Intelligent design and global warming, stem cells and nuclear proliferation — these are subjects that politicians have been fighting about. They're also subjects that journalists cover very badly.

For a variety of reasons, the media does a poor job covering the region where politics and science collide. In this election year, it's going to be fascinating to watch the battles erupt and to observe how journalists get it wrong.

This course is intended not only for students who are interested in science or medicine; it's also meant for students who are interested in delving into the weaknesses of the media machine — and of our political system. Throughout the semester, you will hone your reporting and writing skills by covering controversial subjects. You will have broad latitude in the topics that you want to write about; regardless of what beat you pick, by the end of the course, you should be able to cover stories that stymie most journalists.

Who is Gen Y? Facebook, MySpace, Google as a verb and Yahoo as a noun, texting, lower case conversations, smiley emoticons and running acronyms (lol), a generation on the move, yet glued to their computers, that's Gen Y. A short-lived NBC show dubbed them "Quarterlife."

In general, Gen Y includes people born between 1977 and 2000. That's about 80 million people, aged from late teens through 30, outnumbering both Baby Boomers and Gen X.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released a 2007 study of young people aged 18-25 called "A Portrait of Generation Next." The study found that 68 percent of the respondents believed that their generation is "unique and distinct."

This course will consider whether this generation really is unique and distinct, and if so, in what ways. We will examine various aspects of Gen Y life from "emerging adulthood," to relationships, technology, work, and politics.

Prof. Mary W. Quigley has written two books on work which include extensive research on generational issues.

An example to make this course concrete: Like any neighborhood, Brooklyn's Park Slope has its issues: There is frantic development on its once low-rise western side. There is a growing grocery-store rivalry. There are the yuppies in their brownstones, the twentysomethings in their shared apartments, the old-timers who resent the arrivistes, and the lesbians who have created their own thriving community. There are also the teens, the offspring of the yuppies, whose Park Slope is far different from the grownups'.

Any one of these broadly defined "neighborhoods" may be grist for a great story. In this course, we will scout out such possibilities throughout Manhattan, perhaps the most fertile journalistic turf in the world. Thinking hard about what makes for rich articles, we will select one such neighborhood for each student, for which that student will essentially become the beat reporter, the correspondent. Each student will first steep himself or herself in that neighborhood, researching its past, walking its streets, interviewing its inhabitants and mining its nooks and crannies for feature stories, profiles and trend pieces.

Whether you're based in Paris or Los Angeles, Beijing or Wyoming, covering a geographic beat is a unique experience because you need the confidence and skills to write about — everything. For this class, our territory is the world situated south of 14th Street. Each of you will be based in a specific neighborhood, where you'll cover a wide range of stories. Whether you're reporting on crime or culture, politics or hot parties, you'll learn what it takes to parachute into a new locale and find your bearings. This class will unleash your inner adventurer by strengthening your interviewing/writing abilities while you're developing a reportorial voice. Guest speakers and field trips will be essential to our journey.

Many New Yorkers live in two worlds: the cultures that spawned them, and the international city they call home. Students' beats will be the neighborhoods/communities where New Yorkers determinedly straddle two cultures, and bring vibrancy and diversity to this city. They will profile local institutions and businesses within their chosen community, individuals who have achieved success and others who struggle, the neighborhood's historical and political underpinnings, and the community's cultural and artistic contributions. These beats may be communities defined by their residents' lands of origin (the Russians of Brighton Beach, Koreans of "Koreatown" [Manhattan], Albanians of Arthur Avenue [the Bronx], Indians of "Curry Row" [Manhattan], Irish of Woodlawn [Queens]), or by race, religion or identity (Harlem USA, Chassidic Crown Heights, gay community of Chelsea, Williamsburg's artists). Students will be guided in coming up with and pursuing great, fresh story ideas, in writing/rewriting four graded pieces (three shorter ones and one more in-depth final), and in finding appropriate venues to pitch them. The goal here is learning how to craft strong, captivating stories featuring memorable characters and settings — with much emphasis upon resourceful newsgathering and responsible presentation of facts and events, vivid color and detail, coherent and graceful structure, and impeccable mechanics. Course will also feature weekly in-class writing exercises to develop "voice" and point of view, individualized workshopping, guest speakers/group interview opportunities, field trips.

Faith: It's arguably the most powerful driving force in the world today. It's also compelling local news in New York City, when Sikh subway workers fight City Hall for the right to wear turbans, Harlem churches push for a living wage or mosque attendees debate the validity of female imams. Each student will select a beat — one religion in NYC today (Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, Buddhism, etc.); or a geographic area (religious life on the Lower East Side, religion in Chinatown, immigrant religious communities of Astoria).

