2017 - Fall

The Beat: Entrepreneurial NY

Course Number: JOUR-UA 201, Section 003

Day & Time: Wednesday 2:00pm-5:40pm

Location: 20 Cooper Square, room 655

Prerequisites: Investigating Journalism, Inquiry

This course is designed to hone the student journalist’s ability to research and report deeply and to be able to imagine and develop fresh ideas, test them with the strength of his or her reporting and resarch, and then to present them in story form. Students will be expected to keep weeky beat notes or blogs, exploring what is current in the topic and demonstrating week after week the shoeleather they have worn in pursuit of their subject matter. Out of this work will come four or five stories in narrative, explanatory or investigative style, depending on the instructor and the specific assignment. Syllabi differ by content of the course but all sections emphasize idea development, interview technique, reporting, background research and writing skills across genres. Broadcast sections vary only by medium.

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Entrepreneurial NY

They’re young, they’re ambitious and they’ve gone rogue. In today’s fast-changing “flux” economy, entrepreneurs are forging a new way of creating, living and working, from techies and fashion designers to digital publishers and social change activists. In this course, you’ll report from the start-up front lines, choosing among topics such as: arts, fashion, food, green, social change activism and tech. You’ll learn to blend lively reporting on news, trends and personalities with money-side nuts and bolts, from how to judge a company’s viability to assessing the competition. How do you separate braggarts, wannabes and vaporware from newsy up-and-comers? You’ll find out while learning start-up basics including the business model, bootstrapping, venture/angel/vulture funding, the pivot, scaling up and more. At the same time, you’ll hone journalistic skills, including developing story ideas, interviewing techniques, cultivating sources, and the elements of article organization. Assignments will include breaking news, trends, Q & A, profile, how-to, query, creating your own blog/portfolio, and even polishing your own “elevator pitch.” Through class partnerships and connections, students also have the chance to pitch outside publications, such as entrepreneur.com, which has published class work. In the past, students have reported on artisanal brewers, co-working, gamers, start-up fails, Harlem food entrepreneurs, student micro-lenders, crowd-sourcing, fashion bloggers, professional gambling, bartending school scams, pop up restaurants, and more