all of us.

For this week, I ask you to work on your own OpEd topics to express your views on a topic you are passionate (and knowledgeable) about . If you haven’t done so already, start by reading an article or two on your chosen topic. Take notes (grab a quote, an image, and some statistics perhaps) and begin outlining your piece.  Upload a draft of your OpEd by next week (Wed., Nov. 17).

Here are directions for the assignment: OpEdAssignment.

Please upload this assignment HERE.

HERE is a recent OpEd by Charles Blow in response to the victory of the new Republican Governor Youngkin in Virginia (NJ just narrowly escaped electing a Republican as well).  It’s compelling to see how he connects this election result to white racial anxiety and the absurd fear of teaching actual history (labeled “Critical Race Theory”) in our schools. Also note how he connects the stirring of racial fears to various episodes throughout our history.

Over the weekend, a two week climate summit in Glasgow just ended. Please watch this speech by the courageous young lady Greta Thurnburg, who has used her voice and platform to energize a new youth movement on this issue.  In this speech, she calls out the failure of the leaders of the summit to enact meaningful change once again.

On a related note, please also watch this video by climate scientist/professor/ journalist Katherine Hayhoe. In it, she discusses her book on how to actually get folks to recognize that the problem is real.  

Video by Climate Scientist Katherine Hayhoe

Feel free to respond to the topic of Climate Change (Inaction) or the battle to teach real history in schools as your OpEd topic.  

I am available today during office hours on Zoom (Monday 4-5) to discuss or help choose your topic  (or email me at mnoonan@citytech.cuny.edu) Some topics students have already chosen include 1) student debt forgiveness and 2) maintaining mental and physical health during the pandemic. Think about what matters to you. To get additional ideas, review current issues in the news (especially in the NYTimes).

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Save the date: Tuesday 11/16 1-2pm “SoHo Memory Project”

A discussion on ZOOM of the award-winning SoHo Memory Project documentary with City Tech Prof. Josh Kapusinski (COMD, Moving Pixels Club), Jonathan Baez (City Tech alum and cinematographer), and Or Szyflingier (alum and director).

I am asking that you all attend the above event (it will be taped if your schedule won’t allow for this). I will be tying in the Documentary Discussion to your own final project proposals (Assignment #3)

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Thanks for your strong opinions on the real (or perhaps overblown) dangers of social media giant Facebook and your recognition that we need more courageous Francis Haugens and Maria Ressas in the world to call out those that manipulate and falsify information (or ignore damaging consequences) in their quest for power and profit.  Who knew that Facebook was a 3 trillion dollar company and had 2.3 billion world-wide users (64 percent of everyone that uses the internet)?  It’s quite a force in the world, and one we certainly need to keep our eyes on.

While clearly a danger in so many ways, as Darnell points out, social media is also very helpful in that “it allows people to spread their opinions.”  Given the rise of big media and social media, your opinions–and a heightened critical media literacy–matter now more than ever.

For this week, I ask you to read the views of another important journalist and to hear more of what’s on your mind, specifically, in an Op-Ed that you write on an issue that matters greatly to you.

The OpEd, which stands for “opposite the editorial page,” is a short piece of writing typically published by a newspaper, which expresses the opinion of an author not affiliated with the publication’s editorial board. This genre was invented by the New York Times in 1970 and has been a mainstay of most newspapers ever since.   Interestingly, just this year, the Times announced it would now call opinion pieces “Guest Essays” (largely due to the fact that papers are now mostly on-line – i.e. not “opposite” another piece of writing on paper).

The New York Times also now has a Video Op Ed section, which we’ll discuss further next week.

The separation of opinion from the news is also part of the “professionalization” of the news that the New York Times also helped develop.  Since the early 1900s, professional reporters have been asked to be “neutral” and “unbiased” when covering stories.  Today, many in the mainstream media (PBS, NBC News, CNN, etc.) prize neutrality over virtually all other values. Being “neutral” means giving equal credence, focus, and criticism for all sides of an argument, without passing judgment as to the validity of the argument. The “neutral” reporter simply reports what the different sides of a debate assert but does not take a position.  