International reporting casts a different eye on a society; this course is designed to help you develop that eye as you strengthen your skills at reporting and writing. Through news assignments, field trips and guest speakers, we will tap the resources of this cosmopolitan city to learn how to report for readers abroad with meaningful background and a deep sense of humanity. We will examine the different concepts of journalism in other parts of the world, talk about the struggle for press freedom and read works by noted correspondents. We will consider the life of a foreign correspondent: adapting to new countries, balancing travel and personal life, dealing with editors at a distance, taking responsibility for framing the news, facing risks and reaping the rewards of this remarkable career.

The TV Beat is a broadcast course meant to help the student acquire the necessary skills for telling a story using image and sound. A gradually more complex sequence of exercises and assignments facilitates the understanding and learning of producing, reporting, shooting and editing a broadcast story. This intensive course provides an exciting journey for any future journalist who is willing to start building a solid foundation in the current practices and style of TV News in order to get ready to explore the ever changing, yet to be invented, 'language' of the internet.

The greatest news broadcasters first are highly skilled reporters and storytellers. And what better place to learn what it takes to be a skilled reporter than the streets of New York where there are a millions stories. Students will learn news judgment, how to research, pursue multiple angles and sources and bring it all together as a compelling and comprehensive television story. Emphasis will be placed on production techniques and compliance with news standards, as well as on the mechanics of video photography and editing working on state of the art systems. Students will learn interviewing techniques, presentation and narrative skills, and they will be sent out on assignments as teams to record relevant and interesting stories from New York City's five boroughs.

This course will pursue the art of sports writing, at the highest level. This means embracing all the tenets of good writing and strong journalism: Intelligent, pinpoint reporting, dogged attention to detail, perceptive news judgment and illuminating narrative. We will purge our copy of cliché (the bane of too much sports journalism) infusing it instead with original ideas and a fresh sensibility. We will pursue the craft in its many forms — from game stories, to features, to investigative pieces, to stories that exquisitely detail the many processes that lead to performing at the top of the field — be it hitting a golf ball, turning a double axel in figure skating, or say, the manufacturing of a baseball bat.

Critically, through our discussions and assignments, we will examine the myriad societal issues that play a role in sports, both historically and at present, from the Little League to the Big Leagues. These include the role of race, women in sports, unions and free agency, corporate ownership, the influence of Madison Avenue, the internet, the growth of organizations like ESPN, steroids and other drugs, and the nature of competition. From this complex set of dynamics has arisen the modern athlete, and for that matter, the modern sports journalist.

In On The Road in the City, students will go on a series of journeys throughout the city in search of snippets of ordinary life that say something extraordinary about the city and humanity. In the process, students will be in pursuit of the seeds of cultural change. The mission and challenge will be to present those seeds and portraits of life with prose that gives the reader a sense of making the same discoveries. You will also read three books that employ "road" journalism in different ways. The semester will culminate in your own major project that will require you to journey with a social or cultural world of New York.

Course Description Pending

This course is for students who want to try their hand at investigative reporting in New York City, learning to mine documents and official records for exclusive stories.

Mostly, this is a hands-on skills course. The emphasis will be on fieldwork. You will be expected to come up with strong ideas for investigative stories or projects, find the sources you need, do the reporting to back up your idea and write the story in a clear, compelling and fair fashion, adhering to the highest standards of accuracy and objectivity. The story ideas must be New York City based and doable in a semester’s time.

We will cover the different types of sources used in a typical investigative project, including human sources, documents and electronic databases. We will discuss where to find such sources, how to utilize them to maximum advantage and how to organize your material.

The historic presidential candidacies of Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, the strong early showing of former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and the decision to move the New York Primary to Super Duper Tuesday (Feb. 5) have created great opportunities in NYC for budding political reporters. The class will operate as a news organization where beat reporters cover issues and candidates. The instructor, a former political reporter and campaign press secretary, will work as an editor and will show the staff how campaigns poll, develop messages, roll out issues and schedule media events to manipulate coverage — and what journalists who cover campaigns can do to get past propaganda and to elevate public dialog not debase it.

