Interviews

What lessons can we learn from Mike Wallace?
Can those lessons work in your country? Why or why not?
At times, Wallace is almost disrespectful. How do you feel about that?

Two leads

Read these two leads from the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Which is better? Why?

At-home work

This year, the SUSI program will offer $2,500 in prize money for alumni who produce a story from their home country.

If you complete at least a 600-word story or a two-minute multimedia piece, you will be eligible for a $100 reward.

The SUSI faculty at WSU will award $250 to the best news report; $250 for the best essay; and $250 for the best multimedia piece.

To be eligible, you must turn in a 200-word proposal by next Monday, July 22 at 5 p.m. Your final story must be emailed to bshors@wsu.edu by Oct. 1, 2013.

Special consideration will be given to pieces that show in-depth reporting, as well as publication in a media outlet.

Here is an essay by a student from Bahrain.

Project proposal

Here is a sample proposal that provides a good format for others. Review this proposal, and then prepare your own including format, length, language, headline, publication, and proposal explanation.

Project

Format: Multimedia, short film 

Length: Three to four minutes

Language: Arabic with English subtitles

Headline: (Iraq’s Abundant Elderly)

Publication: AWAT Newspaper, an independent newspaper in Iraq

Proposal: This video is a comparison between the situation that the elders are living in Iraq and those who live in America. I will interview homeless elders telling their stories to the world through videos; I will include pictures and statistics to complement the personal stories. There will be some interviews with families and their opinions of the situation and even governmental officers will be interviewed. The video mainly aims to show the tragic situation that our elders are undergoing, to put the spotlight on the causes and possible solutions to that ordeal. I will draw on my experiences with America’s elderly to complete the image. What made that huge gap between these two cases of standards of living, and how can we change that? 

News outlets and SUSI

Beginning Friday, we will start a tour of American news and digital media outlets. It's important that you familiarize yourself with the news outlets, their story selection, and their audience. 

Let's start with our trip to Seattle. Evaluate the following web pages.

The Seattle Times
KOMO TV
Al Jazeera English

For Friday, read this series by the Seattle Times on Palestine.

Public or private?

This picture was taken by a surveillance video within a Seattle jail. It shows shows a county sheriff's deputing beating a 15-year-old girl. In America, is this image -- and the videotape -- public or private? Should it be public or private? Would it be public in your country? Who decides? Why would you argue it should be public? Why would you argue it should be private?



  What about this infamous image? Images like this damaged America's reputation abroad. Why didn't the U.S. government stop media outlets from publishing it? Why would the government allow these images to be published?

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

What are you perceptions of American Indians? What formed those perceptions?

American Indians comprise a unique section of American society. On Friday morning, we will leave for our overnight trip to visit the Colville reservation in northeastern Washington.

Colville leader in 1903

Tribes are sovereign governments separate court systems and laws. For example, public records laws do not apply on tribal lands, unless the tribe has adopted its own version of the laws. Most reservations are governed by tribal councils.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation represents 12 different tribes, including the Colville, Nespelem, the Chelan, and the Nez Perce of Chief Jospeh. More than 9,000 people are enrolled in the tribe, but not all of them live on a reservation of 1.4 million acres, or 2,100 square-miles.

The tribes speak their own languages, including Salish and Sahaptin, but many tribal languages are in danger of disappearing. Many tribal leaders are attempting to save those languages by recording them and teaching them to a new generation.

The Colville Reservation was established in 1872, but the government kept some of the richest land. In 1892, the north half of the reservation was ceded to the U.S. government for $1.5 million and open to homesteaders and mining companies.

Tribal leaders in 2009

Last year, the U.S. government agreed to pay $193 million to the tribes of the Colville Reservation (there are 12 tribes). The tribes had accused the government of mismanaging tribal lands and money, including funds from oil, gas, and timber leases. This was part of a $1 billion settlement with tribes across America.

You can read more about the Colville here.

Let's look at Census data on the area.

Parsing a Warning to Morsi

Match the lead to the media outlet. Which lead belongs with each news organization? More importantly, why? Which lead would you pick?

Underline the verb; which would you choose? Why?

1. Egypt’s powerful military issued an ultimatum to the government and its opposition on Monday: resolve the crisis that has pitted hundreds of thousands of President Mohamed Morsi’s opponents against his supporters and brought this country to a political standstill — or the military will announce its own solution.

2. Egypt's powerful military warned on Monday it will intervene if the Islamist president doesn't "meet the people's demands," giving him and his opponents two days to reach an agreement in what it called a last chance. Hundreds of thousands of protesters massed for a second day calling on Mohammed Morsi to step down.

