2020 - Summer

The Beat: Reporting Your Neighborhood’s News (Print/Online track) (Session 1)

Course Number: SS1: JOUR-UA 201.001

Day & Time: Tue/Thu 11:00am - 3:00pm

Location: Online

Albert Class Number: 2506

Prerequisite: Journalistic Inquiry: The Written Word (JOUR-UA 101)

They say all politics is local, and the same can be said of journalism. People are endlessly curious about their local news. They are not interested in merely the little stories (Did you hear? The police chief bought snazzy new uniforms and the mayor is furious), but also the local wrinkles on the big stories (Did you hear? All the Covid-19 masks got flooded in the hospital basement and they’re airlifting in new ones).

In this six-week online course, taught by former New York Times editor Francis Flaherty, students will serve as correspondents for their hometown, reporting on a stream of local stories in pandemic-safe ways. Home may be anywhere—suburban Montclair, N.J., beachfront Venice, Calif., the hip East Village in New York City, or the Trastavere quarter of Rome. The course, taught on Zoom, will include one-on-one editing sessions with the professor.

Notes: Required for students pursuing the print/online track in the journalism major. Also required for the minor in print and online journalism. Counts as an elective for the minor in broadcast and multimedia journalism.

For non-NYU students, if you are interested in taking this course, please email journalism.summer@nyu.edu about assessing your previous journalism experience and whether the prerequisite can be waived.