Backpack Journalism Abroad
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SYLLABUS BACKPACK JOURNALISM ABROAD COMM-535-E02L Film and Media Arts Division School of Communication American University 10 May-18 June 2010 Professor William F. Gentile Office: Mary Graydon Center (MGC) 320 Cell: (202) 492-6405 E-mail: [email protected] This distance learning course is an online version of the existing Foreign Correspondence course (COMM-544) which has been highly successful at American University since I created the class for the School of Communication (SOC) and first taught it in Spring 2004. I normally teach this course while I am at work in the field. I first taught it in Spring of 2008 while embedded with a company of U.S. Marines in Afghanistan. On that occasion I shot and produced the story, “Afghanistan: The Forgotten War,” for NOW on PBS, using the “backpack journalism” model. (You can see this piece online at http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/428/index.html ) The idea behind this course is to transmit the lessons I learn in the field to you at home, in part through my blog, http://www.billgentilebackpackjournalism.blogspot.com . As you will see on that blog, I’ve just returned from conducting two backpack journalism workshops in Mexico, where I also helped inaugurate the Mexican Foundation for Investigative Journalism. The backpack journalism model, which I’ve employed since the 1990s, is generally characterized by one journalist using a hand-held video camera to produce a version of visual communication more intimate and more immediate than that generated with shoulder-held cameras and a crew that includes camera person, sound person, producer and correspondent. From your perspective, this course is ideal for online, distance instruction, as collaboration is key to the success of most journalistic endeavors and collaboration will be critical to the collective success of this class. The efforts of each individual will determine, in part, the success of the larger group, as we all have shared goals and expectations. Resources “FRONTLINE JOURNALISTS: Death and Danger in Afghanistan,” a one-hour documentary I shot and produced in 2005 depicting the work of foreign correspondents in that war-torn Central Asian nation. This film is available for your viewing in the American University library, in the Reserves section. The Foreign Correspondence Network (FCN) Web site, www.foreigncorrespondence.org , which I manage and maintain, for use with the in-class Foreign Correspondence course and, now, for the Distance Education version of that course. The site includes a “Resources” section that will be vital to your work during the semester. The FCN is a support system of American University alumni living and working in more than 30 countries around the world. These alumni have agreed to provide information and advice to AU students planning to work abroad. I will provide their contact information. I also created and manage the AU Foreign Correspondence Network Facebook site, another tool that you may find highly useful: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=187770340054 . I have compiled a Correspondent Master List so you can access foreign correspondents around the world to inquire about the Target Country or Region where aspire to work. This is posted on Blackboard. Blackboard (BB) will be our primary means of communication during the semester. If students have BB or technology problems please contact [email protected] . Our Blackboard site will provide you the week-by-week guidance on Course Readings and posts from your colleagues, as well as my instruction. We will use the FCN site primarily for Resources. You can also look at my personal site, www.billgentile.com , for a look at some of my previous work, the trajectory of my career and the kind of work I do today. My Vimeo channel, Backpack Journalist, includes examples of work done by students in my Backpack Documentary classes, as well as my Backpack Journalism Workshops. Text Associated Press (AP) Stylebook and Libel Manual. Updated annually, this is available online from on-campus AU computers at www.apstylebook.com/american . Objectives (What I teach you) The mechanics, structure and technique of the craft of foreign correspondence. How to construct a Trip File. How to construct a “bridge” to the country or region of your choice. How to become a freelance foreign correspondent. How foreign news gets to you. How to distinguish between good reporting and bad. 2 This course is designed to prepare students to work as print, broadcast, photo or video journalists, as well as documentary makers and social media producers, in a foreign country of their choice. We normally define “foreign correspondent” as any journalist working in a country not his/her own and filing information to an outlet outside that country. We examine the structure/process of news/information gathering. This course also provides research skills and training applicable in business, non-profit, non-governmental organizations. “Foreign Correspondence” is modeled after a course I took in graduate school during the mid- 1970s. This course launched my own career in foreign correspondence, laying the groundwork for an internship at the Mexico City News and, eventually, a full-time staff position as foreign correspondent/editor for United Press International (UPI) in Mexico City. Especially now, in a world made small by travel and communication, and embroiled in conflict, the exchange of information is a worthy, even crucial, endeavor. You should think of this course as a “How-To Become a Freelance Foreign Correspondent” course. You should think of this Syllabus as your step-by-step guidebook to doing so. There are two ways, or paths, to become a foreign correspondent: The conventional way and the unconventional way. This course focuses on the latter of the two. Your main objective during this course is to identify a country or region in which you want to work, to research that country or region, and to build a Trip File, which is a conceptual/informational bridge to that country or region. This “Trip File” contains history, background and analysis of the social, economic, political, military situation of your Target Country or region. It requires conventional research and communication with State Department sources here in Washington as well as in the Target Country. It requires communication with diplomatic representatives of that country. It requires communication with journalists and other contacts in the Target Country. It includes a budget and a map. You must present me with three Installments of a comprehensive document that includes story or project ideas to execute once you are there. In other words, you should be able to take your Trip File and appropriate funds to your selected country and execute the job you envision performing in that country. This syllabus lists the details and the due date for each of the three Installments, and other requirements. You are required to write one Washington-datelined article (three, double-spaced or 750 words) that would be of interest to readers/viewers in your Target Country. A one-page, single-spaced Proposal for this story is also required. If you are not located in Washington as this assignment becomes due, the dateline may be the place at which you are located. You will be required to read various articles that are now on the Foreign Correspondence site. You will be required to read foreign datelined stories in The New York Times. Outcomes (What you will learn) The identity of the men and women who send us information from abroad. How the organizations for which foreign correspondents work actually function. 3 What makes good or bad reporting from abroad. Whether the job of foreign correspondent is attractive to you. Whether you have the skills to be a foreign correspondent. Whether you have the commitment to become a foreign correspondent. Whether the craft is a viable endeavor in the country or region of your choice. Participation Guidelines (We are all in this together.) By signing up for this course you are, in effect, entering an informal agreement to collaborate with (read “support”) the group. In this sense, we are all in this together. Journalism, you will find, is a highly collaborative craft. Your overriding objective during this course is to construct a Trip File, which will be submitted in three Installments. (Please see the syllabus for details of the Trip File requirements.) The key outcome is to decide whether you have the will and the wherewithal to work as a foreign correspondent in the country or region of your choice. Your first task in this course is to choose a country or region of the world where you want to work as a foreign correspondent. This course is designed to prepare you to work as a freelance foreign correspondent. The key to the endeavor is to select a country or region that generates enough news and information to sustain you, where you can work and live at an acceptable cost, and where you perceive an opening for your talents and skills despite competition. Your personal interest in the country and region should be an important element in your selection of what we call a “Target Country” or “Region.” And language skills can be a tremendous asset if you have them – or a huge liability if you don’t have them. The general rule of our craft is that it’s much easier to get a start in a place like Turkey or Egypt, with lots of news, proximity to a major story in the region and relatively cheap living, than it is in London with somewhat predictable news stories, very high living costs and vicious competition among hundreds of correspondents. The construction of the Trip File will require a significant amount of research and writing.