JOUR4175: Brovald-Sim Community Journalism Practicum

Community journalism is arguably the most relevant source of news and information for our citizenry, whether in urban, suburban, or rural settings. That's still true today, but the nature of what we call community journalism is changing. For decades, community journalism has been defined by its geographical boundaries, concerning chiefly the institutions - schools, churches, businesses, or government - within those borders. While that traditional community journalism is certainly still alive today, the reach of digital journalism and social media has transformed the notion of community. New communities can define themselves beyond geography, a shift that creates opportunities for journalists to cover a broader sense of "where" people live. This course will explore this shift through practical, hands-on experience, and thoughtful consideration of the journalist's role in covering diverse communities. Through readings, lectures and discussions with professionals who do the work, students will consider the notion of community journalism and the best practices for it. Students will target a community in and around the University of Minnesota and develop cover that community on the student-run website AccessU. The goal is for those teams to publish relevant stories about the community on that site in text, photos, video, and visualizations.prereq: [JOUR 3004 or 3004H], JOUR 3101, [JOUR 3103 or JOUR 3121 or JOUR 3155 or JOUR 3173 or JOUR 4302], Jour major

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