In 2019, Lewis Raven Wallace (in his book The View From Somewhere ) was one of the first reporters to criticize what he calls “the myth of journalistic objectivity.” To learn why, read his Op-Ed “Objectivity is Dead, and I’m Okay With It”

POST ASSIGNMENT: In a paragraph, respond to one point Wallace makes in his writing that you found interesting and important. Alternately, give a current example that speaks to the danger of journalists being too neutral or a story that isn’t being covered but should be. Post due: Wed., Nov. 3

OpEd Assignment: Over the next two weeks, I also want you to work on your own OpEd, focusing on an issue that matters to you greatly.  If you like, you can draw from an earlier post or simply take a position on an issue currently in the news. Here are directions for the assignment: OpEdAssignment. Please upload this assignment HERE. Please come to office hours (Mondays 4-5) if you wish to discuss your topic with me (or email me at mnoonan@citytech.cuny.edu)

Interesting posts last week, students, on the omnipresence of Fake News and the value of the First Amendment.  Based on your insightful comments, it does seem we need media venues to do their part “protecting and serving” us.  At the same time, it’s also clear that the “Fourth Estate” needs help from a watchful “Fifth Estate,” which is society itself.  We all need to be wary nowadays of what news is “useful, relevant, and factual”.   In other words, journalists and the media entities they work for require informed, critical readers and viewers, just as much as we need them.  The fifth estate then is another “set of eyes” that helps keep our democracy vibrant and vital.

Over the next two weeks, we will be hearing and learning from several courageous journalists and citizens (company insiders) who play thoughtful roles as critics of media, government, and society.

Let’s first focus on Maria Ressa, co-founder of the digital media company Rappler and an outspoken critic of iron-fisted Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. It’s important to note that Maria was co-recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize — a really big deal, especially for a female journalist.

Please listen to this interview of her as she explains her aims as a journalist and reveals her thoughts on the global assault on “truth and trust” by leaders such as Duterte, Putin, and Trump and the social media giant Facebook. She ends with some important points about the lack of women in powerful journalism positions today.

I also strongly recommend watching this longer documentary (A Thousand Cuts) on her unrelenting, courageous tactics to stand up to power in her home country.

Speaking out requires courage. Last week, as Melissa points out in her post, the story of the whistle-blower Frances Haugen was splashed across innumerable news outlets. A former, high-ranking Facebook employee Haugen quit her job at the company and explained why at a Congressional hearing.  As she alleges, Facebook’s own research showed that the media giant’s platform “amplified hate, misinformation, and political unrest” but did nothing to combat this fact.

Please watch her interview on 60 minutes.

Are the dangers of Social Media real?  This is one topic of great debate on all sides.  To find out what journalists are thinking, we can turn to the genre of the Opinion Piece, or OpEd.  Your next writing assignment will be to write your own OpEd on a topic important to you, but for this week I ask that you:

1. Carefully “listen” to the words of Maria Cessa (in her interview and/or documentary)
2. View the 60 minutes interview with ex-Facebook Employee, Frances Haugen
3. Read the opposing OpEds: “For Teens, Instagram is a Cesspool” and “The Moral Panic Engulfing Instagram”
4. Post a response that reflects your thoughts on Maria Ressa or the Facebook Debate.

Mid-term Note

We are now at the mid-point of the semester.  I have provided a mid-term grade based on your posts thus far. I have also graded completed student profiles.  Go to “Check Grade Icon” on the right to check on your standing in this course. Please complete any missing posts and/or your student profile assignment this week.

Hi Students,

Nice work interviewing your fellow students.   I’ve made comments for all of you on your documents (if you uploaded a PDF, I created a googledocs file you can review).  Please finish your revisions by (at which point I will give you a grade).  See GRADEBOOK link to the right. In general, be sure to provide a captivating title and a good photo or two. Also make sure your introduction brings out key characteristics of your interviewee. I’ve also copyedited your pieces, so also review and correct any punctuation and sentence errors I highlighted (part of being a good journalist is producing relatively “clean”, catchy copy “on deadline.”)  You will generally have an editor make varied corrections, cuts, and suggestions.  My central suggestion to all of you as journalists is to provide LOTS of KEY details (pertinent to your subject matter) to fully bring your writing to life.  Here is an excellent interview of Sean Saurez produced by Keyri that you can use for a model.

This week’s topic builds on our conversation of the critical role of the press (or fourth estate) for maintaining a vibrant democracy.  To review, the press needs to 1) offer a wide marketplace of ideas, perspectives, and information to help citizens make informed decisions. 2) The press needs to inform the public about “what matters” (i.e. what they SHOULD be paying attention to). 3) It needs to serve as a “watchdog” of politicians, businesses, and institutions. 4) It needs to inform readers about important people, places, and events across the racial and social spectrum and 5) it needs to mobilize readers/viewers to “thought” and “action.”  Let’s add one more: 6) IT NEEDS TO TELL THE TRUTH AND PROVIDE FACT-BASED, VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT ITS CLAIMS

Because of its importance, the right to a free press (and the freedom of speech) is enshrined in our First Amendment from the American Constitution, approved by all the states in 1789:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It’s interesting to note that freedom of speech and of the press are crunched together with other related rights: the practice of one’s religion, the right to assemble (protest) in the streets, and the right to tell the President he’s a jerk (!)

