Course Description
Investigative reporting extends beyond partisan claims and counter claims to offer verifiable facts that can be found in court documents, state or company reports. Such news stories require collecting enough evidence to allow an editorial judgment to be made about what people say is, in fact, true. Students will learn how to select an appropriate investigative topic, narrow the focus of a story from a broad subject to a suitable topic, and then conduct the "shoe-leather reporting" that is needed to discover a story's shape and weight. Students will come up with questions, determine whom they will need to interview, conduct the reporting, and then finish by writing an in-depth piece in several drafts that illuminates the chosen subject.