That means a) we will need to have an extra week of classes instead of a ‘free’ week 12 and b) there will be soem extra reading. Happily, the reading is pretty fun because we are now well and truly into feature territory!

This week there are three readings–all different kinds of features:

NYPD Inaction over missing black woman by Sean Gardiner

We have still not lived long enough by Tom Griffiths

Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich

Discuss the differences in the style and type of each feature; s one more ‘newsy’, what approach have they taken to the writing etc.

What approach might you need to take with your own feature having read these styles?

This week you have a couple of articles written by next week’s guest speaker Richard Baker. You also have a reading from Paige Williams again–this time going behind a feature story to talk about how she found and researched a profile.

I want your blog to think about some questions for Richard baker about this story.

In your blog you might like to think about how you might investigate a feature story–who did Baker and McKenzie need to speak to? How could they ensure they were being ethical? How long would a story like this take to write? Why?

We haven’t had any readings for a couple of weeks to give you an opportunity to polish your writing exercises.

Here’s what should be on your blog

1. Response to Shattered Glass/Sticky Issues in Gumshoe Journalism Readings.

2. Response to Poverty In Atlanta/Haunted by Details Readings

3. Response to Mae West/Sex Pistols Readings

4. Short news story pitches

5.Practice Media Conference Story

6. Hard News and  Soft News Leads

If you were absent from any classes, you will need to catch up with these exercises. For the media exercise, you will need to get notes from a classmate as you have missed the news conference the story was based upon.

You have both the profiles and an anlysis of the interviews in your reading pack. This week I suggest that you focus on the interview piece that you liked the best and write a reflective blog ost on it.

–Why was it a good interview?

–What does the author reveal about their interviewee?

–Is the interviewee reflective or just performing?

–What does the profile help you to understand about the relationshyip between a good interview and a good news story?

“Haunted by details” by Peter Ellingsen

“Supermedia: the future as networked journalism” by Charlie Beckett

“Poverty in Atlanta” by Paige Williams

I picked these stories because they all discuss or illustrate a different aspect of journalistic investigation or research.

For Williams’ story, you might discuss the way research is presented and how it might make the best impact on an audience.

Ellingsen discusses the power of detail–how does this relate to what a journalist does in the process of investigation? What is a jorunalists actually looking for when they are researching the news?

beckett discusses the future of journalistic investigation; can you think of a good example of the way in which news and information gathering is changing in a Web 2,0 climate?

This week you have two readings: ‘Shattered Glass’ by Buzz Bissinger and ‘Sticky Issues in Gumshoe Journalism’ by Lawrence Zuckerman. These readings relate to different aspects of journalistic ethics, which we will consider in week two.

If you would like to begin your blog response, perhaps you might consider the following questions:

–What is the line between the public interest and personal/organisational privacy?

–Why were Stephen Glass’ actions considered a betrayal of journalistic practice?

Go to wordpress.com and have a play with the site.

You need to register for a free blog and then let me know what your blog address is so that we can add you to the blog roll! That way you will be able to comment on each other’s work.

If you have any trouble accessing the site, or creating your blog, please let me know and I will help you to set up a blog.

There is a lot of reading and intensive writing practice involved, so be prepared for this! You will be writing and sharing your work and thoughts about set readings every week. This is part of your assessment.

Instructions and post discussions will be posted on this blog–you should access it regularly.