What I want you to think about this week is how well the First Amendment is (and has been) put into practice.

Do Americans have the legal right to criticize our government (and leaders of other countries)?  Yes we do.  This right was severely tested, however, when Julian Assange created a site called Wikileaks in 2010.

Since its inception, Wikileaks offers a platform to give whistleblowers a platform to expose hidden truths about various governments and institutions around the world.

Consequently, WikiLeaks has attracted a great deal of controversy from leaders and news organizations around the globe because the information it publishes usually creates a great deal of embarrassment and difficulty for international relations.  Most famously, in 2010, WikiLeaks released evidence suggesting U.S. forces committed violations of international law during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2016, it released leaked emails that revealed campaign strategies and internal memos within Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign that may have cost her the election.

It’s important to keep in mind that it is not legal for WikiLeaks sources to steal secret documents and submit classified documents to the site. However, thanks to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it is legal for WikiLeaks to publish these documents and share them with the public. It is also perfectly legal for you to read information found on WikiLeaks.  Despite First Amendment protections, founder Julian Assange is currently in a London prison, and American officials are dying to get their hands on him – and charge him with something to put him in jail (and shut down his site).  Here’s a trailer for an excellent film on the story and impact of Julian Assange and Wikileaks called “We Steal Secrets”.

Just yesterday, another investigative site (the Pandora Papers) posted highly embarrassing information on how the leader of Jordan and other wealthy people across the globe hide their vast fortunes from the public eye.  This is investigative journalism certainly doing “its job” as a watchdog. (Can you explain why doing so is so important?)

Does the First Amendment allow FAKE NEWS?  Facebook (and Twitter) famously allowed the spread of false information during Donald Trump’s presidency but finally kicked him off their sites for lying about the election results (that Biden didn’t win) and generally riling up his supporters with false assertions (leading to the Capitol riots).  More recently, we learn that for a long time Facebook has allowed false reports about the Covid Vaccine. Read: Covid Misinformation on Facebook is Killing People. (Can you delve more into this problem?)

What one is allowed to say and publish has been under constant scrutiny since our nation was first established.  The same is true with the ever-presence and danger of Fake News. Please watch the fun video below, to see how Fake News was an issue even during the Revolutionary Era. It’s also a good overview of our first media outlets (before CNN, Facebook, and Twitter).

POST ASSIGNMENT: In a paragraph (or two), post a comment on one of the above readings and/or videos (you could follow up on some of the questions I ask). In your post, try to also provide an example of your own, either of an interesting case involving the First Amendment (freedom of speech/press) or a case of “Fake News” that has gone viral . Due Wednesday, Oct. 13.

Excellent job students considering the true role and purpose of journalism: to expose the truth and, ideally, instigate action.  In other words, journalism is about “exposure” or “shedding light” on topics important for citizens to know about. It is in this sense that modern journalism emerges from The Enlightenment (more on this connection next week). 

In Daniel’s post, we learn of the “secret” rise of homelessness all across the nation and actions we can take to counter this problem.  Rugayyah, in turn, cites an article on the rise in Adolescent Depression, a growing problem that, as we’ll discuss, is enhanced by all-too-easy access to Social Media. Somewhat relatedly, Carolyn discusses how an Australian youth (Dylan Voller) featured in a Juvenile Detention program successfully sued Facebook for allowing users to publish defamatory posts about him.

In his post, Eric carefully examines the photo of a US Border Patrolman on Horseback “rounding up” Haitian immigrants at the Mexican/American border to show just how big an impact the media can have to affect public opinion.  Anderson also highlights this “watchdog” feature, pointing to how the media followed the sexual misconduct of our Governor (Andrew Cuomo), effectively forcing him out of office.  In a somewhat similar vein, Sean writes of how media coverage of the poor treatment of inmates at Riker’s Island put real pressure on our Mayor (De Blasio) to mitigate the crisis.

As these and other excellent examples you all provided reveal, the media at times does indeed “do” its job, calling for (in the eloquent words of Melissa): “truth to power, free, critical thinking, and analysis.”

Melissa also focuses on the importance of a host of independent media sites that “allow me to think for myself and draw my conclusions and formulate my own opinions.”

Her “go-to” sites include Consortium News, Substack (where you can create your own blog), the blog of Jonathan Turley, and the twitter account of Glenn Greenwald — all of which I highly encourage you to peruse.

To these, I add some of my own alt-favorites Democracy Now and Citizen (which covers neighborhood news) as well as an Art, Culture, and Politics site I created while in graduate school: CJASMonthly.

Next week, we will be focusing on the First Amendment and the History of Fake News, but I will hold off on this topic to give you more time to finish your Student Profiles.  Please be sure to have these completed by Monday, Oct. 4. 

