Syllabus
Journalism 395 C
Mark Ridolfi
(563)343-1008
Interactive Journalism: An Emerging Paradigm for News, Spring 2009
Overview of the Course and schedule
Interactive journalism is an emerging news paradigm that combines traditional reporting skills (interviews, covering events and press conferences, and the examination of public records) with new techniques (database reporting, blogging, audio and video) and presents them via the Internet to an audience that typically demands more than a print reporter’s traditional one-time, static narrative account. This course will address reporting online, writing/presenting online and building ongoing, interactive relationships with audience communities.
In addition to engaging students in the emerging practices of electronic journalism, this course will include readings and discussion of the civic and professional implications of this new journalistic paradigm. Technology and behavioral changes are influencing the practice of journalism at either end of the information spectrum. Journalistic sourcing has exploded through instant public data accessibility, networking practices and extensive self-publishing. At the same time, rapidly changing news consumer behaviors are influencing how information is presented and shared and especially the types of information shared.
Consider that at this moment…
- The top four American publicly held media companies are being strangled by plummeting stock prices that are forcing reductions in news coverage in hundreds of communities across the country.
- The civic and social value of news organizations is being diminished figuratively and literally. Readers are open to new sources perceived to be independent from perceived biases. Financial analysts respond by devaluing the traditionally high value ascribed to news organizations’ intangible assets, i.e., goodwill. These changes threaten news organizations’ continued economic viability.
- Public record-keeping is being consolidated online, allowing more analysis and involvement by the public and broadening the decision-making power in government. This also diminishes the role of journalists, who had been relied upon to compile and interpret data formerly accessible only at courthouses.
- Political campaigns and governments bypass traditional journalism outlets entirely to reach a public growing distrustful of mainstream media. The Obama campaign texted supporters directly when its candidate declared victory, before alerting the media.
- The lines between print and video journalism are gone. Newspaper journalists shoot and edit video. Broadcast journalists blog.
- Web interactivity has created an explosion of commentary that threatens to overwhelm fact-based reporting, creating audiences that have difficulty and perhaps a diminishing interest in discerning reporting from opinion.
The results of this transformation-in-progress are influencing journalism far more than the Gutenberg press. Access to a mass audience no longer is restricted to those who own presses, or television stations. Consequently, the advertising/circulation model for newspapers has crumbled and the traditional page-view model may ultimately prove inadequate to generate sufficient revenue to sustain an independent press. Additional models are emerging every day that incorporate publicly financed journalism.
The Course
Contemporary integrated journalism examines these and other changes and their effects on individuals, communities, politics and the professional practice of journalism.
This class is organized around three emphasis areas:
Civic impact: Students will study the impact of integrated journalism on politics, community structure and decision making.
Commercial press impact: Students will explore various models emerging to supplant historical print-derived models.
Practice: Students learn contemporary techniques to collect, analyze and disseminate information, and particularly how traditional reporting and writing remain essential across presentation platforms.
Resources
Because the field of integrated journalism is changing rapidly, much of the source material will be derived from case studies and symposiums, particularly work published by the Knight Foundation MediaShift Idea Lab.
Journalism 2.0, By Mark Brigg. This project by The Institute for Interactive Journalism at The University of Maryland is available for free as PDF at: www.j-lab.org/Journalism_20.pdf
Digital Edge blog, a contemporary, ongoing discussion of latest interactive journalism developments on site hosted by the Newspaper Association of America.
Guest speakers: A series of professional journalists, media business and government leaders will participate in discussions about the impact of contemporary journalism within their disciplines.
Classroom activities
Students will read and discuss case studies and integrate those discussions with live and Web-based interaction with key journalism and government professionals. Students will examine traditional journalistic ethics in this emerging interactive context.
In particular, students will examine the impact of anonymous commentary on individuals, communities and public decision making. Students will complete individual and group reporting projects that utilize interactive reporting and presentation techniques, then analyze the impact of interactivity.
Classes
Each three-hour class is divided into three sessions:
Journalism: Activities and discussion on traditional journalism, emphasizing Web-based sources and data collection.
Interaction: Activities and discussion of blogs, forums and other interactive tools. Active participation in ongoing blog discussions.
Project: Activities and discussion resulting in projects published on your own blogs. Project must involve original reporting. Consider ongoing projects that regularly present new information and build an interactive audience.
Grading
Your success in this class relies on…
- Class preparation: Completing assigned tasks and bringing new information that launches interesting discussions.
- Classroom participation: Initiating discussions of your own research and projects and collaboratively participating in discussions initiated by others.
- Journalism: Traditional journalism rules apply. Clean copy. Multiple sourcing. Innovative presentation. Disclosing new stuff.
- Project: Completion of a group or individual project that discloses new information and engages an audience.
How to succeed: Create journalism. Engage an audience. Help the whole class do better.
How to fail: Skip classes. Blow off assignments. Wait for others to take leadership.
Schedule
