Rodger Streitmatter
Professor
Print Journalism

Reporting

This course is designed with two primary purposes in mind.

First, it seeks to help students develop the reporting and writing skills necessary to succeed as a professional journalist.

Second, it seeks to help students understand the pivotal role that the news media play in American society—and the responsibilities that accompany that role.

Reporting, a junior-level course, builds on Writing for Mass Communication and begins with something of a refresher course in which students again write articles based on information that has been provided to them.

After that introduction, Reporting helps students proceeds to develop, through a gradual progression of assignments, to the point that they are not only writing effectively but also taking notes, conducting research, and interviewing people to obtain the material that allows them to produce original stories that are of publishable quality.

Students gain practical experience in gathering information and then transforming that material into news and feature articles that are accurate, concise, clear, and well organized.

Through the various written assignments, reading assignments, and class discussions, students also will build their news judgment and establish their own ethical standards.

Reporting is a required course for students majoring in broadcast journalism, print journalism, or communication studies.

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