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.