Curriculum
In International Reporting: Courses Faculty Careers Events
International Reporting Courses
The following International Reporting courses are being offered for the Fall 2009 semester:
J234: International Reporting: Africa, Women & Agriculture-The Global Food Crisis
Description Forthcoming.
J255: Law and Ethics
An introduction to the legal and ethical conflicts faced by working reporters. Half of the semester will concentrate on First Amendment and media law, including libel and slander, privacy, free press/fair trial conflicts, and civil lawsuits arising from controversial reporting methods. The remainder of the semester will focus on ethical dilemmas faced by reporters and editors. Using case studies, in-class argument, readings and guest lecturers, the course examines some of the murkier conflicts that don?t necessarily make it to court but nevertheless force difficult newsroom decision-making.
J298: Africa Reporting Workshop
This course is an intensive workshop dedicated to the production of new, original, and meaningful journalism about the food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim is to place high quality stories in all media formats for distribution in the U.S., international, and African media. We will also produce a multimedia Web site hosted on the School’s Web server providing news, features, resources, and discussions about the Africa project, and food topics, linking participants with audiences, journalists, and researchers around the world.
The Africa project will inform the public about many aspects of agriculture, the lives of small land holders, and their roles in the food story on the continent. Most of those land holders are women, and it is expected that women will figure prominently in your coverage.
African issues customarily do not generate significant attention in the U.S. media, apart from periodic disaster and war coverage. This reality is especially stark in an era when news organizations are cutting back sharply on resources for foreign reporting in general.
Your first challenge over the coming months is this, then: To envision compelling stories about these vital issues that will resonate with the public, for an industry hungry for content. Your second challenge will be to keep a firm eye on the overarching mission of those stories: To inform citizens and decision-makers around the world with meaningful coverage, so that ultimately these endemic problems affecting millions might be more effectively addressed.
Our course is a required companion to Martha Saavedra’s background course, J234: Africa Women and Agriculture: The Global Food Crisis. Martha’s course will provide you intensive immersion in many aspects of the food story in Africa, ranging from agricultural economics and political science, to gender and cultural history, with many exceptional visiting speakers.
In our course, you will concentrate on the stories you want to cover. You will draw on the expertise of campus and national experts in your research. You will reach out to African journalists and seek collaborations in the countries you wish to report in. You will develop story pitches and work to place your stories in as broad a range of outlets as possible. We also encourage you to pair up on stories to deepen the spirit of cooperation.
We will bring in speakers to the class, including deeply accomplished journalists with expertise in Africa and food topics, to assist your training. We will also tackle important themes and questions: How is Africa customarily portrayed in the western media, and why? What editorial biases afflict U.S. coverage? How does the African agricultural experience compare with another developing region, such as India?
We will read journalism about Africa, and offer screenings of important broadcasts and documentaries. We will also guide you in your explorations, provide frequent feedback and criticism, help plan your logistics, and edit and sharpen your work once you produce it.
You should aim high: We seek the finest of journalism from you for possible outlets as diverse as National Public Radio, the New York Times magazine, Frontline/World, and leading international and African media, to exceptional multimedia projects for distribution on our own sites and others across the Web.
Most of all, we hope you take full advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel possibly twice over the coming academic year to an amazing continent rich with stories of immense importance to the public interest.
J298: Blogging China
China is the biggest story of the 21st century. The success or failure of its on-going economic, social and political transition will have a tremendous impact on the world, from stock-exchange markets to food security, from war and peace to climate change. This project-based research seminar is centered around an interactive news website: China Digital Times (CDT). Students will get the opportunity to do hands-on work on CDT, which taps into the vast resources of online news, analysis, and multimedia content about China from a wide spectrum of perspectives and sources.
The required tasks include practical solutions to address the issue of censorship in China, particularly in helping CDT to expand its readers within China. The class will also conduct reading/discussion sessions on China's state censorship, online activism and information politics in general.
In addition to learning about news aggregation about China, students will also explore innovative use of technology and social media approach to overcome the Great Firewall. This research seminar class is not limited to the graduate students in the Journalism School; students from other departments on campus, including undergraduates are welcome.