Boy or girl? It's the first question asked about who we are — and today what that means is up for grabs as social, cultural and scientific revolutions influence our most deeply-held beliefs and behaviors. In this course, students will report from the front lines of these most private and public questions, developing story ideas, researching and writing about women's issues, GLBT rights and movements, sex and youth, pornography and the sex trade, reproductive rights, STDs and public health policy. Developing their own beat within the course, students will pick an area of concentration, then write a final 3,000 word story combining grassroots, policy, activist, and academic sides of their subject. While emphasizing rigorous reporting and research, the course takes a practical focus, encouraging students to write and angle stories to publish, shaping their work to fit the tone and style of their target publications. Toward that end, students write queries carefully pitched to magazines and editors of their choosing, developing professional skills and contacts.

In previous classes, students have learned the rudiments of story selection, writing, and shooting. This class advances their skills, with the added pressure of meeting real deadlines; i.e., producing pieces that air on a live weekly broadcast. Stories will gradually grow in complexity over the semester.

Prerequisites: None

Why do we think that way? What do we mean by "women" and "men"? If you were a visiting anthropologist from Mars, how could you use our culture's media to understand our ideas about gender? Women & the Media is a collaborative seminar that examines the complex relationship (or different contradictory relationships) between those humans we call "women" and those forms of discourse we call "media." We will consider women both as subjects and objects, as artists and models, as creators of "media" in its many forms and as media's creations. What does our culture's "media" tell us about how we read gender? What, if anything, does our gender tell us about our readings of "media"? Student participation in this seminar is key: students are expected to attend all sessions, to complete all the reading (there's lots of reading!), to participate actively in discussion, and to lead one of the class sessions themselves. Leading a class means opening the day's conversation with a presentation, critiquing and elaborating on the assigned reading, bringing in additional relevant material, and suggesting questions or issues that seem particularly interesting or troublesome. The purpose of the course is to develop our critical and self-critical faculties as journalists, media critics, consumers of media, and women or men; to think clearly, challenge our pet assumptions, and have fun.

Prerequisites: Foundations, Inquiry or Instructor Permission

It has been 40 years since President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders released its findings on the civil unrest that erupted in urban areas across the nation. The panel, commonly referred to as the Kerner Commission, concluded that we are living in two nations, "black, white, separate and unequal," and devoted an entire chapter to the impact the media had on the nation's race relations. "We believe that the media have thus far failed to report adequately on the causes and consequences of civil disorders and the underlying problems of race relations," the report said. It added: "The media report and write from the standpoint of a white man's world. The ills of the ghetto, the difficulties of life there, the Negro's burning sense of grievance, are seldom conveyed."

The report criticized as "shockingly backward" the industry's failure to hire, train and promote African Americans. At the time, fewer than five percent of the newsroom jobs in the United States were held by African Americans. Today, despite the progress that's been made in the hiring and coverage of African Americans and other so-called minorities, many critics say that the Kerner Report findings continue to resonate. With the report as a backdrop, we will examine the portrayals of racial and ethnic minorities in the media, paying particular attention to African Americans — the subject of the Kerner Report — but also others, including Latinos, Asians, women, and gays and lesbians.

Prerequisites: Foundations, Inquiry or Instructor Permission

Completion of "Journalism Ethics and First Amendment Law" (V54.0502) prior to taking this course is highly recommended. Contemporary and historical look at the way in which the American mass media cover the American political process. Special attention to coverage of the White House, the executive agencies, Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, conventions, campaigns, and elections. Examines the Washington press corps, the press conference, the press secretary, and governmental secrecy for their impact on the quality of coverage. During election periods, evaluation of media coverage of candidates for high office.

Prerequisites: Foundations, Inquiry or Instructor Permission

Environmental journalism is hot again, and not only because the climate is warming — though that helps. As web-based platforms increasingly dominate mass media, what specific forms should the "new" environmental journalism take? This class will begin by tracing the development of traditional environmental journalism from John Muir to John McPhee and will then look closely at how the field is adapting to a fast-changing media landscape. With the help of guests and timely readings, we will confront thorny questions about environmental advocacy, citizen media, issue framing, risk balancing and the scientific process. And yes, we will produce stories that matter on the biggest news beat of all. This advanced seminar will include intensive journalistic writing assignments, as well as extensive readings for in-class discussion.

Learning from The Best To Be The Best is a survey of some of the most entertaining and well-written literary journalism of the last two centuries. We will read these articles and book excerpts carefully — "deep reading," it is called — to discover how good writers take basic journalism and enliven it with literary technique. We want to catalog as much of that technique and structure as we can so that we can "steal it," appropriate the devices for our own work. Students will work in teams; each week a team will "present" the readings and incite a discussion with the rest of the class. There will be some three to five formal academic papers in which students will be asked to demonstrate their understanding of the material, and there will be a number of "creative" assignments as well. The main text for the course is an excellent anthology of non-fiction: The Art of Fact by Kerrane and Yagoda.

