Fall 2008
Reporting Topics Assignment:
Story critique, Web
resources and
Investigative
Reporter’s Handbook chapter outline
Each student will do a class presentation organized
around the theme of a chapter from The
Investigative Reporter’s Handbook. This
assignment is designed to get you into the habit of looking for documentation
and data in the course of your reporting and to help you become a close reader
of in-depth reporting projects that use these resources.
The assignment includes these elements:
a). A handout for each member of the class
and two for the instructor, including the following elements:
1.
A synopsis (two pages) of a
in-depth news story published on the Internet that relates to the subject
of the chapter you were assigned from the Investigative
Reproter’s Handbook, including a complete citation,
the Web address of the project, a summary of the content of the
piece, an explanation of how data and documents were used in the story, your
response to the project (including what you learned from the reporting
methods and story construction that might be of use to you in your own
reporting), and whatever you can learn about the impact of the story. Some students have chosen to contact the
reporter or reporters who produced this story to learn more about how it done, and you are encouraged – but not required – to do
so. It is preferable that the story you
chose made use of computer-assisted reporting in some way. It can be a story that originally appeared in
a print, broadcast or online medium. You will find links to examples
of such projects at http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/STories_for_critiques.htm.
The IRE Web site has a collections of links to CAR
projects at: http://www.ire.org/extraextra/archives/cat_car.html.
2.
An outline of the highlights of the
chapter you were assigned (two to three pages).
3.
The names and addresses of at least five Web
sites, along with a paragraph for each one about why you chose it, as
follows:
o At least three Web sites
useful to a reporter covering the subjects discussed in the chapter.
o At least one Web site
with a searchable database (that is with a search interface on the Web) that is
relevant to the story or handbook chapter.
o At least one Web site
with a database that can be downloaded in its entirety from the Web and
explored with a tool such as Excel or Access. Databases that can be
purchased from NICAR do not count for this part of the assignment. For this
assignment, you do not need to actually download and analyze this database –
just show us where it is and give us an idea of what it offers.
A NOTE ABOUT DATA ON THE WEB: See this page for a few examples of
searchable vs. downloadable databases on the Web: http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/Data_on_the_web-download_or_search.htm
b).
An oral presentation that includes the
following elements:
1.
A discussion of the story you chose to
profile. This will be the heart of your presentation to the class. Tell us what
was reported and how it was reported. Explain the way key data and documents
were used in the project. Describe any
notable storytelling or graphical techniques.
If you have learned about follow-up or community reaction to the story
or series, tell us about that. And
include anything else that you believe would be of value to the class,
including what you may have learned from the reporter or reporters if you chose
to contact them.
2.
As you analyze the story, you will encounter
some of the themes raised in the handbook chapter, and you should refer
to those as you go along. You should
also give us a very brief account of the two or three things you
learned from the chapter that your classmates would find most interesting and
useful. This should not be a recitation
of your outline. Think here both in terms of the big picture and some telling
details. You will not have much time, so
the challenge is to make this tight and engaging.
3.
Integrate your presentation of the story
and/or chapter with the features of one or two of the Web sites you have
listed in your handout. One
effective way to do this is to show how a Web site can be used to answer a
particular reporting question (we will talk more about this in class) – that is,
how you can drill down through a Web site to get answers about a particular
case or other useful information.
Additional details about this project:
a) On
Sept. 15, you will be asked to pick a chapter from The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook. Your options are limited to chapter 4 and
chapters 6 through 21. Have one or two alternates in mind in case several
students favor the same chapter. Some
students have had a great experience by picking a chapter that doesn’t interest
them – and then being surprised to find how rich the material can be.
b) A
schedule of presentations will be made during that class and posted at http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/CHAPTER_ASSIGNMENTS.htm.
The presentations will start (one or two per session) on Oct. 1.
c) At least 24 hours before
your presentation, you must send me an e-mail with the name
of each Web site you use (that is, the five or more from your handout) and the
URL for each of these Web sites, along with the URL of the story you
have chosen and a brief citation for the story (the headline, the
publication, the location of the publication if not obvious from its name, the
byline, and the date or dates). Submit
your links in the format you see on the class Web page we will use for
these presentations: http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/WebResources.htm
. I will post your links there for you
to use during your presentation.
d) You
will get up to 15 minutes for this presentation, so you will have to budget
your time carefully and rehearse beforehand. Presentations that do a
good job of integrating the various elements – story, chapter, and Web – are
likely to be the most engaging.