Covering Policy Issues

Writing about policy is challenging. Unlike news events--a corporation's earnings announcement, a product introduction, a wave of layoffs--policy articles often begin with abstract ideas how to understand those ideas, find different points of view and find ways to make these ideas compelling to readers involves a good deal of searching for material, then reading complex studies. This course is not an exercise in advocacy journalism. The focus is on research and reporting, not pontificating. Students report the debate on certain policies and try to assess how policy changes have affected or are likely to affect public life.