Some notes and links for Sept. 29

Link to [anonymous] roundtable survey

Wrap-up on stats (USAT story)

Stats (My quick-and-dirty analysis; see sheet 1 for original stats)

Courts:

  1. NCAA v. Board of Regents of Oklahoma and Georgia
  2. Lamar Dawson lawsuit.
    1. What are the key claims Jackson is making?
    2. Are there any laws or other cases you should know about to understand this case?
    3. What stage is it in?
    4. How would you report this story? Who would you want/need to talk to?

Module 1: Introduction

Introduction: What is enterprise reporting, especially in the context of sports?

Journalism has always gotten a bad rap from people who don’t want a subject investigated. In fairness, plenty of journalists have gotten stories wrong, intentionally or out of laziness or failure to take care to verify their reportage. In sports, this can be particularly challenging because of the intense relationship fans have with their teams, leading to abuse and sometimes real danger for journalists who go deep on particular stories. However, this is the core mission of journalism: to tell the stories of how circumstances affect people, even if those circumstances include cherished social institutions. In short, journalists need to tell the stories that need to be told. When they don’t, society and individuals can both suffer.

There is investigative reporting, and there is enterprise reporting: the former is a subset of the latter. We may or may not be doing investigations (i.e., looking hard for evidence of purported wrongdoing) in this class, but deep reporting sometimes feels like investigating.

Learning objectives:

  • To ascertain the current state of enterprise reporting.
  • To develop a set of resources to use as models for your own work.
  • To understand the steps that journalists go through in developing enterprise pieces.

Steps to completion:

Background:

  • Spend time at a sports setting and find someone or something that seems out of place. If it’s someone, conduct a short interview with that person. If it’s something, find someone whom you can interview about the something. Then write 300 words about the someone or something, with quotes. Describe, identify and place the someone or something in the scene. Do not include personal pronouns or second-person references in your writing (they can be within quotes). Use a maximum of two “to be” verbs. Post this piece in Dropbox Paper and share it with me. It is due August 15.
  • Write a short profile with links to and summaries of at least two stories written by a journalist you admire. Explain why you admire this person, and briefly summarize how you believe s/he reported the stories you reference here. Post using the Module 1 category and the tag “hero.” It is due August 17.
  • Watch Spotlight during class August 18. If you can’t finish the whole thing, find time over the weekend. As noted below, live-tweet it.
  • Vox: Check out Vox’s Card Stacks (http://www.vox.com/cards). What’s one thing in there you didn’t know? Is it presented well? Write up a short blog post and post it using the Module 1 category and the tag “vox”. It is due August 22.
  • Write a short piece chronicling what you remember about your reaction when the news about Jerry Sandusky at Penn State broke. Then, read the Patriot News’ work on the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State: http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/sara-ganim-and-members-patriot-news-staff. Finally, add a few sentences to your blog about what was most surprising, gut-wrenching, or interesting about the coverage looking back on it now, also by August 22 using the Module 1 category and tagging it “psu.”

Reflective

  • Class discussion August 11: Day 1 and getting set up
  • Class discussion August 16: Review syllabus and setting assignments
  • Class discussion August 18: Watch Spotlight and live-tweet it using the hashtag #gradysports_e
  • Class discussion August 23: Discussing Sandusky, Vox, and team and individual assignments.
  • Class discussion August 25: Work time to plan team assignments

Exploratory

  • Think about the things that have confused you or surprised you in sports. That could be how a particular kind of decision is made, why something is done in an unusual time or manner, or a process like recruiting or team selection. Write it up as a short blog post, linking to at least two stories about the subject, and post in your personal category using the tag “surprising” by August 24.
  • Define that topic and outline a series of questions you’d ask to develop a feature, perhaps one that looks like a Vox card stack. Write up those questions in a personal category post using the tag “questions” by August 26.