FSS:ZUR393p Reporting Public Affairs

ZUR393p Reporting Public Affairs

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2016

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

Stephen Doig (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Pavel Sedláček (assistant)

Guaranteed by

prof. PhDr. Jiří Pavelka, CSc.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Bc. Pavlína Brabcová
Supplier department: Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies

Timetable

Tue 13:30–15:00 AVC

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 14 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

Perhaps the most important role of journalists in democratic societies is to report on the functioning of government at all levels. A democracy functions best when its citizens can get objective information about the effectiveness of public officials and policies in order to make informed votes in elections. Often this journalistic role involves simply reporting on actions taken by governmental agencies and choices made by elected officials. Sometimes, however, it means calling attention to harmful policies, bad decisions, wasteful spending and even outright criminality on the part of public officials. This kind of journalism is often called "watchdog reporting", after guard dogs that start barking when they see something wrong. The goal of this course is for you to learn some of the basics of how to cover the activities of elected officials and governmental bodies and such important public functions as education, environmental protection, public safety and courts. As your instructor, I assure you that I have a lot of experience in covering public affairs in the United States, but not as much in European countries. Therefore, an important element of this course will be assignments you will do to educate each other about how government bodies and agencies in Brno, the Czech Republic and the European Union are organized and function. I will teach you techniques for finding out information from government officials and writing informative stories based on what you find. This instruction will include where to get public data and how to use tools like spreadsheets and mapping programs to find patterns in the data that will suggest good public affairs stories.

Literature

There is no required textbook for this course, but I will give you a number of printouts or readings from the web for you to do as assigned.

Assessment methods

• Shoot First/Ask Questions Later (20%): Each week I will expect you to develop your eye for stories by shooting a picture of something unusual and then writing a couple of sentences explaining it based on information you gathered by asking about what you saw. Examples might be a police motorcade going by, or construction starting in what had been an empty lot, or fresh paint covering over what had been a wall of graffiti. I will give you a more detailed instruction sheet about this assignment. • Public agency description project (20%): I will assign each of you a governmental agency -- such as the Brno city council or the Czech Parliament -- to research and then write a 2-3 page description of its functions and structure and other details I will specify in an assignment sheet I will give you. • Public affairs stories (50%): During the course of the semester you will write six news stories based on government activities. They might involve sitting through a city council meeting or a court hearing or a speech by a politician, then writing about it. • Final exam: There will be a final during the January exam period that will be worth 10% of your grade.

FSS:ZUR393p Reporting Public Affairs - Course Information

ZUR393p Reporting Public Affairs

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