In this course, students will explore the visions of American social, cultural and political life and upheaval by way of the travelogue. We will read four major pieces of on the road writing and students will be required to write a short essay on each book. In addition, students will be required to select a writer—not on the list—and perform a major explication of the writer's "on the road" work. The final product will be an oral presentation and written paper. We will read Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed; William Least's Heat Moon and Blue Highways; John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, In Search of America, and Walt Whitman's Memoranda During War.

This course will provide students with an understanding of contemporary issues in the Middle East (such as the rise of militant Islam; the roots of Sunni-Shia tension; the failure of Arab nationalism; terrorism versus national resistance; the problem of the nation-state) by reading works that combine history, political analysis and narrative journalism. This historical and political background will help students to eventually write about the region with depth and nuance, and to evaluate the coverage that they read. We will read and discuss Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran by Roy Mottahedeh; Mary Anne Weaver's A Portrait of Egypt; Osama: The Making of a Terrorist by Jonathan Randal; Edward Said's Covering Islam; Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein; and Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North. We will also read and analyze contemporary magazine and newspaper reporting from the region.

This course will cover the history of the World Wide Web as a collaboration and publishing platform that sits on top of the Internet. It will review the major innovations and disruptions that have come to the media world and to journalism as a result of the Web's rise. Introductions will be made to the major thinkers, writers and inventors in Web culture. Recent directions the Web has taken (also called Web 2.0) will be studied for clues to the future. Students will choose an editorial or information web site to study in depth and thereby test what they learned from their reading.

An attempt to better understand the communications revolution we are undergoing through an investigation of the nature and consequences of previous communications revolutions. Using readings ranging from Plato to Sontag to Kundera, the course will look closely at the history of spoken language, images, writing, printing, photography, radio and television. How were they understood? How were they initially used or misused? What were their effects upon social patterns, politics and thought? What can that tell us about the potential and potential influence of digital communication?

If the press monitors the powers that be, who keeps a vigilant eye on the fourth estate, a power unto itself? The "beat," in this seminar course, is the newsmedia themselves. In "Lapdogs," we delve deep into the issues and ideas that have engaged critics of the newsmedia throughout the modern era, from I.F. Stone to Ben Bagdikian, Robert McChesney to Noam Chomsky, Eric Alterman to Jack Shafer, Gloria Steinem to Arianna Huffington. More profoundly, we deconstruct their analytical methods and lay bare their agendas, critiquing the critics. This course will involve a heavy writing load, a significant amount of which will incorporate both academic argument and journalistic reportage

Journalism is often the first step towards a life of professional storytelling. Newspaper stories, magazine pieces, scripts, books, ad copy, radio and TV writing, are all based on solid journalistic principle. With that in mind, this course has one goal: teach the basic structure of first person writing. Emphasis is on reporting, then telling what you saw with clarity. We will focus on cutting the fat out of writing, getting to the bone, the nub, by learning to work the finite details of what you report -- what you actually see or think you see -- into a story that has length, power, and accuracy, told from your perspective.

No computers in this class. No iPods, no taping lectures, no slam poetry, no meandering first person accounts. Bring a pencil and a yellow legal pad. Any motivated student with a good pair of walking shoes and an interest in writing is welcome. Students will be expected to wander the city as reporters with specific assignments, then come back and write about what they have experienced. Reading list includes Dispatches by Micheal Herr, Beyond the Game, by Gary Smith, and A Nietzsche Reader translated by R.J. Hollingdale, and a Marvel comic book to be selected later.

A course that blends the practical aspects of technical editing with the critical thinking and craftsmanship needed to structure and polish stories till they shine. If you love to tweak a single sentence until it is absolutely clear, true and elegant, and enjoy deconstructing a feature story to truly understand how it was shaped, this is the class for you! The first half of the semester will focus on the micro elements of editing: from proofreading to punctuation, to grammar and usage. The second half of the semester will focus on the macro elements of editing: from line editing to cutting meaty stories in half to fit the space. Publication tone, house voice and writer's voice will be discussed in depth. Students will also gain experience writing headlines and captions. Other assignments include editing the interview, editing humor pieces, and re-structuring articles that just don't work. Students will learn how to think like editors and shape and tweak stories analytically as well as technically.

