You’ve all got experience now. You’ve written news, become active social media news users and told multimedia stories. It’s time to become more thoughtful, intentional, sourced reporters. My goal in JOUR 4305 is to get you there. Beat reporting isn’t much talked about these days, but I truly believe that digging in to a specific subject area makes everyone a better reporter. Your career will very likely require you to be a generalist, but to be a good one, you must become a student in the true sense of the word. You must learn a lot about the subject you’re covering, usually with very little time. You must be brazen and humble all at once, recognize how much you don’t know. Talk to the experts who can help you. Listen to what they have to say. I’ve attempted to adapt beat reporting to the hyperkinetic digital moment in which we all find ourselves. This may be your only chance to pause and dig deep. Take it. I promise it will pay off.
See you soon,
Jena