3. The Egyptian army has asked President Mohamed Morsi to resolve huge protests against his rule or face intervention within 48 hours, placing huge pressure on country's first democratically elected leader.

4. Egypt’s top generals on Monday gave President Mohamed Morsi 48 hours to respond to a wave of mass protests demanding his ouster, declaring that if he did not, then the military leaders themselves would impose their own “road map” to resolve the political crisis.

5. Egypt’s military on Monday said mass protests calling for the resignation of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi were an “unprecedented” expression of the will of the people and gave the government 48 hours to meet the opposition's demands.

A. Washington Post

B. Fox News

C. Al Jazeera

D. NYTIMES

E. NBC News             

How does a story begin?

As a journalist, you have the opportunity to organize information for readers. That comes with a certain level of responsibility especially for something as difficult as the violence in Iraq.

In groups of three or four, read these four paragraphs and place them in order. Which should be first? Why?

What is the most effective way to begin a story?

Today's news

There is almost unanimous agreement about the top story in the U.S. today: The Supreme Court found it is unconstitutional to deny federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married. This has been a controversial issue in the U.S. for decades, and while the court's ruling won't end that debate, it does alter it substantially.

Take a look at the front page of the New York Times' website. Assess the coverage. How would this story be handled by media in your country? What is the proper way to handle a story like this? Look at a news outlet from your country to see how this story is displayed.

Yesterday, we talked about transparency among journalist. Last year, CNN host Anderson Cooper, one of America's most-influential broadcast journalist, wrote an email to blogger Andrew Sullivan:

"I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It's become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true...The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud."

How does Cooper's acknowledgment alter how he is seen by viewers? He said that "personal and professional principle" trumped his desire to maintain privacy. What are those principles? Should all journalists be as transparent about their private lives?

Earlier this year, one of our 2012 SUSI students, wrote a post on his blog entitled, "I'm Queer." The BBC says Ala'a Jarban is one of Yemen's first openly gay men. But is he safe at home? That question has been raised by friends and supporters. Here is the link to AJ's blog. 

Essays

Last year, SUSI students wrote and recorded essays for Northwest Public Radio. Here is a link to some of those essays: http://nwpr.org/post/arab-impressions-america

NWPR editors chose the top seven essays. Though everyone in this class will have the opportunity to submit and read their essays, I want to be clear that not all essays will be published.

Let's take a few minutes today to discuss your plan for your essay.

The Power of the Personal Essay

It was a regular school day morning last year, when 20 buses carrying Christian university students left the northern Iraqi town of Kara Gush. The buses were traveling to the University of Mosul. I was on the fifth bus.

So begins last year's essay by Melad, a 24-year-old student from Iraq. Let's ask a few questions about this story.

1. This story could have been written as a news story. Melad writes it as a personal essay. Which is a better approach?

2. How does Melad expand on his personal experience to explain the broader issue?

3. Why did American media outlets publish this essay? What makes it connect with American readers?

4. In her essay, Shireen Far draws on her experiences in Pullman to contrast her life in Palestine. What is your reaction to Shireen's essay? How is different from Melad's essay?

5. What specific details do the writers provide in their essays?

6. The writer Jennifer Allen said that in an essay, "You have to pull something out of yourself and give away some important part of yourself ... It's a gift to the reader." What does she mean?

You Be The Editor

How do journalists choose a lead story?

Let's say you are the editor of an online news outlet. (Those are all the details I’m going to give you.) In small groups, read the stories and tell us why your assigned story is better than the other groups' stories. What makes your story newsworthy? What's wrong with the other stories? What are the characteristics of news?

You can view the stories here.

-------------------------------------------

To help you get started, think about the criteria that make something news. Then, think about your audience. As journalists, we have both academic and practical considerations when we decide whether to run a story. Given that, what's our definition of news?

Bias and Objectivity

Reporting

Let's start with a question. Well, let's start with two questions.

Let's say that during your career as a journalist/communicator, you can only ask two questions. As you travel from interview to interview, meeting various people both famous and forgotten, you can only ask people those two questions. Nothing more. Remember, this is a question you would put to a president, a shopkeeper, a mother, a soldier.

What are the two questions you would ask? Write them down for us.

Reporting cannot occur without intelligent questions and the will to ask them. Those questions lead us to information, which we package -and sell - as news.

Publishing your work

Welcome to the Murrow News Service. In this section of the program, you will practice working as a foreign correspondent in America, including reporting, producing, and pitching stories for publication.