Top editors from the best magazines will speak to the class about navigating a career in magazines and working one's way up the masthead. Prof. Jill Dearman developed the in-house Style Guide for book publishers Simon and Schuster. She has edited film reviews for Video Hound, TV Guide, and the Video Sourcebook. As an arts and culture reporter Dearman's stories have been published in New York Daily News, Time Out New York, Punk and numerous other publications. Dearman's literary essays about New York City have recently appeared in Mr. Beller's Neighborhood.

The opinion (or Op Ed) column, serious or humorous, is a form of literary journalism whose goal is to enlighten readers on a particular issue, and to sway them toward a specific point of view. These essays are exciting to write, as well as stimulating and often great fun to read. They appear in newspapers and magazines and are also found on TV, radio, and the Internet. We will look at outstanding examples by some of the best and most popular writers, see what makes them work so well, and we'll write our own; the goal for each student being to publish one or more columns in a newspaper or magazine or on line. Guest writers and editors will visit and talk with us about their writing and their careers. We will address how to pick a topic, decide on an approach, back up an argument, develop a personal style, and then how to sell what you have written.

This class is an introduction to photojournalism with an emphasis on developing the skills professionals use by shooting a series of nine photo assignments. Students are expected to provide their own SLR digital or film cameras, so the initial costs of the class are high. Digital cameras are preferred. The workload is demanding but also fun. Students are encouraged to explore new territory, i.e. venture off campus, to seek out interesting subjects and events worthy of coverage.The photo assignments range from shooting a basic environmental portrait, covering a scheduled public event and a sporting event (usually the New York marathon) to finding feature and pictorial photos in an everyday setting. The culmination is a final project, a photo essay on a single person, group of people or subject, utilizing skills learned throughout the semester. Additionally, every student will select and interview a working photojournalist. Students are expected to spend of time out of class looking at books, magazines, and newspapers and online for excellent photojournalism examples to help generate ideas for the class. Guest speakers from the profession will visit occasionally. By semester's end, students should have a basic understanding of the impact photographs have on society, the legal and ethical concerns of photojournalists, digital production of photographs, and the importance of captions and text accompanying photographs. Students will also produce a variety of photojournalistic images for an entry-level portfolio.

This course will pursue the art of film, book, television, music and culture reviewing. Students will learn the elements of writing memorable, well-crafted reviews; finding one's voice as a reviewer and journalist; developing key editorial techniques necessary for reviewers; and discuss trends and challenges within this specialized journalistic form. Each session we will focus on the multi-layered aspects of reviewing, which combines sharp journalistic and observational skills; subjectivity, attention-to-detail, understanding social, cultural and political movements, past and present. Students will write a weekly review of various media (books, films, music, television and art), including advanced screenings and advance reader's editions of books.

Critically, through discussions and assignments, we will examine contemporary issues such as the impact of the Cineplex mall culture on filmmaking; how retails and conglomerates are affecting the quality and diversity of film titles; the triumph and tragedy of marketing and focus groups on entertainment fare. We will also discuss moving beyond clichés in reviews (indie film, books and music are often overly praised by most journalists; while mainstream films and celebrities are derided); and how, despite a climate in which many writers' jobs have been eliminated, critics and reviewers remain a trusted source among readers.

How does one take a mishmash of story and art ideas and transform them into a single publication? What happens in the time between filing a story and seeing it appear months later in a glossy spread? This class will uncover the layers of magazine editing and production — from brainstorming to bluelines — by giving students a hands-on role in helping to create NYU Alumni Magazine, a general interest glossy with a circulation of nearly 300,000 that covers the university's array of alumni and faculty newsmakers in politics, arts & letters, entertainment, sports, and more. Over the semester, students will assist the editors as magazine staffers to develop story ideas, plan the book, envision layouts with a professional design shop, and research, report, edit, revise, fact-check, copy edit, and proofread stories.

Writing and producing TV news programs. During the term, students produce 12 complete broadcasts that are fed live to residence halls and other locations on campus. Many of these casts are also fed to the Internet for online viewing. Responsibilities include all aspects of TV news: story selection and development, field production, anchoring, reporting, operation of all studio and control room equipment, writing, copy editing, and directing. Deadline realities are emphasized as live broadcasts begin on an exact-time basis. This class meets in the 7th-floor Commons from 1-3pm.

Prerequisites: Foundations, Inquiry, The Beat

Prerequisites: Foundations, Inquiry, The Beat