REMINDER: Upload your interview here: googledocs dropbox. (To upload press “new” (on upper left corner) and “upload file” from your computer. )

Read the JournalismStudentProfile2021 for directions.

Here is a sample: Sample Profile Assignment 

 If you are having issues finishing this assignment (or reaching your interview partner), please contact me immediately (mnoonan@citytech.cuny.edu).

Excellent job, students, responding to the article on the terrifying conditions for journalists still operating in Afghanistan — especially female journalists. As several of you noted, protecting the “freedom of the press” is difficult anywhere but, unfortunately, is under threat in so many parts of the world. For this week, I ask you to further think about what the role of journalism ought to be — and how it is often practiced here in America — and abroad. According to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, the primary purpose of the news is that it: “keeps us informed of the changing events, issues, and characters in the world outside. Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the foremost value of news is as a utility to empower the informed. The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments.” To further clarify the precise roles of the media (also known as the “Fourth Estate”), please read “Essentials of Journalism”. We’ll be exploring these “essentials” throughout the semester. One example of the media as a political “watchdog” is a report by the New York Times last week that suggested the U.S. military used a drone missile to kill innocent victims in Afghanistan. At first the military denied this but yesterday admitted to making a serious mistake and “apologizing” for it (Read article HERE). Certainly, the pressure of the media, in this case, forced the military to “come clean” and admit the truth. Another prime example of “watchdog” journalism is the work of Bob Woodward (who helped expose President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal in the 1970s). The story was turned into the famed film All the President’s Men (watch film trailer here) Woodward is still going at it writing THREE books about the Trump Administration and the Biden transition. His latest book is entitled “Peril”. Please read this review of Woodward’s new work: PERIL. Consider the many interesting topics relating to the “dangerous” — often secret — actions of the Trump Administration that indeed put our nation in peril, time and time again. Post Assignment: In a paragraph (or two), discuss an example from the media (an article or feature) that shows how the media is doing its job 1) serving as a social/political “watchdog” (keeping a watchful eye on American politicians and other prominent figures, our corporations and institutions) 2) encouraging public discussion on an important topic, OR 3) providing readers useful information to help make an “empowered decision”. Alternately, post a response to what you found interesting in the review of Bod Woodward’s book PERIL. A good way to do the above assignment is to follow features in the New York Times. Here is a link to access a free CUNY  New York Times Pass: http://cityte.ch/nyt. POST DUE DATE: Monday, Sept. 27th Interview Assignment: Now that you’ve read about the interesting new editor of Ebony Magazine, I also ask that you put into practice your own journalism skills by interviewing a fellow student and creating a profile of him or her. Read the JournalismStudentProfile2021 for directions. Also review this Sample Profile Assignment to use as a model. Another good question to ask in your interview is: What drew you to take a journalism course and what media/political/social issues concern you most? This week I want you to contact your interview partner (you can get contact information by responding to their self-introduction under “our community”). Discuss how you want to perform the interview (on zoom, email, or google.docs). The final assignment is due in two weeks. You can upload (and work on) this assignment in our googledocs dropbox. To upload press “new” (on upper left corner) and “upload file” from your computer. Interview Due Date: Wed., Sept. 29 INTERVIEW PARTNERS: Anna Lin and  Caroline Rodriguez

Jailyn Lavado and Steven Bachoo

Chala Jamison and Rebeca Reyes

Pending and  Sergio Tello

Darnell Black and  Keyri Jimenez

Kashfi SIDDIQUE and  Melissa Dos Santos

Eric Ayala and  Judley Leriche

Jasmine Henry-Alleyne and  Dominic Tuzo

Keyri Jimenez and  Sean Suarez

Mosche Carrington and Rachel Xie

Ruqayyah Yar and  Caroline Rodriguez

Anderson Lazo and Marina Rodrigues

Daniel Gayoso and Albert Frontela

Unit 1: The Journalist at Work

Watch: Video Lecture

Accompanying Website: Essentials of Journalism

Read:

1. “Can Afghan’s Leading Broadcaster Survive the Taliban”

2) “Ebony Returns to Chronicle a New Moment”

3) “Did I Really Just Buy Ebony?”  Interview with Eden Bridgeman Sklenar

Post: 1) Discuss what you found most interesting about one of these articles. 2) In response to the Interview essay (“Did I Really Just Buy Ebony”), mention a writing strategy used by the author that you think will be helpful for a student journalist. Read your classmates’ responses prior to posting, so you contribute a new point.    

Create your free New York Times account

Due Date (Monday, Sept. 13): Next Week is Labor Day Weekend and most classes are cancelled for the week, so I will give you two weeks to complete this first assignment.