J234: International Reporting: Mexico
Recent news coverage of the U.S.-Mexico border has been dominated by lurid stories of savage drug cartel violence and continuing reports about illegal immigration and border fences, along with the swine flu outbreak. But there is much more to the border region, a complex, bi-national world that is home to 12 million Americans and Mexicans, many of whom have lives that span the international frontier.
In this course we will visit Northern Baja California and explore some of the pressing issues that are shaping life "“ in places ranging from the shantytowns of Tijuana to the hidden oases of the Colorado River Delta. Specifically we will report on the intersection of environmental and economic issues in the borderlands. Many of these concerns affecting Northern Mexico have causes and consequences that tie them to the United States.
Among the possible stories students might pursue: the impact of global warming and international water politics on the ecosystem of the Colorado River Delta; the struggle for survival of the Cocopah Indians of the Upper Gulf of California; the consequences for Mexicali Valley farmers of the lining of the All-American Canal; the business and labor realities of transnational desert agriculture; the politics of energy generation in a growing border economy; the cross-border battle over Tijuana sewage; the public health implications of Tijuana's rapid urban growth; the problem of tracking disposal of industrial waste from border assembly plants.
These suggestions are a sampling of the range of stories we can uncover. Over the course of the semester, students will do intensive background study of the history and current politics, economics and ecology of Northern Baja California and Mexico more generally. They will select a story topic, research the existing coverage of the issue and hone an original angle for a story. Students will develop sources and begin the reporting for their piece. The class will also meet with veteran reporters who have covered Mexico. In December we will travel to Mexico for a week to 10 days to conduct our field reporting.
The instructor is primarily a print reporter, but students working in any media are welcome to enroll. Spanish speakers are especially encouraged to consider this class. During the semester we will discuss issues and challenges common to all foreign reporting and learn strategies to ensure a safe and successful trip.
J294: Master's Project Seminar
J294 is a 2 semester course (1 unit/Fall, 1 unit/Spring). You must register for both semesters and it must be taken for a grade.
J298: Key Issues with Faculty and Campus Experts
Class Begins September 18th.
The difference between an adequate journalist and a good one is knowing enough to find the powerful stories and knowing how to anchor those stories with more than just quotes from the usual suspects. KEY ISSUES will give you an overview of subjects you'll be covering in one way or another for the rest of your career. With support from the Carnegie Foundation, we've brought together JSchool faculty members, other UC professors and professionals to give you the background you need on local state and federal budgets, economics, health care policy, immigration issues and foreign policy.
Each segment will have a set of reading materials and/or videos to view. Those will be posted on the Key Issues website that you'll all have access to in the next week or handed out as readings by the GSR's attached to each J200 section. Attendance is mandatory; students will be asked to sign in for each class.
The first class begins September 18, and don't forget that we meet in Room 3108 Etcheverry Hall, the building across the street.
Here is a list of lecture topics and speakers. Please contact Lydia Chavez or Susan Rasky if you have any questions.
Friday, September the 18 The first session: Nexis Searching, Rob Gunnison, Tom Peele
Friday, September25 State and local Budget Basics - Jean Ross, California Budget Project, John Decker, CA State Treasurer's Office.
October 2 – Ellen Weiss from NPR - location to be determined
October 9 The economy Part 1 Dr, Martha Olney, Econ Dept lecturer, UCB
October 16 The economy Part 2 Martha Olney
October 23 Heath Care Reform Policy— Prof. Steve Shortell, dean UC Berkeley School of Public Health
October 30 Health Care Reform Politics - Measuring and Manipulating Public Opinion - MollyAnn Brodie, Dir. Surveys and Public Opinion Research Kaiser Family Foundation
November 6 Immigration Overview - Tyche Hendricks
November 13 Foreign policy - Latin America - Spkr tbd
November 20 Foreign Policy Pakistan and Afghanistan: Spkr tbd
November 27 Thanksgiving NO CLASS
December 4: TBD